An examination of per pupil funding in Arizona for the period of 2007 to 2011

The goal of this study was to examine the financial impact the economy had on Arizona's K-12 public education, specifically analyzing the funding in Arizona for the period between 2007 and 2011. Three representative figures used included the Base Support Level (BSL); overall funding for Maintenance and Operations (M&O); and funding to the School Facilities Board (SFB). In addition, this study compared Arizona's handling of the financial meltdown and subsequent recovery to eight other states' K-12 per pupil funding. The financial meltdown refers to the recession that began in late 2007 due to the collapse in state revenues, leading to steep cuts to education funding. The states selected for this study included New Jersey, New York, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Washington, Kansas, Texas, and North Dakota. The states were selected using the top two states from each quartile: the top quartile, two from the middle two quartiles, and two from the bottom quartile of the K-12 per pupil spending report provided by National Center for Educational Statistics.;A literature review provided a background of the K-12 per pupil funding in the United States, specifically the history of Arizona's K-12 per pupil funding starting in the 1960s. Along with Arizona's history the review provided a brief history of the eight states being compared to Arizona. The literature review proceeded to examine the changes K-12 per pupil funding in Arizona over the years leading up to 2011.;This study was a quantitative ex post facto study that utilized archived data specifically analyzing the per pupil funding in Arizona for the period between 2007 and 2011. This study also used the descriptive method. The use of quantitative research methods, such as Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and the Tukey post-hoc on ANOVA results to compare multiple means, allowed evaluation of Arizona's K-12 per pupil funding with respect to eight other selected states according to four years of cross-sectional data.;Following the collection of the data, the author analyzed the findings. Overall, this study found that Arizona has had large decreases of per pupil funding for the period of 2007-2011. Specifically, Arizona's Base Support Level has had little change, Maintencance and Operations has had over a half billion dollar decrease, and almost a half million dollar decrease to the School Facilities Board. Statistical significance was found in Arizona's reduction of K-12 education expenditures during the period 2007 to 2011 compared to eight other selected states, as represented by average expenditures per pupil. There was not statistical significance found in Arizona's recovery of K-12 education expenditures during the period 2009-2011 compared to eight other selected states, as represented by percentage differentials between years of annual per pupil expenditures by state. Further research recommendations are offered to continue to impact Arizona's educational finance.