Arizona School District Financial Risk Analysis—January 2026

This is an analysis of Arizona school district financial risk using the most current data available for 10 financial risk measures. We monitor each district’s overall financial risk of not being able to operate within its available budget constraints and cash resources. We have been publishing this analysis since December 2020.

Key takeaways from this year’s analysis

• As of January 2026, 9 of 207 analyzed Arizona school districts are at the highest financial risk, and 9 are approaching the highest-risk category. This represents an increase from last year’s report when our analysis identified 2 highest-risk school districts and 7 approaching the highest-risk category. 
• Compared to our January 2025 report, in this year’s report the number of school districts State-wide at high risk by measure increased for 7 of the 10 financial risk measures. 
• Districts experiencing declining student counts along with declining budget limit reserves and cash resources may need to immediately reduce costs to operate within budget constraints and cash resources. Such districts with multiple risk areas should analyze the cause(s) of their risks and identify and implement appropriate risk-mitigation actions. Eight of the 9 highest-risk districts developed a written financial risk action plan to mitigate their risks. The plans are available on each district’s page, other than Wilson Elementary School District, which instead describes why the District has not submitted a plan.

We provide our analysis results and the underlying data for the highest-risk and approaching highest-risk districts and other Arizona school districts in an interactive, user-friendly, web-based format. This format will allow you to easily view detailed information for a single district or more summarized information for all districts State-wide, by county, or by legislative district. The website also explains the measures analyzed and how the analyses can be used to better understand a district’s overall financial risk. Districts not included on the highest-risk districts list may still be identified as high risk for 1 or more individual measures. Therefore, all district stakeholders can use this data and any risks identified when evaluating district budget- and finance-related decisions.

Links to the report overview, State results, and District results are included below. Additionally, users can view the January 2026 data file and a financial risk action plan template under “Additional Documents.”