An Honor the Most Sensitive

"Is political difficulty now a guiding principle for the board? Or is it going to be the best situation that produces revenue, consistent with your trust duty for public education?"

Had Arizona adopted a 4.5% rate in 2016, the fund would be $1.4 billion larger today. Because the corpus would be significantly healthier, the "payout gap" schools are currently facing would be roughly $85 million, a manageable figure, rather than the staggering $285 million shortfall created by the lower $6.2 billion balance.

Utah announced a record-breaking $134 million distribution for the 2026-2027 school year.