Our View: Send education tax to voters in 2018 (and other priorities)

The 2018 legislative session offers the chance to make significant progress on three issues that will define Arizona:

K-12 education, child welfare and water.

Priority 1: Boost education funding

Arizona’s K-12 public schools have not recovered from deep recession-era funding cuts, there are severe capital needs and rock-bottom teacher salaries have led to drastic teacher shortages.

Arizona’s elected officials must use this legislative session to respond to those needs.

Two recent polls show strong public support for education.

One done in December for Stand for Children Arizona found a whopping 78 percent of those polled think public schools need more funding.

Another December poll, done for Expect More Arizona, points the way to create revenue for our schools.

It shows strong support for extending and/or expanding Proposition 301, which was approved by voters in 2000 to increase the state sales tax 0.6 percent for schools.

Ask voters to expand tax in 2018

That tax currently raises about $600 million a year for education, but it is due to expire in mid-2021. To prevent the loss of this revenue, lawmakers should refer the measure to the ballot in 2018. It makes no sense to wait until 2020, as some have advocated.

What’s more, lawmakers should ask voters to increase the tax to create a dedicated funding source on which schools can rely. With Gov. Doug Ducey and GOP legislative leadership on record opposing tax increases, the best option for increasing revenue to public schools is to let the voters decide.

ROBERTS:Will Ducey do more than say he supports schools?

Given the depth of needs at our schools and the continued public support for better funding, elected officials should set aside their personal or political ideology and defer to the will of the people.

The Expect More Arizona poll found 72 percent support for simply extending the current tax.

Increasing the tax from 0.6 percent to 1 percent to raise teacher pay garnered 68 percent support. An increase to 1.6 percent, which is similar to a plan from some business leaders, was supported by 56 percent.

Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Diane Douglas has called for raising the tax to 1 cent.

If it's rejected this year, we can come back

Phil Francis, former PetsMart CEO and one of a group of business leaders pushing to increase the sales tax to 1.5 cents, has said the business coalition will raise $2 million for a citizen-led initiative to put the expansion on the 2020 ballot if lawmakers do not act.

Business leaders should put their muscle into getting the measure for an expanded tax on the 2018 ballot. If voters reject an increase this year, there will still be time to come back in 2020 with a proposal to simply extend the tax at the current level.

There are a variety of options for an increase, but the need for more revenue is clearly recognized by Arizonans.

The grassroots group Save Our Schools is talking about a 2018 ballot measure to raise teacher salaries. This is the group that got enough signatures to challenge a legislative move to expand the use of public money for vouchers at private schools.

A poll released in November showed Arizonans would support a 0.2-cent-per-ounce tax on soda, if the money goes to education.

Business leaders and community members have expressed a clear desire for better education funding.

Elected officials have a duty to respond.

Priority 2: Hold the line on child welfare

The Legislature should continue improving Arizona’s child welfare system through oversight, adequate funding and shouldering the state’s responsibility to foster children.

The Department of Child Safety has been addressing the backlog of cases and reducing the number of children in foster care. This represents positive change. But lawmakers must make sure this is not just a numbers game. Child safety – not just statistics – must remain the top priority.

What’s more, any money saved because of reducing the number of foster children in the system should remain in DCS and be redirected to proven prevention efforts that can keep families together and safely keep kids out of the system. Healthy Families Arizona is one program that has a track record of success and should be expanded.

Arizona also needs to assure it is providing opportunities to help foster kids and former foster kids succeed. An expected legislative effort to make permanent a pilot program that covers college tuition for foster kids reflects a recognition of the state’s responsibility to these children. It should pass.

SB 1046 is step in wrong direction

Meeting that responsibility also means making sure caseworkers have small enough caseloads so they can respond to foster parents and children. In addition, the state needs to assure that parents of foster children can get behavioral health services for the youngsters in a timely manner.

Children in foster care are among the most vulnerable Arizonans. Those who step up as foster parents are heroes. But they are also human beings who need to be carefully monitored by the state agency in charge of protecting children.

That’s why a bill that was pre-filed in December as Senate Bill 1046 raises disturbing questions about oversight. The bill would waive the license renewal requirements for foster homes and group homes unless there has been a complaint that leads to corrective action. Making renewals automatic comes across as a move away from the kind of careful monitoring foster children deserve.

Lawmakers should not forget that DCS also needs to be carefully monitored so it does not slip into the secrecy that doomed its predecessor. This is no time for complacency. DCS does a job that has life-and-death consequences for children.

Priority 3: Stop petty fighting over water

Water is something Arizonans take for granted thanks to the foresight of previous elected officials.

Today’s lawmakers need to build on a history of bipartisan efforts to shape and support the kind of long-term solutions represented by the Central Arizona Project and the Groundwater Management Act of 1980.

The low-hanging fruit: Continue to reinvest in the Department of Water Resources, which is still not up to pre-recession staffing levels.

Recent infighting among water agencies creates a distraction from the simple fact that Arizona needs to speak with one voice on water policy – and DWR is that voice under state law.

The department deserves the resources to do a job that extends from rural to urban areas.

There are many players in Arizona’s water universe. If unity is too much to ask, cooperation shouldn’t be. All should share a single goal: assure there is enough water for healthy economic development and to maintain the beauty and diversity of Arizona's environment.

Approve drought plan for Arizona's sake

There are hard facts that lawmakers and others need to accept.

The Colorado River is overallocated and Arizona will face cuts if Lake Mead falls below the critical 1,075-foot level that triggers a declaration of a water shortage.

The level has bobbed dangerously close to that number. Yet Arizona has not finalized a Drought Contingency Plan with California and Nevada. The plan aims to avert a shortage through voluntary reductions of water use.

This is an important agreement. Once details are worked out among Arizona stakeholders, the Legislature will need to approve the plan.

Doing so should involve due diligence, but it should not descend into petty partisan bickering or dramatic grandstanding.

The plan is specific, it has been in development for years – and it is a solid way to protect our state from shortages.

If Arizona’s Colorado River allotment were cut, the national news would hurt our state’s image – even if local water planners could mitigate the immediate impact on residents. The perception would be poison to economic development.

Think long-term about groundwater

In addition to the challenges of managing our Colorado River water, groundwater use in rural areas will raise sustainability questions that could hamper growth and hurt the environment.

In previous legislative sessions, this has resulted in legislative efforts to carve out exemptions for purely parochial interests without regard for the impact on the state as a whole. Gov. Doug Ducey wisely vetoed several such moves.

Lawmakers need to develop the depth of knowledge necessary to act in the best interest of the entire state.

Years of careful planning have prevented water shortages, assuring that business or development interests looking to invest or expand in our state have the confidence to do so. But Arizona cannot rest on past accomplishments.

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We need to know how much groundwater is being pumped. We need to determine whether existing management mechanisms, such as the Central Arizona Groundwater Replenishment District, are working as intended. We need to evaluate how well current water supplies and polices will serve future generations – and when new supplies or different management goals are needed.

These are long-term questions and challenges. Lawmakers today need to think about them with the foresight that previous Arizonans devoted to this issue.

Some may not expect much from a legislative session in today's political atmosphere and in this election year.

Lawmakers can rise above those low expectations and deliver for Arizona on these critical issues.

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