Highlights
- 47 Arizona lawmakers, roughly 52% of the Legislature, have at least one tie to education, per Arizona Capitol Times.
- Arizona ranks 49th in per-pupil spending at $11,987, compared to a national average of $17,250.
- Arizona also holds the highest student-to-teacher ratio in the country, according to a National Education Association report.
- Rep. Alexander Kolodin, R-Scottsdale, listed as a former teacher, did not respond to a request for comment.
Nearly half the Arizona Legislature has a resume line in education, yet the state spends $5,263 less per student than the national average and carries the worst student-to-teacher ratio in the country, according to an Arizona Capitol Times analysis published Friday.
The Capitol Times found 47 lawmakers with education ties, a group that spans current and former K-12 teachers, college instructors, school board members, and those with education degrees or immediate family in the classroom. The split is nearly even: 26 Democrats and 23 Republicans. That 52% share has done little to move Arizona off the 49th-place ranking in per-pupil spending, where the state sits at $11,987 per student against a national average of $17,250, per a National Education Association report cited in the story. Multiple outlets, including the Tucson Sentinel and Save Our Schools Arizona, have corroborated the 49th-place ranking in recent reporting.
Arizona Education Association President Marisol Garcia, who taught eighth-grade social studies for 20 years, attributed the gap to competing legislative priorities and the state's Empowerment Scholarship Account program. "The pie keeps getting smaller and smaller, so they can say we're giving a larger percentage, but it's a mini pie," Garcia told the Capitol Times.
Sen. Catherine Miranda, D-Laveen, a former K-12 teacher with a decade in the classroom, told the paper that progress depends on majority control. "The majority of us are educators, but it comes down to what we believe is right for education," she said.
Rep. Alexander Kolodin, R-Scottsdale, whose biography lists teaching experience, did not answer a request for comment from the Capitol Times.
Garcia called for a nonpartisan coalition of businesses, parents, educators, and students to push education funding as a shared priority. The Legislature's next budget cycle is the nearest scheduled opportunity to move the per-pupil figure.
Sources
Every factual claim in this article traces to one of the sources below. See how we work for the editorial process.
- azcapitoltimes.com retrieved 22/05/2026 16:24
- tucsonsentinel.com retrieved 22/05/2026 16:24
- sosaznetwork.org retrieved 22/05/2026 16:24
Authored by The Scottsdale Signal. Drafted by AI from primary-source material under our beat-specific editorial guides; reviewed by humans before publish under our five-gate process. Sources retrieved at 22/05/2026 16:24. Every claim traces to a source.
