An initiative to raise taxes on wealthy Arizonans to fund public schools may not make it to the ballot — again. A Maricopa County Superior Court judge ruled July 31 that the 100-word description on petitions used to collect thousands of signatures for the Invest in Education Act included misleading statements or simply omitted parts of the proposal.
Judge Christopher Coury wrote in his ruling, “No matter how well-intentioned Invest in Education's initiative was, its nontransparent description violates Arizona law.”
He described the result as “self-inflicted,” referring to the 2018 court ruling that tossed the same initiative from that year’s ballot, and which Coury said should have given the initiative backers a road map this time around.
The July 31 ruling is not the final word on the matter. The measure’s backers have already said they will appeal the ruling to the state Supreme Court — the same court that threw out the initiative for its description in 2018.
The Show spoke to Roopali Desai, an attorney who is representing the initiative, for more about why supporters are hoping for a different result this time.
For more on the ruling, The Show also spoke to Hank Stephenson, editor of The Yellow Sheet Report.
