It’s Election Day throughout the state. Arizonans who haven’t already mailed in their ballots, can head to the polls to weigh in on a number of initiatives to fund public schools.
Up for grabs is over $1 billion in the form of school district bonds and overrides, $800 million of it in Maricopa County districts alone.
Former Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Jaime Molera said voters should decide on the merits of the referendums and not politicize the process.
“The county Republican party came out and said ‘Don’t vote for any of them.' Well, I think that’s silly. I think voters should look at each of their packages that are before them, and if the school district did a good job of explaining where that money is going, then I think they hopefully would look at how this would be a good investment for schools.”
Molera said the $3.5 billion settlement of the school's funding lawsuit won’t make school's referendums such as this obsolete, but may make them less likely in the future.