One of the closed TUSD schools sits with empty hallways. Arizona's 1.1 million public school children could see their schools get a boost in funding under a tentative agreement to settle a long-running school funding lawsuit.
Arizona lawmakers will start getting briefings Monday on the deal that requires their approval. A special legislative session appears likely later in the week.
Details of the agreement haven't yet been made public. Don Peters, a lawyer for schools that sued over the Legislature's failure to make required yearly inflation adjustments, declined comment Sunday.
Senate President Andy Biggs confirmed the tentative agreement over the weekend but would not discuss its terms in advance of legislative briefings.
The deal is likely to include a version of Republican Gov. Doug Ducey's proposal to increase withdrawals from the state's $5.1 billion land trust and some general fund cash.
State funding to K-12 schools was cut $113 million in the current budget as part of Ducey's and the Legislature's efforts to balance the budget without raising taxes.
The cuts led to widespread protests from Democrats and the education community, saying they put Arizona and its children at a disadvantage.
Ducey and others said the money simply was not available, but they began seeking ways to infuse money into schools after a U.S. Bureau of Census report in the spring said Arizona school funding was the lowest in the country and that teacher salaries in the state were among the nation's lowest.
By submitting your comments, you hereby give AZPM the right to post your comments and potentially use them in any other form of media operated by this institution.