Here’s what pisses me off about the whole Prop. 123 thing.
On the plus side, Arizona’s public schools stand to receive over $300 million a year which has been denied them for years if Prop. 123 passes and the state is allowed to dip further into the state land trust funds than is currently allowed. If it doesn’t pass, we climb back on that old merry-go-round where the court orders the legislature to pay what it owes the schools and the Republican majority folds its arms and says, “You can’t make me.” Which is true, the courts can’t literally force the state to pay up the money it owes, and it’s unlikely the courts will even tighten the screws much because they know how likely it is an angry governor and legislature will bring vengeance down on their heads. If Prop. 123 fails, the stalemate will continue for years with mounting court costs on all sides and not a penny of that money the state owes going to the schools.
On the minus side, that state land trust money which will be tapped if Prop. 123 passes is already designated for children’s educations, so basically, the children will be paid from their own inheritance, not from new money. That means less money in the fund for education in the future. But even though I don’t like that scenario much, I’m willing to live with it, because the schools are really, really hurting for funds—need I say again that we’re 48th, 49th or 50th in per student spending?—and I can’t deny this current crop of students the benefit of even a small financial boost. And remember, the $300 million-plus is only a small boost in funding. Need I say again it won’t lift us even one place on the per student funding list?
On the even more minus side, the pro-Prop 123 group has already raised nearly half a million dollars for its campaign and has set its sights on raising as much as three or four million total. Where do you raise that kind of money? From deep pockets, of course, the wealthiest individuals and corporations in the state. According to the Capitol Times, that includes:
•$150,000 from Greater Phoenix Leadership chaired by Sharon Harper, president and CEO of Plaza Companies
•$75,000 from the Salt River Project
•$25,000 each from Developer Edward Robson and his company, Robson Communities Inc.
•$44,500 from Sunstate Equipment President Michael Watts and his wife, Cindy
•$25,000 from the Southern Arizona Leadership Council
•$10,000 from the Arizona Lodging and Tourism Authority
Now, I’m sure all these people will tell you, with heads tilted to one side and a hint of tears glistening in their eyes, how much they support public education. And probably there’s some truth in the claim, for some of them anyway. But, really? All these people are willing to spend all that money because of how much they love other people’s children? Uh, uh. When lots of rich people pitch lots of money into political fights, it tends to be because they stand to benefit personally. And the way these rich folks stand to benefit is from the tax breaks Gov. Ducey has promised them. So what could be better? Give other people’ kids the money up front that was being saved for their futures and free up the state budget surplus for those tax breaks, which will be worth a whole lot more than these folks are ponying up to help pass Prop. 123.
So here I am, on the same side as the one-percenters because I want to guarantee more money for schools and they want generous tax breaks for themselves. And that’s what pisses me off about this whole thing. Because right now, the rich aren’t paying their fair share in Arizona. In fact, they pay a lower percentage of their incomes in combined state taxes than people in the bottom 20 percent. And they want to pay even less when they should actually be paying significantly more, which would allow taxes to remain stable for the rest of the population while schools, social services, road repair and a host of other underfunded state items get a much-needed infusion of dollars, and we wouldn’t need to raid the land trust fund to boost state funding on education.
Am I wrong to accuse Ducey and his rich friends of supporting Prop. 123 for their own personal financial gain? I doubt it. But I would love to be proved wrong. If Ducey and the legislature’s Republican majority pass a significant increase in the amount they allocate for public school education in the state budget, I’ll be happy—delighted, in fact—to admit I misjudged them.
This article appears in Dec 24-30, 2015.
DO NOT VOTE YES ON PROP 123! You will be giving the opponents of traditional district schools permission to finish the destruction. The Legislature may pretend to increase funding in the upcoming budget, but it won’t last past the May vote on 123. It will be a bait and switch. The majority in the Legislature envision all AZ kids attending their “for profit” charters. YOU KNOW THAT! Yes, the failure of 123 will mean hard times for schools. I work for a school district. I know first hand what it means. Consider that a large majority of overrides and bonds passed this last November. VOTE NO on 123 and let the Legislature explain to those voters why there is no funding increase. Hard times will come with a NO vote, but harder times will come with a YES. Take a stand against crony capitalism. Do what’s right, not what’s expedient. Vote NO on 123.
Budget shortfalls are going to become the norm over the next 5 years as we attempt to wait out a pitifully poor economy. The stimulus money spent only worsened the debt and prolonged the inevitable. You will wish that you took this deal in the long run.
Read Prop 123. It changes the State Constitution. A budget shortfall allows the Legislature to cut education funding even more. There are triggers built into it. Prop 123 overturns voter mandated inflation funding. Education funding is an Arizona Constitutional priority. Prop 123 will make it the Legislature’s step child.
Prop 123 in a nutshell: sell out our future to get a windfall for the very rich today.
There is so much more to the unholy alliance than just “rich folks stand to benefit from the tax breaks” that underfunding education, transferring additional burdens on local governments and shifting additional funding needs to local property taxpayers to balance city and county budgets. A lot more, state agencies are in turn underfunded to the point they cannot do their statutory obligations, rules and regulations legally put in place are ignored for lack of enforcement ability. Low educations and lack of skill building for employment maintains low wages and employer based government subsidized training programs. Masterful deceit, hypocrisy, duplicity, fraud, political trickery are part of the program for control of every avenue of life in Arizona. Don’t just look at the financial greed involved see the social control as well. The theft of the Land Trust Funds is just more of the same.
Prop 123 kinda sounds to me like an employer saying to employees that, “I know that I stiffed you on your paycheck but I am going to pay you back with the money in your 401k.” This is a shell game pure and simple
The problem with 123 is that it uses the Principle to pay operating costs. Not good policy in personal finance, much less governmental. The legislature must balance budget with tax income and not just kick the can down the road. We have a large problem, not just with this issue, and the roads but with all other services.
Vote No on Prop123.
This idea is the beginning of the end of public education in our state.
In order to prove that charter schools are the answer to our problems, people like Biggs, Ducey, Yarborough etc create their own reality. Defund the public schools and continue to defund the schools then complain about how poorly they are doing.
We must vote in pro-education legislators that actually care about our children’s future.
If Prop 123 wins, it will be tied up in the courts.
If Prop 123 loses, we go back to the courts but, then at least, we have not supported a change to our constitution that ultimately fails our youngest AZ citizens.
Do you believe that the poor performance of public schools is not true?
Public schools will not be ended in AZ. They will just continue to gobble up revenue and under perform for decade after decade much like they have. With TUSD you have nothing to worry about. It could take 100 years to get it turned around.
Pro education legislators ? Pro what part of education? The unions, the teachers, the administrators? Being pro kids doesn’t change the ones handling the money. You have much bigger problems to be solved after 30 years of abuse. It truly has been an Outcome Based Education.