Gov. Jan Brewer says she looking for ways to find more money for education following the defeat earlier this week of Proposition 204.
Among those opposing the measure was Gov. Jan Brewer. Her objections included the fact that while the initiative would have raised about $1 billion a year, only $90 million was tied to performance measures. The governor told Arizona Public Radio that's not acceptable.
"If we're going to do things, we need accountability," she said. "That's what it all comes down to. Accountability."
Brewer said that has to involve student testing -- but done in a way to recognize that not all students in the same grade are starting from the same point.
"There are ways I've been told that you're able to do that, that they grow in that period in time, that they just don't pass the test but that they grow from where they were at the beginning," she said. "That doesn't mean that they're all going to be rocket scientists, but that they've grown. Somebody's teaching. Somebody's learning."
The governor was party to the reductions made in education funding during the recession, a figure legislative budget analysts put at close to $600 million since 2008. She said now is a good time to look at restoring some of that.
"We have to be responsible," the Governor added. "We all know that. We're not afloat with a lot of money. But we certainly have a balanced budget, a cash carry-forward and a rainy day fund. So we can do things."
The governor releases her budget plan in January.