Tax bill to aid schools signed

Measure extends rate for another 20 years

Gov. Doug Ducey on Monday signed into law a bill that extends for 20 years the education sales-tax rate that brings in about $667 million a year to Arizona schools.

Voters passed the tax rate as Proposition 301 in 2000. The 0.6 cent per dollar sales tax was set to expire in mid-2021 if voters or the Legislature didn’t act.

Republican leadership fast-tracked the proposal Thursday after more than a month of legislative inaction and weeks of vocal protests from Arizona teachers demanding higher wages.

The proposal doesn’t give the state’s public schools and universities any additional funding, or increase the tax rate in any way. But it would extend the rate through 2041 and shuffle how some of the money would be distributed to schools.

The money funds teacher salaries, classroom expenses, dropout preven-

tion, building maintenance, universities and community colleges.

Two state lawmakers — Rep. Doug Coleman, RApache Junction, and Sen. Kate Brophy McGee, R-Paradise Valley — introduced the legislation early this session to extend the tax rate.

Their reasoning has been that Senate Bill 1390 essentially removes the financial uncertainty schools were approaching as they near the tax measure’s 2021 expiration date.

Coleman said he introduced the bill to help make sure the existing funding is protected. He believes the measure should be expanded to include more funding for schools, but said an extension will give state leaders some breathing room to then consider increasing the tax.

“I challenge this body to have the guts to do something,” Coleman, a longtime high-school teacher, said Thursday. “Teachers want to stay in the classroom and can’t afford it.”

There has been wide support among education and business advocates for extending and even increasing the sales-tax rate from Prop. 301 — viewed by many as a crucial step toward restoring hundreds of millions of dollars of education-funding cuts following the recession.

The Senate bill passed 26-4. The House bill passed 53-6, with one member absent. All the no votes were from Republicans.

Extending the tax rate is “absolutely the right thing to do,” Brophy-McGee said Thursday.

“If we can eliminate the cliff, which is all this does, we can set the stage for a very extensive discussion on what the new Prop. 301 looks like, and every education interest will be at the table.”

Under the legislation, about $64 million that currently goes to the state’s School Facilities Board to finish paying off debt would be redirected to the Classroom Site Fund, which can go toward teacher salaries.

House Speaker J.D. Mesnard, R-Chandler, said the change would increase the amount of money distributed to the Classroom Site Fund by 17 percent. The actual amount of raises in pay per Arizona teacher, though, could amount to about 2 percent once enacted in 2021, Mesnard said.

House Minority Leader Rebecca Rios, D-Phoenix, who supported the bill, said that could equate — three years from now — to about $18 more a week per teacher.

Because this new measure is legislatively approved and not voter approved, future legislatures will be able to more easily change the tax rate or where the money goes. There is some agreement among both Democrats and Republicans that some tweaks could be beneficial.

But Democratic lawmakers warned that they would be closely watching to assure future lawmakers safeguard voters’ original intent.

Sen. Martin Quezada, D-Phoenix, who is also president of the Pendergast Elementary School District governing board, said Thursday that lawmakers should not be celebrating the passage of this bill. A teacher sick-out over low pay shut down nine schools in his district this week.

“We shouldn’t go home tonight and feel like we’ve accomplished something,” he said. “All we’ve done is extended the status quo in our schools. And right now, the status quo in public education in Arizona is absolutely horrible.”

Senate President Steve Yarbrough, R-Chandler, said Thursday that he thought the passage of this measure was something lawmakers should celebrate.

“This is a good day for public education in Arizona,” he said.