Laurie Roberts: Here’s what Ducey should do for teachers.

Arizona teachers are preparing to strike, skeptical that Gov. Doug Ducey can (or will) deliver on his promise of an eventual 20 percent pay raise.

Meanwhile, Ducey is strong-arming the Legislature to pass his pay plan ASAP, vetoing bill after bill with a message that he wants his teacher pay proposal passed now.

Who will blink first?

I’m guessing ... Ducey.

The governor who ran on a pledge to cut taxes every year may well wind up being the governor who raises taxes — or at least allows it to happen on his watch.

Here’s the problem for Ducey: It’s not exactly a secret that taxes have been cut to the point that this state cannot properly fund public education.

Ducey can’t propose raising taxes. But he also can’t convince enough Republican legislators that he can somehow miraculously fund his plan without digging the state into a big financial hole in a few years.

(If he could, we’d already be seeing the budget flying through the Legislature.)

Meanwhile, the eyes of the nation are on Ducey as #RedforEd teachers prepare to walk out on Thursday and there is quiet talk that the Arizona Education Association is considering a ballot proposal to increase income taxes on the wealthiest Arizonans.

Read: a total non-starter for Ducey, who ran on a promise to cut the state’s income tax to as close to zero as possible.

So what’s a governor to do? Well, he could follow along the path of one of his predecessors, Gov. Jan Brewer.

In 2010, when the state was facing a huge revenue shortfall, she got the Legislature to approve two budgets: One that cut schools and a second one that avoided massive cuts should voters agree to temporary sales-tax increase.

Voters in May 2010 passed Prop. 100 at Brewer’s urging and the schools were spared.

Ducey could do the same thing: Offer two budgets.

Plan A: A budget that proposes eventual 20 percent pay raises with no new revenue source.

Plan B: Same budget accompanied by the referral of a proposed sales-tax increase to the November ballot.

Republicans may or may not vote for Plan A. But a coalition of moderate Republicans and Democrats would certainly approve Plan B, putting the issue in voters’ hands — the same voters who have indicated in polls that they would be willing to tax themselves to boost school funding.

Of course, Ducey wouldn’t campaign for a tax increase as Brewer did. But a promise not to campaign against it would do three things.

1. It would put this issue behind Ducey and get it off the national news.

2. It would pull the rug out from under his Democratic opponents, whose No. 1 campaign issue is Ducey’s lack of support for public schools.

3. It would head off a possible bruising fight over raising income taxes for rich Arizonans — a fight I’m guessing Ducey and his “dark money” supporters would rather avoid. Especially in a year in which Ducey is up for reelection.

Oh, Ducey might lose support from the state’s most conservative voices if he goes with Plan B, and I’m pretty sure his Koch pals wouldn’t be happy.

But he’d likely cement a second term. And wouldn’t that be ironic?

The governor who ran on a pledge to cut taxes bolsters his chances for reelection by allowing voters to raise taxes.