Opinion ID: 2808341
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Increased Overall Education Funding

Text: Finally, the district court turned to the issue of funding, the factor that lay at the heart of its earlier orders holding Arizona in violation of the EEOA. The Supreme Court noted that the “five sources of funding that collectively financed education in the State” at the time the original declaratory judgment was entered “have notably increased since 2000,” and constitute “[a] fourth potentially important change . . . in Nogales.” Horne, 557 U.S. at 468. On remand, the district court acknowledged the “several income streams” by which Arizona funds local education, and carefully examined the funding changes statewide, and in Nogales. Statewide equalization funding (intended to make sure all districts are on a level playing field) increased from $3.413 billion in 2000 to $5.776 billion in 2010. As a result of NCLB, Arizona’s share of Title I funding increased from $359,247,997 in 2000 to $582,931,537 in 2010. The 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act “sent about one and a half billion dollars in FY 2010 for education purposes” “[f]or Arizona alone.” In 2000, Nogales voters approved a budget override, “and the funds it has generated have increased from $895,891 in FY 2001 to $1,750,825 in FY 2010.” Funding per pupil in Nogales increased by 44% over the past decade, from $3,675 in 2000 to $5,306 in 2010. The court concluded that “Nogales has an effective ELD program. Its FEP-2s [students who have reclassified as proficient for two years] rank higher on AIMs reading, writing, and mathematics at all elementary and middle grades,” and “[i]ts reclassification rates consistently have placed at the top or near the top of nine sister districts at the border.” 20 FLORES V. HUPPENTHAL We conclude that the district court carefully followed the Supreme Court’s instructions on remand, and did not abuse its discretion in determining that in light of the changed circumstances in Nogales and in the State over the course of more than a decade, Rule 60(b)(5) relief was warranted.