/ Modified apr 25, 2016 9:49 a.m.

Vote to Fund Schools: Boon or 'Disenfranchisement?'

Analysis of pros, cons of Prop 123 and rundown on pension changes in Prop 124.

The May 17 special election in Arizona could set the course for state public education and public employee retirement plans for a decade or more.

Friday's Arizona Week breaks down the two measures on the ballot and looks at pro-con arguments.

Proposition 123

If voters approve, the proposal would settle a 6-year-old lawsuit by Arizona schools and supporters against the state Legislature for illegally withholding inflation increases for public education funding over several years.

The proposal would increase the state's payout to K-12 schools from the State Land Trust Fund for 10 years, and when combined with a general fund assessment, schools would get about $350 million more than now.

Support has been bipartisan, widespread in the education community and among many elected officials, led by Republican Gov. Doug Ducey. Included is David Dumon, superintendent of the Altar Valley School district 20 miles west of Tucson.

"We've been underfunded since 2010," Dumon said. " ... We have teachers who are in Altar Valley School District who have 10 years experience and a master's degree, making $34,000 a year. It's horrible."

He said passage of Proposition 123 would give his district $103,000 in the first year and allow an immediate payment of loyalty bonus payments to teachers. Eventually, they could get raises or other support, Dumon said.

State Treasurer Jeff DeWit leads the opposition, saying the plan will hurt school funding in the long term because it will eat into the principal of the land trust. Also opposed is the League of Women Voters of Arizona.

League President Shirley Sandelands said her objection is that the proposition settles a case in which state legislators broke the law by not funding schools as required under a state constitutional amendment passed in 2000.

"They are not following the law," Sandelands said. "Instead they are coming up with a way that's a very complicated compromise to say that they're going to be funding schools. It's doing away with a voter initiative. We feel that's a disenfranchisement of a voter approved law."

Your Vote 2016
For complete election coverage for Arizona and beyond, visit the Your Vote 2016 Election Center.
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Proposition 124

If voters approve, the annual pension payments for retired police officers and firefighters would be capped at 2 percent and would be calculated on the Phoenix cost-of-living index. Currently, the payout is governed by earnings on the pension fund.

Those earnings have not kept pace with the demands on the fund, and it currently is underfunded by $7 billion, state officials have estimated. To keep up, state and local governments have had to increase their annual general fund payments to the pension pool.

A series of bills passed in the Legislature that would accompany the proposition would increase the amounts public safety employees make to the pension pool.

Unions representing police officers and firefighters support the proposition, saying it will save taxpayers money and in the long term will preserve the pension fund for future retirees.

"It actually restructures and allows the retirement system over the next three decades to save taxpayers $1.5 billion, and that's quite an achievement ... " said Jim Mann, a representative of the Fraternal Order of Police in Phoenix.

Jun Peng, a public administration expert in the University of Arizona School of Government & Public Policy, said a change is needed because the "current system is unsustainable."

No group is actively opposing Proposition 124.

On the program:

  • David Dumon, Ph.D., superintendent of Altar Valley School District
  • Shirley Sandelands, president of the League of Women Voters of Arizona
  • Jim Mann, executive director, Fraternal Order of Police, Arizona Labor Council
  • Jun Peng, Ph.D., associate professor of public administration, University of Arizona School of Government & Public Policy
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