A Public School Dad FIghting For Our Kids
Fully Funding K-12 Education
A Public School Dad FIghting For Our Kids
Fully Funding K-12 Education
The 20×2020 agreement, which delivered a 20 percent teacher pay raise by 2020 and invested nearly $470 million in ongoing dollars for salaries, was a hard‑fought victory by educators and a testament to what organized teacher action can accomplish. But even with those raises, Arizona still ranks near the bottom for teacher pay, and our schools are being gutted by an unfettered voucher program.
Brett’s plan to fully fund K‑12 education builds on past progress and tackles the structural problems starving our public schools:
Restore public funds by rolling back ESA vouchers: Arizona’s Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) program was meant to help a limited number of students with disabilities but was expanded to cover all families in 2022. The program has spiraled out of control: it is on track to cost taxpayers $1 billion this year, with roughly three‑quarters of vouchers going to children who never attended public schools. Voucher spending has already come in tens of millions of dollars over budget, contributing to a $200 million shortfall that forced the state to pay districts only 60 percent of their monthly funding. Parents have used ESA money for scuba diving lessons and grand pianos while public schools close classrooms and lay off staff.
Brett will work with lawmakers to repeal universal eligibility, returning ESAs to their original purpose of supporting students with disabilities and other high‑needs groups.
He will cap total ESA spending, reinstate requirements that students attend public school for at least a year before receiving a voucher, and push for a means‑test to ensure that affluent families don’t drain resources meant for those who need them most.
Index school funding to inflation and revisit the outdated finance formula: Arizona allocates about $4.2 billion of its $9.8 billion state budget to K‑12 education, but it still uses a 35‑year‑old funding formula designed before charter schools existed. This antiquated system underfunds capital needs and fails to adjust base‑level funding to keep pace with rising costs.
Brett will champion legislation to automatically adjust the base per‑pupil amount for inflation each year so districts don’t lose purchasing power when the cost of books, buses and teacher salaries rises.
He will also convene educators, finance experts and lawmakers to craft a modern funding formula that reflects today’s educational landscape, one that accounts for charter growth, special‑education costs and the unique needs of rural and tribal communities.
As part of this overhaul, Brett will press to revise the “100‑day” average daily membership (ADM) rule used to allocate funding. Relying on student counts from the first 100 days penalizes growing districts and allows money to follow students long after they’ve transferred. Brett will explore options such as using rolling enrollment averages or multiple count dates to make funding more responsive to actual student populations.
Protect teacher pay and learning conditions beyond 20×2020: Even after the 20×2020 raises, Arizona remained 45th or 47th in the nation for teacher pay, and educators continue to leave the profession in record numbers.
Brett will advocate for a new statewide initiative to bring teacher salaries up to the national median and to provide cost‑of‑living adjustments.
He will push to secure long‑term funding streams, whether through expanding or renewing Proposition 301, closing tax loopholes, or dedicating a portion of state budget surpluses, to ensure that raises don’t evaporate when economic conditions change.
Recognizing that capital funding has been neglected for decades, Brett will also support a statewide school infrastructure plan to repair leaking roofs, update technology, and provide safe transportation.
Create transparency and accountability in school finance: Taxpayers deserve to know where their money goes.
Brett will demand a comprehensive audit of education spending, from ESA vouchers to district budgets, and will publish quarterly reports so parents and legislators can see how funds are used.
He will modernize data systems to track spending in real time and strengthen the auditing capacity of the state to root out waste and fraud.
Where the current ESA payment platform has allowed questionable expenses, Brett will open the contract to competitive bidding and require any vendor to provide granular reporting, fraud alerts, and public dashboards. By shining a light on spending and tying funding to verified student needs, Brett will build public trust and ensure that every dollar supports teaching and learning.
Arizona’s public schools gave Brett Newby the foundation for his success, and as a father he’s committed to preserving that promise for his daughters and every child in the state.