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State superintendent Diane Douglas: No money included in budget for IT services

Posted at 8:11 PM, Feb 14, 2017
and last updated 2017-02-14 22:11:45-05

Arizona's state superintendent is warning thousands of teachers won't get paid unless money is added to the budget in the Department of Education.

Superintendent Diane Douglas says the governor's budget failed to include any IT money for her agency for next fiscal year, which begins July 1. 

She estimates the department received $7 million last year to pay for computer repairs, software development and about 150 information technology workers. The IT department receives enrollment and other data from schools statewide, calculates state financial aid to those schools and makes the electronic payments.

"The money will never get to the classrooms if we don't have the IT system to get it [there]," Douglas said. "Quite frankly, this is routine operations money that is desperately needed."           

Douglas is asking fro $17 million for IT needs for the next fiscal year.

Governor Doug Ducey's office tells ABC15 there have been meetings with Education Department officials. The governor's staff says the funding issue will be resolved and there won't be any issues with payments come July.