Prop. 320 effect on technical education programs unclear
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State officials are trying to determine whether a ballot measure mandating specific levels of classroom spending by school districts would apply to unique districts for technical education.
Why it matters: Career and Technical Education District (CTED) schools and programs serve tens of thousands of students, and if those districts are subject to Proposition 320 then they'll be at risk of losing funding if they don't comply.
Catch up quick: Prop. 320 would require school districts to spend at least 60% of their operational funds on classroom instruction.
- Districts that don't meet that threshold lose funding.
- The measure applies only to districts that have at least 7,500 students or that are in counties of at least 500,000 people.
State of play: The Arizona Auditor General, which would enforce Prop. 320, hasn't yet determined whether the measure would apply to CTEDs.
- The auditor general's office is examining the issue but won't make a final determination until after the election, if Prop. 320 passes, per Scott Swagerty, director of the division of school audits.
How it works: CTEDs — also known as Joint Technical Education Districts (JTED) — offer specialized vocational training programs in fields including auto repair, nursing, plumbing and semiconductor manufacturing.
- CTEDs can have centralized campuses and offer satellite programs at member school districts.
- There are 14 CTEDs in Arizona, including two in the Phoenix metro area — the Western Maricopa Education Center (West-MEC) and the East Valley Institute of Technology (EVIT).
Friction point: If Prop. 320 applies to CTEDs, it'll be critical to figure out what does and doesn't count toward the 60% requirement, says Bill Stiteler, CEO of the Mountain Institute CTED in Prescott.
- Because so much CTED instruction happens in a lab setting, they spend heavily on expensive equipment that's used in classroom settings but wouldn't be considered operational or instructional spending, Stiteler tells Axios.
- For example, Mountain Institute CTED, which wouldn't be subject to Prop. 320, recently spent about $650,000 outfitting a new culinary facility and $400,000 on equipment for its dental program.
Zoom in: Major equipment spending is unlikely to count toward the 60% benchmark, but because it isn't considered operational spending, it wouldn't count against CTEDs as non-instructional spending either, per Swagerty.
- CTEDs also fund satellite programs at district schools. Such "pass-through" money wouldn't be counted as CTED spending, per the auditor general.
- Stiteler said CTEDs pay for state and federal licensure for students, which also wouldn't count toward instructional spending.
Threat level: Pima JTED's operational spending is only about 40% instructional, CFO Kenneth McGovern tells Axios.
- If pass-through money counted, West-MEC's direct instructional spending would be at nearly 61%, spokesperson Alyssa Pierce tells Axios, otherwise that percentage "decreases significantly."
State Rep. Matt Gress (R-Phoenix), who sponsored the House version of the measure that referred Prop. 320 to the ballot, tells Axios that lawmakers didn't intend for the measure to apply to CTEDs and that he doesn't think it would.