Vote 'yes' on Prop. 123

Voters on Tuesday will decide Prop. 123, one of the most engaging and controversial ballot questions in recent Arizona history.

The fight is over how to fund K-12 education. The debate boils down to this: Do you trust the Arizona Legislature to put more money into public schools?

Neither supporters nor opponents trust the Legislature. We have come to the conclusion that, despite its many flaws, Prop. 123 is the only way to make sure more money gets to our public schools.

Over the past few weeks, the Star has shared some of the dismal facts about public education in Arizona, to help readers understand the dire situation schools are in. The facts are sobering.

The Republicans in the Legislature have given no reason to make people think they view education as anything but an expense to cut. They’ve demonstrated their capacity to shortchange school children by refusing to comply with a court order that requires the Legislature to pay back $300 million that should have gone into the K-12 system. Whether the state owes schools another $1 billion is still before the court.

Passage of Prop. 123 would settle that lawsuit. Opponents argue that the lawsuit is the only leverage schools have with the Legislature and that it’s a mistake to give it away. They say it’s not fair that the Legislature can refuse to comply with the court — which found that lawmakers had ignored a voter mandate to fund schools for inflation — and get away with it.

They’re right, it is not fair. It is an embarrassment and an indictment of a corrupt ideology that Republican lawmakers have refused to follow the law, and that now voters must decide whether to raid the state land trust, which is earmarked for education spending, to pay for the $3 billion that Prop. 123 would get to schools over the next decade.

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But what is the alternative? To continue the court fight for years, while schools continue to languish? To somehow convince the intransigent lawmakers that they should allocate more money to public schools?

Prop. 123 gets money to schools almost immediately, and all local districts have said they will use the funds to boost teacher pay.

Supporters and opponents both say that, pass or fail, Prop. 123 is a first step, but they disagree on what that means.

Opponents say that if Prop. 123 succeeds, lawmakers will do no more for schools.

Supporters say that if Prop. 123 fails, lawmakers will say the public doesn’t want to fund education, and do no more.

Either way, the next step must be taken by unseating anti-public-education lawmakers in the Arizona House and Senate, and replacing them with moderates who understand the direct connection between strong public schools and prosperity on many fronts.

Voting ‘Yes’ on Prop. 123 won’t fix the system, and it’s not the plan we would devise. But in light of the disappointing and neglectful state Legislature, it’s the best Arizona can do to guarantee at least some sorely needed money gets to our schools.