This bill proposes several updates to the current statutes regarding school district tax levies in Arizona. Under the new provisions, the county school superintendent will be required to annually reduce the primary school district tax levy requests based on the total ending cash balances from the school district's maintenance and operations fund and unrestricted capital outlay fund, as reported in the previous fiscal year's financial report. The bill specifies that the reduction will be calculated by subtracting the current year's budget balances from the total ending cash balances, with a limit set at 85% of the calculated reduction amount. Additionally, the assessed valuation will now be included in the written estimate for the amount of funds required by each school district for the upcoming school year.

Furthermore, the bill introduces a temporary provision that allows for a lesser reduction in the primary school district tax levy for the tax years 2027 through 2031, permitting school districts to reduce their tax rate for the calculated "dead cash" levy by no less than 20% each year. This section will be repealed after July 1, 2032. The bill also makes various technical and conforming changes to existing statutes to ensure consistency with the new requirements.

Statutes affected:
Introduced Version: 9-237
House Engrossed Version: 15-991, 15-992, 15-971, 42-17052