PHOENIX — Gov. Katie Hobbs has released a plan for extending the education funding measure that was narrowly approved by voters in 2016.
The Democrat announced Tuesday her plan for continuing the Prop. 123 funding would involve splitting up the funding in four dedicated areas:
- $257 million for general school funding (2.5% of distribution)
- $347 million for raising teacher salaries (4.4% of distribution)
- $118 million for support staff (1.5% of distribution)
- $39 million for safety and security (0.5% of distribution)
The allocations are the projected 10-year average distributions.
Prop. 123 withdraws money from Arizona's state land trust. The voter-approved initiative is set to expire in 2025.
"My plan is a critical step toward ensuring every Arizona child can get a quality and safe public education while addressing our teacher shortage," the governor said in a statement. "I look forward to working with Republicans and Democrats in the legislature to send Prop 123 back to the ballot and making these critical investments in public education.”
Republican lawmakers unveiled their own plan for renewing Prop. 123 a couple of months ago, which would entail allocating about $300 million for raising teacher pay.
"Voters are going to have the final say on this," Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen said in November. "But I believe that the voters are going to choose to increase teacher pay."
The governor's office said the state land trust has "remained strong," growing to nearly $8 billion with an average 10-year annualized return of about 7.24%.
Arizona Treasurer Kimberly Yee, a Republican, called Hobbs' proposal "dangerous" for the state land trust and "unsustainable." Yee has suggested a more "prudent" trust distribution of 4-5%, which is about half of the governor's proposed 8.9% distribution.
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