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Next steps for K-12 funding
Every two years, voters get to reassess their state Legislature. Education issues could be a deciding point.
Every two years, voters get to reassess the Arizona Legislature: Should they return incumbents, or go with the challengers?
This year's primary election on Aug. 30 offers that opportunity in 24 races, out of 90. Given there is only a handful of competitive districts, the primary will likely be the decisive contest in 22 of the 24 races.
As early voting begins on Wednesday, it's clear that education is on voters' minds.
It's the top issue in statewide polls, says Rebecca Gau of Stand for Children, a non-profit advocacy group that promotes public education.
The primary also comes on the heels of Proposition 123, an education-funding measure on last May's ballot. The hotly debated measure focused attention on the K-12 system's financial shortcomings, which had spilled into a drawn-out legal battle.
While most candidates in competitive races say the K-12 system needs more money, they are vague on where it will come from, or when.
"A lot of folks are looking at what the next step is after (Prop.) 123," said Maria Syms, one of five Republicans running for the GOP nomination to the Arizona House of Representatives in east Phoenix/Paradise Valley, where school funding is a perennial issue.
A week after Prop. 123 squeaked out a win, directing $3.2 billion to schools over the next 10 years, a coalition of education groups noted schools were still $1.2 billion short of the funding they had before the Great Recession.
The pressure was on for more money, reflected in the surveys various groups sent to legislative candidates this summer. For example, the Children's Action Alliance pressed candidates on whether they would support increasing funding every year for education.
Stand for Children said it intends to push for a doubling of the money the state spends to ensure kids are reading at third-grade level before they can move on. That would require $80 million next year.
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What's next?
The "next step" after Prop. 123 is not clear.
Gov. Doug Ducey has a panel working on changes to the state's education-funding formula. He's ruled out a tax increase, and suggested focusing on outcomes, not funding, is the bigger need.
The Greater Phoenix Leadership business group has started talks on "Project 456" with an eye toward the expiration in 2021 of a 0.06-cent sales tax that has supported education for the past two decades.
Prop. 123 school funding
And groups that supported Prop. 123 made it clear their work didn't end with the May 17 vote: They are taking aim at legislative candidates to push for new funding.
With Prop. 123's passage, some predict education funding might not be much of a battleground in the primaries, despite acknowledgements that the measure does little to lift Arizona from the bottom of national per-pupil spending.
"(For) the Republican base, the polling shows the big issues now are the issues that are playing at the (national GOP) convention: immigration, security and guns," said political consultant Jaime Molera. "I think the conversation may be more about getting money to the classroom than about more money."
He is working with a coalition of business groups, including Greater Phoenix Leadership and the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, on education policy.
Chamber president and CEO Glenn Hamer agreed with Molera that 123's passage diminished the urgency of the more-money-for-schools message.
"It's probably going to be an issue in this sense: Incumbents are going to talk about how they put more money into the K-12 system and the university system," Hamer said. He added it could serve as an incumbent-protection shield. "I can't imagine this is an issue where any incumbent legislator would be hit (negatively) on education funding."
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New money needed, some say
But the AZ Schools Now! coalition, comprised of teachers, school-board members, parents and business people, says still-unfunded needs, such as classroom supplies, building maintenance and all-day kindergarten, require new money.
A tax increase isn't necessary, said Dick Foreman, a coalition member and president/CEO of the Arizona Business and Education Coalition. Lawmakers could look at closing tax loopholes, or stopping planned tax cuts, moves that would increase state revenue without taking more money out of voters' pockets, Foreman said at a news conference a week after Prop. 123 passed.
Joe Thomas, president of the Arizona Education Association, the major teachers' union, said efforts to redirect the K-12 funding conversation to how to redistribute existing money ignores the message of Prop. 123. The measure settled a lawsuit, he said, awarding the schools a portion of the money the courts had decided the schools were owed. It didn't provide any new money.
"For the systemic change we're talking about, I don't think you can cut the pie any differently," Thomas said. "It's going to take new money."
The candidates' stances
Reflecting the lack of a clear next step, most candidates in competitive primary races say they support new money for the schools. But it might not come quickly.
"What I'm hearing most about is funding and fixing the funding formula so we can put more money in classrooms," said Mary Hamway, another Republican in the crowded Legislative District 28 race in east Phoenix/Paradise Valley.
Matt Morales, another LD28 candidate, said he supports returning K-12 funding to pre-recession levels. Reworking the state's funding formula could help, but new money should come from a growing economy, not a tax increase, he said.
That's an argument echoed by Syms. "A thriving economy is key to having the revenue," she said. That will provide the money to shrink class sizes and hike teacher pay.
Alberto Gutier III, also in the GOP race, said lawmakers tap the money in Arizona's public campaign-finance system for schools. Neither he nor his four Republican opponents are using the publicly financed system, he said, so why not put the money toward K-12? The idea has been broached numerous times at the Legislature, but has floundered under constitutional questions, as well as opposition from lawmakers who support the public campaign-finance system.
Ken Bowers, the fifth candidate in the race, has built his campaign around prison reform and admits, "I don't know anything about education."
Across town, in the West Valley, education is "heads and shoulders" above every other issue as he talks to voters, said Sen. Martin Quezada, D-Phoenix. He is in a pitched primary battle with Lydia Hernandez, a former House member.
Both Democrats serve on school boards, and both have indicated their support for increased K-12 funding.
Quezada said the money is readily available if lawmakers would close tax loopholes and reconsider pending tax cuts. These are ideas legislative Democrats have offered for years, but which have not gained traction in the GOP-controlled Legislature.
In nearby Legislative District 12, Rep. Steve Montnegro, R-Litchfield Park, is touting his support for Prop. 123, both as a lawmaker who voted to send it to the ballot and as a voter. The next step is to be sure the money is being spent wisely, he said. That's got to happen before there's any talk of increasing funding.
His opponent, Diane Landis, strikes a similar tone: A CPA by training, she said accountability is key. "I would need to see that every dollar out there is being spent well," she said. "It's not all about the money."
Where do they stand?
The Arizona Republic and azcentral have queried candidates about their stance on education, among numerous issues. The guide is scheduled to go live on Friday at azvotes.azcentral.com.
Candidates' positions are reflected in other questionnaires as well.
Other groups declined to share their questionnaires, but have endorsed candidates. They include:
Reach the reporter at maryjo.pitzl@arizonarepublic.com and follow her on Twitter, @maryjpitzl.
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