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53 J.L. & Educ. 1 (2024)

handle is hein.journals/jle53 and id is 1 raw text is: Last Place: Is Arizona Due for School Finance Litigation? Joe Aldridge*l INTRODUCTION Arizona has a school funding problem. Arizona schools receive less funding per pupil than schools in any other state.2 While correlation is not causation, graduation rates are the lowest in the country.3 Under the pressure of teacher strikes and voter initiatives, the state legislature has finally made small moves to rectify Arizona's chronic underfunding of public schools.4 Still, Arizona has a long way to go if its students are going to be able to thrive in the modern world. Of course, the people in the best position to do something about this problem are the state legislators, but they are either unwilling or politically unable to make reforms. While voters and interest groups continue to vie for change in the political space, there is another tool that can be used to compel the legislature to act, one that has been used in Arizona before. That tool is school finance litigation-seeking relief from the Arizona Supreme Court under the authority of the state constitution to compel the legislators to live up to the constitutional requirement that they provide a system of general and uniform schools.5 This paper examines the prospects of school funding litigation in Arizona in light of its precedents and political climate. There has been little action on this front in the state since 2004. For ten years, between 1994 and 2004, the Arizona Supreme Court took an active position in the school funding controversy, repeatedly having found the legislature's attempts at school finance reform noncompliant with the * Special thanks to Professor Kimberly Jenkins Robinson, University of Virginia School of Law for her teaching and guidance in the preparation of this student note. 1. The facts and statistics cited in this paper are true as of the time of writing. Some updates to the state rankings and funding data that have occurred since May 2023 have not been incorporated. 2. DANIELLE FARRIE & DAVID G. SCIARRA, EDUC. L. CTR., MAKING THE GRADE 9 (2022), https://edlawcenter.org/assets/files/pdfs/publications/Making-the-Grade-2022-Report.pdf. 3. See Sarah Wood, See High School Graduation Rates by State, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REP. (Dec. 1, 2023, 10:11 AM), https://www.usnews.cm/education/best-high-schools/articles/see- high-school-graduation-rates-by-state. 4. See Arizona School District Spending Fiscal Year 2021 Analysis and Data File, ARIZ. AUDITOR GEN. (Mar. 1, 2022), https://www.azauditor.gov/reports-publications/school- districts/multiple-school-district/report/arizona-school-district-8. 5. ARIZ. CONST. art. XI, § 1.

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