Invest in Education files signatures for Nov. ballot

Invest in Education, a group that proposes to raise nearly $1 billion for education by taxing the state’s wealthiest residents, filed 435,669 signatures on Thursday to make it on the November ballot.

The measure needed 237,654 signatures to qualify.

Invest in Education announced the measure in January and began collecting signatures. While the coronavirus pandemic threw the effort for a loop, leaders said they continued to collect signatures in person while honoring recommendations for social distancing.

Rebecca Gau, executive director of Stand for Children and an advocate for the measure, said the revenue the initiative would bring in for education is needed now more than ever as schools grapple with the pandemic’s effects.

“Hundreds of thousands of parents had to do involuntary homeschooling and got to feel firsthand what it’s like to be a teacher and what it’s like to not have the resources you need,” she said.

This is the second time the group has aimed for a spot on the ballot.

The Arizona Supreme Court knocked the first version of the Invest in Education initiative off the 2018 ballot a few months before the election, citing unclear language. Educators who spent months collecting signatures decried the court’s decision as politically-motivated. In 2018, the measure submitted nearly twice the number of signatures as was needed.

The Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry recently announced a committee to defeat the measure. Jaime Molera, former state schools superintendent, is chairing the committee, just as he did in 2018.

“This mechanism is extremely flawed, especially at a time when we’re dealing with this pandemic and Arizona is already reeling economically,” he said.

The measure would create a 3.5% tax surcharge for single individuals making more than $250,000 or married couples making more than $500,000.

The current income tax rate in Arizona for someone making $159,001 or more is 4.5%. Arizona’s average income tax rate is one of the lowest in the nation.

The money would go to the following, according to Invest in Education:

● 50% to K-12 public school teacher and classroom support staff salaries.

● 25% to schools for student support services staff.

● 10% to teacher mentoring and retention programs at the school level to keep teachers from leaving the state.

● 12% to career and technical education programs.

● 3% to the Arizona Teachers Academy, an initiative to stem Arizona’s teacher shortage by waiving college tuition and fees for future teachers who agree to work in Arizona schools.

Molera’s committee, Arizonans for Great Schools and a Strong Economy, claims the measure would hurt small businesses.

“You’re going to see dozens, if not hundreds, of major business organizations across the state come out against it,” he said.

Gau emphasized that the tax is on individuals, not businesses, and added that claims this would hurt small business owners are false. She offered the example of the owner of a coffee shop that takes in $700,000 every year in sales.

The owner’s income tax would be calculated by subtracting the cost to operate the business, an estimated $500,000, and the calculation would include subtracting other standard deductions. In all, their taxable income would be $40,480 and they would not be subject to the surcharge, according to Gau.

“It’s completely ridiculous to say that Invest In Ed hurt small businesses because the data doesn’t show that at all,” she said.

As the coronavirus brought the state’s economy to a halt and shuttered schools and businesses, efforts to collect signatures for multiple measures, including Invest In Ed, were upended.

Supporters of six measures, including Invest in Ed, asked the Arizona Supreme Court to allow online collection in April. But in May, the court rejected the request in a 6-1 decision.

Gau said Invest In Ed continued to collect by making house calls and even setting up drive-thru collections.

“We changed our tactics in some really creative ways,” she said.