Voters in the Kyrene School District will have the chance to vote to approve or deny Proposition 320, an initiative that originated at the Arizona State Legislature that would require schools to spend 60% of their budget in direct instructional expenses beginning in the 2027-28 school year.
Superintendent Laura Toenjes said many school districts across the country do not reach the 60% threshold, and that Kyrene was also below that line. Many Arizona schools are also below this threshold. Kyrene is currently over 2% under the threshold, even as one of the top 101 districts in the state for classroom funding.
“There’s no guidance as to why 60% was chosen as the number, but we do know that it is a very small number of schools that are reaching that and the ones that are have as few as six kids in the building,” she said.
