Classrooms First Initiative Council

Team of Education and Finance Professionals Will Look To Direct Money Where It Matters

"The Council's charge is to develop a funding formula that recognizes and rewards performance, efficiency and innovation through flexible distribution of funds for every successful education delivery model. Our goal is to align funding to student achievement -- and with that as our target -- we will shift the focus to increased spending in the classroom." -

Governor Ducey, May 2015

The Classrooms First Initiative Council focuses on improving education results in Arizona by simplifying and modernizing the current school finance code to ensure more funding for teachers and classroom instruction. Council members include Arizona business and education leaders who are working to build a long-term strategy around school finance reform that includes multi-year policy initiatives and implementation plans. The Council will develop a funding formula that recognizes and rewards performance, efficiency, and innovation through the flexible delivery of funds. Council members will present policy recommendations that align funding with student achievement in order to increase spending in the classroom. Preliminary recommendations were presented on September 22, 2015. Final recommendations will be presented on December 2, 2015.