When is education funding ever enough?

When is it ever enough? You see it on these pages. You hear it at school board meetings, on television news and in committees here at the Legislature. “Arizona doesn’t spend ‘enough’ on education.”

As chairwoman of the Senate Education Committee and a grandmother to 19, I work as hard as anyone to do everything I can to give Arizona children the best education possible. So I have an honest question: What total amount of money do we need to provide so that we are spending “enough?”

Arizonans pay local, state and federal taxes toward funding K-12 education. This year, more than $4.3 billion, or around 44.5 percent of the state’s $9.65 billion General Fund budget, will be spent on K-12. And if you include funding for higher education, that number rises to 51.7 percent.

But if you’re one of those who feel nearly half the state budget isn’t enough, you have a couple of options: Raise taxes or shift funding from another area to education.

Let’s start with taxes. In 2012, Proposition 204 was brought before the voters to generate more money for education, with a proposed 1 percent increase in the state sales-tax rate. What did voters think of the idea? Nearly 64 percent voted no on Prop. 204. You made it abundantly clear that you don’t want higher taxes.

So what about moving money from another area? Do we let our roads continue to deteriorate? Should we let sex offenders out of prison? Should we reverse our efforts in spending millions more on child safety?

More and more spending on K-12 isn’t such an easy answer when you have to look at all the ways we spend your money.

Gov. Doug Ducey did come up with a creative way to get more money in the classrooms and to our teachers without raising taxes. And you supported Proposition 123. It’s bringing $3.5 billion in new money to our schools over the next 10 years.

Republicans at the Legislature are committing to smarter spending, supporting innovative teaching methods and providing a variety of available education platforms for students to succeed, whether that is through our district schools, JTED programs, charter schools or online courses.

We’re seeing results from our efforts. Test scores are improving, especially in our minority population. Families continue to have more options for an excellent education.

So when you hear someone say we need to “adequately fund” education, perhaps ask them for a number. Instead of $4 billion, should it be $5 billion? Six billion? And where do we get that money?

I understand as legislators we’re an easy target, but also please realize that we work hard every day to improve education in Arizona. If you have an idea to advance education in our state, please let us know.

Sen. Sylvia Allen, a Republican, represents District 6 and is chair of the Senate Education Committee. Email her at sallen@azleg.gov.