Source: https://www.azag.gov/node/2532
Timestamp: 2018-06-24 13:07:54
Document Index: 689548662

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 42', '§ 15', '§ 2', '§ 15', '§ 42', '§32', '§ 42', '§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 42']

Transfer of Students FIRST Funds by State Treasurer | Arizona Attorney General
Transfer of Students FIRST Funds by State Treasurer
I00-017 (R00-030)
Article XI, Section 1 of the Arizona Constitution requires the State to finance a general and uniform system of public education. Roosevelt Elementary Sch. Dist. No. 66 v. Bishop, 179 Ariz. 233, 877 P.2d 806 (1994). The Arizona Supreme Court has held that to meet the constitutional obligation to provide a general and uniform school system: (1) the State must establish minimum adequate facility standards and provide funding to ensure that no district falls below them; and (2) the funding mechanism that the State chooses must not itself cause substantial disparities between school districts. Hull v. Albrecht, 192 Ariz. 34, 37, 960 P.2d 634, 637 (1998) (“Albrecht II”) ; Hull v. Albrecht, 190 Ariz. 520, 950 P.2d 1141 (1997) (“Albrecht I”). In response to the Supreme Court's decisions, the Legislature in 1998 enacted Students FIRST. This legislation created the SFB, which is responsible for administering the State’s school capital funding program. After certain amendments were made to Students FIRST in July 1998, the Supreme Court ordered the then pending school finance litigation terminated because there were no further constitutional issues before the court. Hull v. Albrecht, No. CV-98-0238-SA (Sup. Ct. Ariz. July 20, 1998).
Under Students FIRST, the SFB is charged with establishing minimum adequacy standards for school facilities and distributing funds from three different sources to: (1) bring existing facilities up to standards (the “Deficiencies Correction Fund”); (2) maintain all facilities at the adequacy level (the “Building Renewal Fund”); and (3) construct new facilities for growing school districts (the “New School Facilities Fund”).(1) To determine the amount of funding each school district is eligible to receive, the SFB generally must follow statutorily prescribed formulas. For example, to determine whether a school district has a square footage deficiency that would entitle the district to funds either from the Deficiencies Correction Fund or the New School Facilities Fund, the SFB must follow a formula that considers the amount of existing square footage in the district and the number of students served by the district. A.R.S. §§ 15-2011, -2041. To determine the amount of funding each school district is entitled to receive from the Building Renewal Formula, the SFB follows a statutory formula that considers the age of the school buildings, their square footage, and any completed building renovations. A.R.S. § 15-2031.
Second, when read in historical context, the cross-reference to paragraph 11 appears to be a simple mistake in drafting amendments to the statutes. When the Legislature added the reference to paragraph 11 in § 42-5030.01, paragraph 11 of A.R.S. § 15-2002(A) contained the language that is now in paragraph 10. See 1999 Ariz. Sess. Laws ch. 3, § 2 (passed with emergency clause and signed by the Governor on March 1, 1999). The error resulted when the Legislature deleted a paragraph from A.R.S. § 15-2002(A) so that former subsection 11 became current subsection 10. Those who drafted that change simply did not make the required corresponding change in the cross-reference in A.R.S. § 42-5030.01(B). See 1999 Ariz. Sess. Laws ch. 299, §32. The failure to later correct the cross reference in A.R.S. § 42-5030.01 to correlate with the renumbering of A.R.S. § 15-2002(A) does not undermine the Legislature’s obvious intent to refer to subsection 10 instead of 11. See Gates v. Arizona Brewing Co., 54 Ariz. 266, 271, 95 P.2d 49, 51 (Ariz. 1939) (in interpreting statute, court will use word obviously intended instead of word used by mistake).
B. The Legislature Has Authorized the State Treasurer to Credit Monies to the Students First Funds in the Amounts Calculated by the SFB.
To finance Students FIRST, the Legislature established a system in which the SFB calculates the amount needed for the next two fiscal years based on the formulas and standards the Legislature established for each of the three Students FIRST funds. A.R.S. § 15-2002(A)(10). By January 1 of each year, the SFB is to “instruct the state treasurer as to the amounts under the transaction privilege tax to be credited in equal quarterly installments for the following state fiscal year.” Id. The SFB is required to provide advance notice to the JCCR, a legislative committee, and must provide the report it submits to the State Treasurer to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, President of the Senate, and the Governor, thereby ensuring continued legislative oversight of the school funding program.
The Legislature has expressly directed that “each fiscal year . . . the state treasurer shall credit” to the three Students FIRST Funds “state general fund revenues collected pursuant to this chapter [transaction privilege taxes] in the amount that the school facilities board instructs the state treasurer pursuant to § 15-2002, subsection A, paragraph 11.” A.R.S. § 42-5030.01(B). This is a clear legislative directive for the State Treasurer to credit to the appropriate Students FIRST funds the amounts specified by the SFB. Thus, additional legislative action is not required for the Students FIRST funds to receive the necessary funding.