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AZ legislative GOP leaders respond to Hobbs' State of the State address

A key focus for Gov. Katie Hobbs’s first State of the State address was education.

Her message was that schools have been underfunded, and that the money has not been given. 

"We have some of the best K-12 schools in the country. But the state has long failed to live up to its obligation to adequately invest fairly in public education in every community," Hobbs said. 

In a response to the address from the governor, House Majority Leader Leo Biasiucci and Senate Majority Leader Sonny Borrelli boasted about passing more than a billion dollars in education funding. 

However, districts are unable to use much of those funds as it would go beyond a spending limit. 

"Hear us now, schools will not lose out on the money we have allocated for them. We will address this. But we will not rush the process," Biasiucci said. 

If the limit is not raised by March 1, Arizona schools would have to cut their budgets by about 17%.

Greg Hahne started as a news intern at KJZZ in 2020 and returned as a field correspondent in 2021. He learned his love for radio by joining Arizona State University's Blaze Radio, where he worked on the production team.