Arizona Environmental Education License Plates Generate Revenue

Anyone would be hard pressed to suggest that environmental education wasn’t good for all of us. Educating kids is a priority in the fight to save our planet. Just look at one Web site that has enviro-activities for kids.One way the Arizona government has made sure education about ecology gets out is through the Environmental Education specialty auto license plate, introduced in 1990, according to a Lewis and Clark College report.
This environmental education license plate funds educational programs through the Arizona State Land Department. Image courtesy Arizona Motor Vehicle Department. Used with permission.

People who request the plate pay an extra $25 dollars per year for it, of which $17 is allocate for the Arizona Land Department, which in turn maintains several National Resource Conservation District Education Centers around the state. According to the Arizona Motor Vehicle Department, 172,823 of these plates were issued between 1998 and 2007, adding up year-end numbers as far back as the MVD had records.

The 21 NRCD Education Centers exist “to promote a balanced appreciation and awareness of Arizona’s environment,” according to the Arizona Land Department programs Web site.One of these centers, the Redington NRCD, offered field trips last year to kids to learn about food production and had bat house building workshops, as well.

Now, these centers were not the first beneficiaries of these monies. Originally, the money went to Arizona schools. In 1995, the Arizona legislature changed the legal mandate that went with the plate, that schools would be required to provide environmental education, and gave the money to the Arizona Land Department. So, Arizona’s schools don’t have to educate kids on the environment. Many do, regardless.

The amount of money provided by this plate makes its existence less and less important, since year-end issue counts have dropped about 51 percent since 1998, the oldest date for which the MVD had data on it. While personalized environmental education plates are on the rise, the standard plate has dropped about 66 percent since 1998.

The Arizona Land Department and its NRCD Education Centers are feeling the impact. From financial year 2003 to 2005, the amount of money from the plates dropped by $280,700, or about 47 percent, according to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee’s 2005 budget.

So, while there exists a state mechanism to promote environmental education, it seems to be waning a bit. Perhaps one bright light in it all is that people who want to contribute to environmental education and like to personalize their license plates are doing so more often. Maybe the plate will make a comeback.