For the kids:

A ballot initiative that proposes to eliminate all the state sales tax exemptions and use the revenue to significantly boost funding for students and teachers is in the works. Bob Donahue says he is tired of all talk and no action on education funding.

“I don’t think parents will accept it if the Legislature tries to sabotage it in the way they’ve tried to sabotage other initiatives.” BOB DONAHUE RETIRED CORNVILLE BUSINESSMAN

Retired Cornville businessman Bob Donahue said he is tired of what he calls all the talk and no action on education funding in Arizona.

“I’ve lived here for 72 years and I’ve never seen education this sorry,” he said. “It’s an atrocious situation.”

Gov. Doug Ducey and the Legislature earlier this year agreed students and teachers need more money. The end result included a 1 percent pay hike for next year, which fell far below what teachers had asked for. (The Legislature promised to approve an additional 1 percent the following year.)

A group of businessman is pushing to expand the Proposition 301 education sales tax, but has not yet made any move to get something on the ballot.

So Donahue decided to take matters into his own hands.

“My wife and I are both retired; we recently sold a business. And I don’t take very well to retirement,” he said. “So I began talking to some of the local educators up here and kind of came up with a wish list of what it would take to really turn this thing around.”

Donahue, who has a degree in economics, pulled paperwork with the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office to begin collecting signatures for a ballot initiative that proposes to eliminate all the state sales tax exemptions and use the revenue to significantly boost funding for students and teachers.

The initiative would:

» Require the state to fund full-day kindergarten and community college classes.

» Assure P.E., art and humanities are taught at all grade levels.

» Increase K-12 student funding by 36 percent.

» Increase median teacher pay by 30 percent, so that the median teacher would earn $56,533 by 2023.

» Require all certification for all teachers, or ensure they are on a track to achieving certification.

» Set up a $500 million fund to pay for school maintenance and construction.

» Forbid all participating schools from asking voters for budget overrides.

“I realized with our budget the way it is, the money just isn’t there,” he said. “Revamping the tax structure was what it was going to take. When you broaden the tax base, everybody has to pay less but the government collects more.”

Donahue, who calls his committee Legislative Underground, will need to collect 150,642 signatures from valid Arizona voters by July 5 to qualify for the November ballot.

But he said he isn’t worried.

If the state’s 46,000 teachers each collect 10 signatures, he said, he’ll be in great shape.

“What teacher won’t want to go out and get 10 signatures from parents, school boosters?” he asked. “Who doesn’t want to see teaches have a raise?”

He said he’s much more concerned about getting the Legislature to accept the plan.

“In the past they’ve played dirty,” he said. “But I think we can hold them to the fire on this. I don’t think parents will accept it if the Legislature tries to sabotage it in the way they’ve tried to sabotage other initiatives.”

Donahue said he’s heard about the other efforts, particularly those to increase funding through Proposition 301. But he doesn’t believe that would bring in enough money. He estimates a 30 percent pay raise for teachers would cost at least $650 million. That plus the cost to boost student funding and cover maintenance costs would exceed what the Prop. 301 proposal would bring in.