OPINION: A renewed Prop. 123 must guarantee living wages for all public education workers

Arizona’s public schools are fending off attacks on all sides, and their next battle revolves around the  State Land Trust, decades of deliberate underfunding by Republicans, and a ballot measure.

Proposition 123 was a referendum put before Arizona voters in 2016 to restore a portion of the inflation dollars that were withheld from schools during the Great Recession. Its passage enabled funding to flow to schools based on an increased payout from the State Land Trust. There was no increase in taxes to support this measure and this will remain consistent as the negotiations continue to extend Prop. 123.

What was Prop123? 

Over the last decade, Prop. 123 provided roughly $3.5 billion to Arizona’s public schools and is part of the settlement of the long-standing K-12 funding lawsuit. In 2000, Arizona voters approved Proposition  301, which included a measure requiring the legislature to increase the school funding formula annually by as much as 2% to adjust for inflation.

It also prohibited the base level of school funding from ever being reduced below the FY02 amount of $2,687 per pupil. During the recession, the inflation adjustment was not funded. A lawsuit was filed in 2010 alleging that the failure to fund inflation was in violation of the Voter Protection Act. After years of litigation, a tentative settlement was reached in  2015. The Legislature then developed a funding plan that would meet the terms of the settlement. This funding plan was Prop. 123.

The aftermath of Prop123

Because Proposition 301 provides that the Base Level and Transportation Support Level must be adjusted annually for inflation, the expiration of Prop. 123 should not mean an automatic reduction in the  Base Level amount for public schools. It is for this reason that the General Fund would pick up the tab to backfill the distributions to schools, unless the Legislature acts to reduce the formula for the Base Level.

The backfilling of these dollars is only contingent upon the Republican’s desire to maintain the current level of funding. The extension of Prop. 123, if approved by the voters, does not guarantee an increase in funding for schools. Republicans can—and likely will—decide to pull away the dollars the General Fund had backfilled to put it back towards their own initiatives because an extended Prop. 123 would supplant the backfill provided by the General Fund.

This is why it is essential that we are not putting forth a proposal that would tie the hands of our public schools. A proposal with an overly prescriptive, or inequitable, allowable use of funds would result in public schools having to make cuts or shift funding because they will no longer have discretion to spend the dollars to meet their local needs.

An additional hurdle to provide our public schools the best possible outcome through a Prop. 123  extension will be ensuring this is truly new money: we can’t continue to patch holes that Republicans poke in our state’s budget at the expense of public education or allow Republicans to shift this existing money back to the Land Trust and reduce taxes by $285M for the ultra-wealthy.

This moment is bigger than teacher pay

If I haven’t made it clear by now: Republicans got us into this mess, and they won’t be the ones to save us.

Republicans, led by former Gov. Ducey’s lead budgeteer Rep. Matt Gress, are deciding once again to play games with the future of public education funding in Arizona.

The current funding that Prop. 123 pulled down was, and should continue to be, categorized as discretionary spending to ensure our individual districts have every tool necessary to provide our students with the best possible education.

As a former teacher and school administrator, I understand how dangerously behind our state is when it comes to providing our educators and educational support staff with livable wages. However, it is unreasonable, and frankly dishonest, for Republicans to continue pushing the narrative that low teacher pay is the only reason we are suffering through a nearly decade-long teacher shortage.

Despite some six decades leading the legislature, Republicans conveniently become advocates for teacher pay increases when it benefits them most politically. The Republican plan for a Prop. 123 extension is not about fair teacher pay increases; it is about selective raises solely for the individuals who they believe are worthy.  But our teachers are not political pawns, and their pay should not be weaponized as a bargaining chip.

Democrats understand the stakes 

If we raise teacher pay but force those teachers into crumbling buildings with overflowing classroom sizes, we will have failed our teachers, our students, and our support staff.

It is detrimental the Republican majority is attempting to sell the narrative that we can’t have it all, but it is beyond me to try and understand why we wouldn’t move heaven and earth to ensure our students and educational professionals can succeed.