David Lujan, one of the authors of Proposition 208, the Invest in Education Act, will debate Jaime Molera, the former schools superintendent chairing the campaign against Proposition 208, on Tuesday night. 

Lujan is the director of the Arizona Center for Economic Progress. Molera chairs No on 208.

Invest in Education proposes a 3.5% tax surcharge on the state’s highest earners. The surcharge applies to individuals whose taxable income is $250,000 or more and couples whose taxable income is $500,000 or more.    

The debate will be moderated by Arizona Republic reporter Richard Ruelas and will be livestreamed on azcentral.com from 7-8 p.m. 

Proposition 208 is a product of the RedForEd movement, which began in the spring of 2018, culminating in a week-long teacher walkout, closing schools for a week as teachers protested rock-bottom salaries and classroom funding. Invest in Ed was the next step for the educators protesting, who pledged to “remember in November.”

READ MORE: Proposition 208: Demystifying the claims about Arizona’s Invest in Education Act

The Arizona Supreme Court kicked the first iteration off the November 2018 ballot. Organizers regrouped and came back in 2020 with the version on the ballot this November.

The tax proposal would affect a small fraction of taxpayers. Its detractors say Invest in Ed would harm small business owners, while supporters of Proposition 208 argue that very few small businesses actually would feel the impact. 

Where would Invest in Ed funding go? 

The Joint Legislative Budget Committee, a third-party state entity that analyzes the financial impact of ballot propositions, estimates that Proposition 208 would raise $827 million for education, about $100 million less than Invest in Ed’s initial estimate.

The measure would send the money to the following areas: 

• 50% of the money would go to hiring and raising the salaries of teachers and other certified employees, such as counselors and nurses. 
• 25% would go to hiring and increasing the salaries of student support staff, including classroom aides and bus drivers.
• 12% would go to career and technical education programs. 
• 10% would go to programs dedicated to retaining and mentoring teachers. 
• 3% would go to scholarships for the Arizona Teachers Academy, which waives college tuition for teachers-in-training who commit to work in Arizona schools after graduation.

Reach the reporter at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter @LilyAlta.

Support local journalism. Subscribe to azcentral.com today. 

Read or Share this story: https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-education/2020/10/13/proposition-208-invest-education-act-focus-debate/5968286002/