Arizona Education Network

2011 Legislative Session: Education Funding Voting Record by Legislator
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Find your legislative district by clicking here or visiting Project Vote Smart at http://www.votesmart.org/.
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Review our 2009 Voting Record here, and the 2010 Voting Record here.
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You can download a copy of the 2011 record by clicking 2011 Education Legislation Handout.
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Legislative Districts are grouped by color for visual differentiation only.
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Scroll to the bottom of the page for our methodology and a listing of bills, including links to summaries and voting details.

As with our 2009 and our 2010 Education Funding Voting Record by Legislator, AEN compiled a summary of all legislators’ voting records pertaining to their support of public education funding at all levels (K-University) during the 2011 regular session. Analyzing all the bills that passed the Legislature and were sent to the Governor’s office, AEN identified three (3) pieces of legislation that dealt directly with public education budgets and the dollars allocated to it. AEN totaled each legislator’s votes “FOR” and “AGAINST” public education funding. AEN also tallied the number of times a legislator did NOT vote on the legislation pertaining to public education budgets. In our state, which is ranked next-to-last in education funding nationwide, AEN defines a vote to protect dollars allocated to public education as a vote “FOR” public education. Conversely, AEN defines a vote to take budget dollars away from public education as a vote “AGAINST” public education.

The summary is organized by district and then by legislative chamber: Senate first, followed by the House of Representatives. The first set of numbers following a legislator’s name provides the percentage of times the legislator voted “FOR” and “AGAINST” public education, as well as the percentage of times that legislator did NOT vote on the legislation. This percentage was derived using the total number of bills on which the legislator could have voted.

The second set of numbers for each legislator shows the percentage of times he or she voted “FOR” and “AGAINST” public education, adjusted for the number of public education votes missed. In some cases, adjusting for the number of missed votes resulted in a significant change in a legislator’s numbers.
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Links to Individual Legislative Summaries (PDF Format)
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Included in the Voting Record
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SB 1612: 2011-2012 General Fund Appropriations
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SB 1617: Budget Reconciliation; K-12
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SB 1618: Budget Reconciliation; Higher Education

Related Legislation,  Not Included in the Voting Record

HB 2581: STO; Credits; Administration** (Note: This bill was vetoed by Governor Brewer on April 12, 2011) This bill would have expanded the private school tax credit program by increasing the the amount of tax credit contributions allowable for individual as well as removing existing caps on corporate tax credit contributions to private school scholarship funds.  Finally it would have allowed liquor wholesalers who are currently prohibited from making these tax credit contributions to do so.
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SB 1186: 2011 Tax Correction; STO**
(Note: Summary for this bill as amended is unavailable; link directs you to the Conference Committee amendment)
SB 1186 was amended following the Governor’s veto of HB 2581 above.  It increases tax credit contributions to private school tuition organization by allowing individuals to make a personal tax credit contribution under the individual program, as well as an additional $250 per individual and $500 per married couple to the corporate tax credit program.
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**NOTE: These two pieces of legislation do not directly reduce funding allocated to public education and have not been included in the voting record. However, they increase the ability for Arizonans to make tax credit donations to benefit private education. These tax credit donations are monies that would otherwise be deposited into the state’s general fund, increasing the resources available to balance the budget and lessening the need to cut public education and other general welfare expenditures.
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HB 2301 Soft Capital; Uses*** Allows schools to use up to 50% of unencumbered public school tax credit donations (those not designated to a specific extracurricular program) for soft capital purchases which include textbooks, instructional aids and library resources.  To qualify, the donations must have been received prior to 2011 and not used for a period of two years.

Additionally, HB 2301 lifts the restriction on soft capital dollars.  If the bill is signed by the Governor, public school districts will be able to use these funds for  any type of capital outlay, or, for maintenance and operations (M&O) expenses, making more dollars available to pay for employee salaries, benefits, and other instructional costs.

See how your legislator voted on HB 2301:  Passed Senate by a vote of 20-8, with 2 not voting; vote detail here. Passed House by a vote of 41-16, with 3 not voting; vote detail here.

See how your legislator voted on HB 2237:  Passed Senate by a vote of 29-0, with 1 not voting; vote detail here.  Passed House by a vote of 46-16; vote detail here

Tags: Arizona budget, Arizona budget deficit, Arizona Community Colleges, arizona education, Arizona Higher Education Funding, Arizona Legislature, Arizona universities, k-12 education funding

This entry was posted on Monday, April 25th, 2011 at 2:03 PM and is filed under Featured Articles, Legislature, Spin-Free Zone or "Just the Facts Ma'am", Voting Records. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.