Arizona teachers protesting at the state Capitol demand lawmakers extend public school funding

Public school teachers protesting at the Arizona Capitol on Wednesday demanded that lawmakers extend a measure to help fund public education.

State legislators are working on a plan to extend Proposition 123 — a measure first passed in 2016 that uses a portion of state land trust money to fund public education.

Teachers say it’s vital that the funding extension makes it to voters sooner rather than later.

Arizona Education Association President Marisol Garcia said the Legislature is trying to increase requirements on teachers, not lighten their load.

“This protest is not just about 123. It’s layers. … There are bills being heard today that are furthering more and more accountability of educators instead of trying to find ways to take things off of our tables,” Garcia said.

Lawmakers and Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs have their own ideas about what kind of Proposition 123 plan to send to voters.

Although all parties want to increase teacher salaries with the money, GOP lawmakers want to use all of the Proposition 123 funding for that purpose, while Hobbs is advocating for it to also pay for things like school building upkeep.

Garcia said teachers are asked to do too much already and there will come a breaking point.

She referenced the fact that many teachers have to do things like buy their own school supplies, deal with increasingly large classes and can’t always use the bathroom when they need to.

As far as what kind of Proposition 123 extension goes to the ballot, Garcia said her group is flexible on the details but wants to be at the table for discussions.

Garcia also said she wants the Proposition 123 extension to be part of a dual measure to raise a spending cap public schools keep bumping into called the aggregate expenditure limit.

Without frequent approval from the state Legislature, the spending cap could cost schools many millions of dollars.

Republican lawmakers working on the Proposition 123 proposals did not respond to requests for comment.