📚 Arizona’s district schools are sitting on 78 million square feet of excess space—enough for 630,000 more students. 🏷️ That unused real estate is worth $12.2 billion. 💸 And it’s costing taxpayers $1B every year just to maintain. Read CSI's full report to learn more: bit.ly/4m7Vhdw

Renovation and reinvestment are important factors in maintaining the housing supply. In Arizona, building permits are adding an average of 23 days to residential project timelines. These delays mean higher carrying costs, slower housing improvements, deferred maintenance, and fewer homes returning to the market. Read the full report: bit.ly/4tvnPS3 Read the reporting here: bit.ly/4fBBdjh

🎉 Happy Birthday to CSI CEO Cinamon Watson! Your leadership has helped grow CSI's impact, expand our reach, and bring data-driven research to important conversations across the country. Thank you for all you do to advance common sense policy conversations. Here's to another great year ahead! 🎂🎈

Today, we welcomed our 2026 summer interns! We're excited to have an incredible group of Junior Fellows joining us this summer as they dive into research, policy, communications, and economic issues shaping the future. Stay tuned to see what they accomplish!

Arizona's pandemic-induced revenue boom may be over, but spending growth remains. CSI's latest budget analysis finds local and state governments expanded spending rapidly during and after the pandemic. Some municipal budgets have grown by more than 30% in the last five years. For example, Tempe's General Fund spending is up approximately 50% since 2020. The report warns that as revenue growth normalizes, maintaining those spending levels becomes more challenging. Check out the full report: bit.ly/4e7wLqh

Did you know? Arizona's Medicaid enrollment is falling, but costs keep rising. CSI's new report finds AHCCCS enrollment has declined by about 209,000 people (10%) since its pandemic-era peak. Yet average per-member costs have increased 14%. The result: total program spending remains under pressure even as fewer people are enrolled. Learn more in the full report: bit.ly/4e7wLqh

CSI's Senior Economist, Zach Milne, joined @KTAR923 to discuss the forces shaping Arizona’s housing market, including mortgage rates, inflation, and housing affordability. The conversation highlighted findings from CSI’s latest Housing Affordability update, which found that Arizona currently faces an immediate housing shortfall of nearly 56,000 homes. Although home prices fell about 2.9% in 2025, they remain over 11% higher than pre-pandemic trends. High interest rates, gaps in housing supply, and strained mortgage affordability make entering the housing market a daunting task for prospective new buyers. 🏠 Read CSI's report on housing affordability here: bit.ly/4tkVLj5 👉 Watch the full segment here: bit.ly/4x3y1U1

As part of CSI Arizona’s 2026 Ballot Guide, a new report examines how the proposed “Protect Education Act” could reshape Arizona’s ESA program and impact school choice statewide. One key finding: Arizona families were already moving away from traditional district schools long before universal ESAs were adopted. ➤ District enrollment has been declining since 2008 ➤ Charter schools now educate about 1 in 4 Arizona public-school students ➤ Today, fewer than 70% of Arizona school-aged children are in district schools, down from 80% a decade ago The report finds Arizona’s shift toward alternative education options predates universal ESA expansion. Learn more : bit.ly/493aurN

Arizona's state budget has more than doubled in the last decade. According to CSI Arizona's latest Budget Then & Now report, total state spending has grown from roughly $35 billion in FY2015 to more than $71 billion today and could reach $75 billion by FY2027, depending on the outcome of negotiations. The report also notes that spending outside the regular legislative appropriations process grew 153% over the same period. These are the federal programs whose spending has runaway, like Medicaid/DDD and SNAP. Learn more in the full report: bit.ly/4e7wLqh

Arizona’s housing crunch is getting worse. In 2025, the state faced a shortage of nearly 56,000 housing units - that's up 5.1% from 2024. With vacancy rates falling and home construction slowing, supply still isn’t keeping up with demand. At the current pace of permitting, it would take more than 119 years to close the gap. Learn more in CSI's report: bit.ly/4tkVLj5 Read the article: bit.ly/4aguckj

CSI’s initial 2026 Ballot Guide report finds Arizona’s ESA program already includes audits, spending rules, and accountability safeguards. In a recent ADE random audit, just 1.9% of ESA spending was found to be “unallowable” — a lower rate than many other public programs. Private and homeschool students also perform better on the NAEP, ACT, and other standardized measures, and many participating schools already use nationally recognized curricula and accreditation standards. At the same time, district-school students struggle with poor performance on state assessments: ➤ Just 39% proficient in reading ➤ 32% are proficient in math ➤ 27% proficient in science CSI’s analysis highlights the importance of accountability and transparency throughout Arizona’s entire education system - traditional and new. Learn more: bit.ly/493aurN

Arizona’s housing crisis is deepening as @CSInstituteAZ reports a 56,000‑unit shortfall and a long‑term deficit topping 110,000 homes. Permitting has fallen to its slowest pace since 2019, prices remain far above pre‑pandemic levels, and fewer than half of households can afford an average‑priced home. azfreenews.com/2026/05/repor…

Arizona’s ESA program now serves 100,000 students with $1.1B in annual scholarships. The proposed “Protect Education Act” would add income caps and new requirements that CSI estimates could immediately impact thousands of current ESA families, with more affected over time as incomes rise faster than the cap adjustment. Universal ESA didn’t start Arizona’s school choice shift, it expanded on a trend families had already been driving for more than a decade. Learn more in CSI's full report: bit.ly/493aurN Read additional coverage: bit.ly/4v9Zn8Y

Arizona’s manufacturing sector continues to struggle. CSI Arizona’s latest jobs update finds the state lost: ➤ 400 manufacturing jobs in April alone ➤ 500 manufacturing jobs year-over-year Arizona was also one of 39 states reporting annual manufacturing job losses. Learn more in CSI's full report: bit.ly/4v5IEDP

This Memorial Day, we honor and remember the men and women who gave their lives in service to our country. Their sacrifice made the freedoms and opportunities we enjoy possible.

Arizona added 8,100 jobs in April, but the bigger story is how flat the state’s labor market has become. After seven straight months of year-over-year job losses, Arizona returned to positive annual growth but at just 0.41% — a sign the labor market may be stabilizing, but still remains unusually weak (as it has been for 2 years). Learn more: bit.ly/4v5IEDP

How could the proposed income cap in the "Protect Education Act" impact Arizona families? CSI's new Ballot Guide report analyzes the immediate and long-term effects of this proposal if passed. Director of Policy & Research, Glenn Farley breaks it down ⬇️ Read the full report: bit.ly/493aurN

Only 42% of Arizona households can afford a new mortgage today, down from 66% in 2019. CSI's latest housing affordability update shows just how much ground has been lost — and how much work remains. Read the full article here: bit.ly/4dIadgB CSI's Housing Update: bit.ly/4tkVLj5

CSI's first 2026 Ballot Guide report finds that district schools lost about 50,000 students after the pandemic. This was two years before universal ESAs– caused instead by disruptions to the classroom experience, poor standards and curriculum, and a long-term decline in student performance. The report also estimates that the proposed “Protect Education Act” would immediately render an estimated 20,300 current ESA families ineligible and permanently exclude more than 400,000 Arizona school-aged children from ever accessing universal ESAs just because of family income. Learn more in the full report: bit.ly/493aurN

Arizona's State Land Endowment Trust Fund just surpassed $10 billion for the first time — a historic milestone, but CSI's research suggests the fund could have been worth more than 16 times that amount had the land grant been managed differently. Read the @AZFreeNews piece: bit.ly/4eUZpwR Check out CSI's full analysis: bit.ly/4rpjFdR

CSI Arizona’s latest 2026 Ballot Guide report finds the proposed ESA income cap could immediately affect thousands of Arizona families. The analysis estimates that about 20,300 current universal ESA families would immediately lose Universal eligibility if the Act passes, with even more families gradually excluded over time as household incomes grow faster than the cap adjustment. Over half of families would be ineligible by 2045. Learn more: bit.ly/493aurN