November 30, 2015 9:50AM # AZ School Officials Oppose Higher Public School Spending By [Andrew J. Coulson](https://www.cato.org/people/andrew-coulson) --- SHARE What might explain this unusual turn of events? Allow the *WSJ* to explain: [Arizona governor Doug Ducey has come up with a plan to spend $2 billion more on public schools over the next decade–without raising taxes. ](http://www.wsj.com/articles/arizonas-end-run-around-the-education-spending-lobby-1448656992?cb=logged0.023620671021509332)According to his plan, the money would go directly into the classroom, rather than though the public school bureacracy’s normal funding process.That’s a big deal in Arizona, which [spends a smaller portion of its education budget in the classroom ](http://azednews.com/2015/02/27/report-on-arizona-school-district-spending-released-by-auditor-general/)(54%) than is typical of other states (61%). The \[negative\]reaction to Ducey’s plan seems to be spearheaded by Michael Cowan, the superintendent of Mesa Public Schools, Arizona’s largest district,who [launched an email and robocall campaign to turn parents against the proposal](http://www.wsj.com/articles/arizonas-end-run-around-the-education-spending-lobby-1448656992?cb=logged0.023620671021509332).Why? Well, naturally: “for the children.” How *preventing* an increase in classroom spending might help children may not be obvious to everyone,so the *WSJ* helpfully offers an alternative explanation for district officials’ opposition: “Mr. Ducey’s plan disrupted the usual coalition of teachers unions and public school districts, leading some in the K‑12 establishment—those administrators and union officials who have a way of soaking up dollars while doing little for students—to take the unfamiliar position of *objecting* to new education funding.” either that, or, somehow(?), “it’s for the children.”™ If only there were a system for organizing economic activity under which revenues are most easily raised by better-serving one’s customers or by attracting additional ones. And if only that system [had been shown to work in education ](https://object.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/articles/10.1.1.175.6495.pdf) just as in other fields. ##### Related Tags [Education](https://www.cato.org/education), [Center for Educational Freedom](https://www.cato.org/center-educational-freedom) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).