A state judge ruled Arizona’s method of funding its K-12 schools was unconstitutional because it did not provide for some school districts’ minimum needs. 

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Dewain Fox found the funding system violated a requirement in the Arizona Constitution that the state establish “a general and uniform public school system.”

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The case stems from the state’s Students FIRST program, which was created following a 1994 Arizona Supreme Court ruling that required school districts to fund capital needs. Capital needs can include school buildings, buses, textbooks, and other items.

The Students FIRST program created renewal grants and funding for school construction for districts that had exhausted other resources. In 2017, a group of school districts and education groups sued the state, arguing that the Students FIRST program did not meet the requirements of the 1994 ruling. 

The case went to trial last year, and the judge’s final statement is not expected for months. Fox said in this week’s ruling that while Students FIRST appeared to address funding disparities between school districts, it did not adequately address a school’s capital needs.

“In short, Arizona has returned to a system that forces districts to rely largely on local property taxation to fund their capital needs, and as such, property value is crucial to a district’s ability to fund its schools,” Fox wrote.

Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen and state House Speaker Steve Montenegro, both Republicans, said they will appeal the decision. 

If the ruling stands, the state legislature will need to establish a new way to fund the schools’ capital needs. The Arizona Constitution requires the state house to pay for “proper maintenance” of educational institutions.

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Danny Adelman, executive director of the Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest, the nonprofit law firm that filed the case, called the ruling historic.

“It holds that the way that Arizona funds the capital needs of public schools is unconstitutional,” he told ABC15. “You know, the legislature has a job to do, and the court is telling it, ‘You need to do your job. You need to fix this.’”