(Image source from: onewisconsinnow.org)

The $12.5 billion state budget proposal has been released by the Democrats of Arizona on Monday. The Arizona Democrats say that the budget proposal has been crafted while keeping the citizens of Arizona in mind.

Charlene Fernandez said in a press conference that the budget that has been made invests in people and the infrastructure I ways that would lift and encourage the people and also the innovation and entrepreneurship.

The proposal that has been made by the Democrats of Arizona focuses on the education and it calls for $203.3 million in order to make sure of restoring the additional assistance to K-12 public schools which are said to be flexible dollars that can be used by the schools in order to meet their needs. The funds have been cut in the midst of the Great Recession.

The requests are being made by the Democrats for more than $200 million for covering pay raises for the support staff of the school which includes librarians and bus drivers and also the education programs.

The Democrats had also requested for nearly $126 million for the repair that has to be made in the school and $147 million in order to make the universities and the colleges of the community more affordable.

A request has also been made for $154.3 million in order to fix the highways, roads and the bridges.

Randy Friese who is the House assistant minority leader has mentioned that the bottom line regarding the budget proposal was the investment in the infrastructure which would in turn make the communities safer and more economically competitive as it would create jobs in the short term.

State budget of $124.7 million has been included by the Democrats for the health care and for the social service programs where as $78.8 million has been included for the housing programs and $28.5 million for the programs related to environment.

The funding for the programs which would further benefit the children, seniors and the people with disabilities were also called on by the Democrats.

Bradley has said that their budget would roll back some programs and credits which do not distribute the resources of the state fairly rather than raising the taxes in order to cover the additional funding that has been requested.

By Shrithika Kushangi