Lawmakers are not rushing to renew Proposition 123, the education funding mechanism set to expire in July.
Voters narrowly approved Prop. 123 in 2016, boosting the amount of money K-12 public schools receive from the state land trust fund by hundreds of millions of dollars annually.
According to the Arizona School Boards Association, the measure provided between $172 million and $270 million to schools each year between 2016 and 2024 and is expected to provide $285 million this year.
Prop. 123 will expire when the current fiscal year ends on June 30. In order to avoid that, lawmakers must send a proposal to renew it to voters in a May 20 special election.
It's unclear how quickly the Legislature — which just began a new session on Monday — must act to call the May election, but the Secretary of State’s Office told Arizona Capitol Times that local election officials need at least five months to prepare ahead of a potential election, though Sen. J.D. Mesnard (R-Chandler) suggested lawmakers had until February to get a deal done.
New House Speaker Steve Montenegro (R-Goodyear) said meeting that deadline is not his top priority.
“We don't want to rush anything,” Montenegro said. “We want to do things right, and we want to ensure that parents are at the table.”
Senate Minority Leader Priya Sundareshan (D-Tucson) also said getting a good deal is more important than putting the measure to voters in May ahead of the expiration date, saying her caucus doesn’t want a Prop. 123 renewal package connected to unrelated legislation.
“Does it need to be on the ballot by May? Maybe, maybe not,” Sundareshan said. “And I think what's most important is that we have a good deal that supports public education, a clean continuation of Prop 123 without any Christmas tree of additional unrelated items.”
If legislators miss the May election deadline, they could still refer the measure to voters next year after Prop 123 expires at the end of June.
If Prop. 123 does expire, the law requires the state’s general fund to backfill the $300 million it would have provided schools next year, according to legislative budget staff.