Court finds Legislature failed to provide adequate public school maintenance funding

• Judge rules public school facilities funding scheme unconstitutional • Ruling identifies disparities between districts based on bonding capacity • Legislature found at fault, leadership plans to appeal ruling

One school district boasts freshly renovated facilities, manicured turf fields and a new performing arts center, while another has hundreds of failing HVAC units and collapsed and leaking roofs.

After years of litigation and discovery and a two-week bench trial in 2024, a Maricopa County Superior Court judge found the disparities in funding and subsequent state of school facilities across Arizona to be a constitutional failing, with blame falling squarely on the shoulders of the Legislature.

“After carefully and thoroughly reviewing the record and considering the parties’ arg