PHOENIX — Arizona education advocates kicked off signature gathering at the Arizona State Capitol on Monday afternoon for an initiative aimed at raising $940 million a year for K-12 schools.
Supporters of the Invest In Education initiative began the process of collecting more than 250,000 signatures to get the initiative on November's ballot.
A rally that drew about 200 educators and advocates was followed by the petitions being distributed to those participating in the signature gathering process.
The initiative is meant to raise $940 million for education, of that $500 million would go towards teacher pay, according to supporters.
The money will come from a proposed 3.5% income surcharge on single filers’ taxable income above $230,000 and on taxable income above $500,000 for couples filing jointly.
Advocates say the surcharge will only apply to people in those earning thresholds.
"This initiative does not change the current tax brackets – it simply adds a surcharge to taxable earnings in excess of $500k/$250k," a spokesperson wrote in a statement on behalf of the initiative.
