A.R.S. § 15-915 (B) / Transwestern

School Finance is aware of recent tax judgements that affect the assessed values for a number of school districts. We are asking that affected districts submit requests for state aid correction and supporting documents by April 15, 2021.

School districts may submit a request to correct state aid payments in prior years due to court-ordered changes in Assessed Valuation under A.R.S. § 15-915 (B). The correction process is similar to other state aid correction requests, but corrections for state aid due to a change in Assessed Valuation can only be made after the review of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee (JLBC). Excessive Property Tax Valuation Judgments on the Expenditure Budget will be awarded accordingly as well.

Statute

Per A.R.S. § 15-915 (B), "Subject to the review by the joint legislative budget committee, the superintendent of public instruction shall adjust state aid for a school district in the current year if the governing board of a school district requests the recalculation of state aid for a prior year due to a change in assessed valuation that occurred as the result of a judgment in accordance with section 42-16213".

Process

Please submit the following documents to Xin Liu ([email protected]):

1. Copy of signed court order
2. Copy of signed 915 request letter (guidelines) from the Superintendent/Business Manager
3. Copy of original primary net assessed valuations (Limited Property Value) and the amended primary net assessed valuations (Limited Property Value) for each impacted property of each impacted year (this should be the official document  from the county assessor's office directly)

ADE School Finance will review and perform the calculation and then forward the documents to the JBLC for review. State aid and budget capacity will be adjusted after JBLC notifies ADE that the review is complete.

Please contact Xin Liu ([email protected]) if you have any questions about this process.