PHOENIX, Ariz. – A new report from the Common Sense Institute (CSI) finds that while enrollment in district schools has declined more than 5% since the pandemic, taxpayer spending on school buildings, vehicles, and transportation has surged—leaving millions of square feet and thousands of bus seats empty across the state.
The analysis titled Echoes in the Halls: Arizona School Districts’ Growing Problem with Empty Buildings and Empty Buses, reveals widespread inefficiencies in Arizona’s public school system, driven by outdated funding formulas that reward asset accumulation even as student populations shift to charter, private, and home-school settings.
Key Findings:
- Excess Facilities: Arizona’s district schools now operate with 78 million square feet of excess building space—enough room for 630,000 additional students. The market value of these unused assets is $12.2 billion, and taxpayers could potentially save $1 billion annually in maintenance and operation costs if divested or put to use.
- Enrollment Declines: Traditional district school enrollment has dropped by 47,500 students just since 2019, while nearly 40% of incoming kindergarteners are now choosing non-district schools. CSI estimates half of all Arizona K-12 students are in schools of choice.
- Rising Capital Spending: Despite fewer students, capital expenditures surged 67% to $8.9 billion over five years, adding 499 new buildings statewide.
- Transportation Inefficiencies: The number of eligible student bus riders has fallen 45%, yet districts purchased 3,098 new vehicles in the last five years and transportation spending rose to $561.2 million annually. Outdated formulas and priorities mean school transportation systems prioritize a rapidly shrinking demographic – urban students attending their assigned district school.
- Mismatch Between Performance and Resources: Low-performing schools operate at 19% of rated capacity, while high-performing schools are at 70%, highlighting systemic misalignment of resources and student needs.
“Arizona’s K-12 funding model was built for perpetual growth,” said Glenn Farley, CSI’s Director of Policy & Research. “But with declining enrollment and rising school choice, that model is leaving taxpayers with billions in underused assets and fewer dollars reaching students. Today, public district schools hold 148.6 million square feet of property—making them Arizona’s fifth-largest private landowner. That’s the equivalent of 2.6 NFL stadiums, or enough space for 2,246 homes. At the same time, many of the state’s high-performing district, charter, and private schools are starved for space. This misallocation represents not only a missed opportunity, but an urgent call to modernize how we allocate school facilities and transportation resources.” CSI’s report recommends a statewide strategy to repurpose underused school assets, expand equitable access to transportation for all students, and update funding formulas to reflect today’s education landscape.
