REQUIRES CERTAIN SCHOOL DISTRICTS TO SPEND AT LEAST SIXTY PERCENT OF THEIR OPERATIONAL SPENDING ON DIRECT INSTRUCTIONAL EXPENSES AS DEFINED BY THE AUDITOR GENERAL; REDUCES CERTAIN STATE FUNDING FOR NON-COMPLIANT DISTRICTS. YES  A “no” vote shall have the effect of maintaining the current laws governing school district budgets. NO  BALLOT FORMAT PROPOSITION 320 320

Vote YES on Prop 320 to protect teacher pay! The Prioritize Teacher Pay Act ensures that funding for our schools goes to the classroom, not to bureaucratic bloat. Over the last 20 years, the percentage of funds used for classroom instruction has dropped to just 52%. This means that barely 50 cents of every dollar now makes it to its most important destination: classroom instruction. This problem is so severe that the Arizona Auditor General found that Arizona’s teachers would make $7,500 more per year if schools hadn’t diverted available funds away from the classroom. Unfortunately, over the past year, Arizonans have instead witnessed a school district spend $500,000 sending staff to Caesar’s Palace for a Las Vegas conference and another district spending $18,500 of public monies on membership dues and golf tournament tickets. Recent investigations found districts paying their superintendents up to nearly half a million dollars a year through outrageous compensation packages, featuring perks like $1,000 a month car allowances -- while teacher salaries have barely kept up with inflation. This measure would reverse these trends by requiring schools to put teachers and students first when making budgeting decisions. Vote YES for Arizona Teachers, Vote YES for Prop 320. Victor Riches, President & CEO, The Goldwater Institute, Phoenix

Vote YES on the 60% Classroom Spending Measure, Prop 320 Arizona Women of Action supports this positive reform requiring large school districts to direct at least 60% of operational spending to direct classroom instruction. Students will benefit from more resources, better tools, and focused learning that drives higher achievement. Teachers will gain competitive pay, essential supplies, and the ability to focus on inspiring students. Families will see their tax dollars invested wisely in their children’s education, building stronger schools and brighter futures. 320 Our communities will thrive with efficient, accountable spending that prepares educated citizens who can contribute and strengthen Arizona. This commonsense measure puts students and teachers first. Vote YES for better classrooms and a stronger Arizona! Kimberly Miller, President, Arizona Women of Action, Phoenix

As a school nurse, I am concerned that PROP 320 could have unintended consequences for student health, safety, and academic success. While the proposal focuses on increasing spending for what the state defines as "direct classroom instruction," it overlooks the critical role that student support services play in helping children learn and thrive. Every day, school nurses manage student medications, respond to medical emergencies, support students with chronic health conditions, and help prevent the spread of illness. We are often the first line of support for students facing physical, mental, and emotional health challenges. These services may not fall under a narrow definition of classroom instruction, but they are essential to keeping students healthy, safe, and ready to learn. PROP 320 would require districts to adhere to a rigid spending model regardless of their unique community and student needs. To comply, some districts could be forced to reduce funding for nurses, counselors, psychologists, support staff, or other critical services. Schools may also have to delay important safety and facility improvements that directly impact student well-being. As school nurses, we understand that learning cannot happen if students' health and safety needs are not being met. Strong schools require a balanced investment in both instruction and the support systems that help students access their education. Local school leaders and communities are best equipped to determine how resources should be allocated to meet the needs of their students. I urge voters to oppose PROP 320 and support policies that preserve local decision-making and protect the essential health and support services that students depend on every day. William “Will” Graham, School Nurse, M.Ed., RN, NCSN, CPN, Phoenix As a parent of a child with special needs, I am deeply concerned about PROP 320. While the proposal sounds like it prioritizes classroom spending, it fails to recognize that many of the services my child relies on every day exist outside the narrow definition of "direct classroom instruction." Students with disabilities need more than a teacher in a classroom. They depend on speech therapists, occupational therapists, behavioral specialists, paraprofessionals, transportation services, counselors, and other support staff who help them access their education safely and successfully. These services are essential, yet PROP 320 could pressure districts to reduce funding for them in order to meet an arbitrary spending requirement. For families like mine, those cuts are not theoretical. They could directly impact the services that allow my children to learn, communicate, and thrive. I urge voters to oppose PROP 320 and protect the essential support services that students with special needs depend on every day. Robb Vaules, CEO, Yellowcross Healthcare, Scottsdale Saturday Night Live’s legendary original cast were called the Not Ready for Prime Time Players. Unfortunately, Prop. 320 does not come remotely close to their standard. Prop 320 is truly not ready for prime time. Prop. 320 will make it harder for districts to succeed and will especially hurt children from lower income backgrounds. Vote No. Prop. 320 requires only a small subset of larger districts in Maricopa and Pima County to hit 60% of their operational budgets as instructional spending, a target almost no district in Arizona currently hits. Failure to move toward this goal leads to a loss of funding that is primarily earmarked for instruction–making it even harder to hit the target. Every school district has unique needs. Local school leaders and communities are in the best position to decide how to allocate resources to support all students. By forcing districts to spend at least 60% of their budgets in a narrow set of spending categories, PROP 320 takes away local flexibility and could result in cuts to programs, support personnel, school safety measures, and facility maintenance. Consider: 1. BASIS charter schools, which are exempt, have been frequently regarded by US News and World Report as the best high schools in the country. Their instructional percentage is about 40%, far below the 60% requirement. Legacy Traditional, Great Hearts and American Leadership Academy, other leading charter schools, all fall well below 50% as well. 2. The greatest impediment to school success as measured by graduation rates or the state report card is the poverty rate in the district. What these students need is greater investment, not the threat to take resources away. Unfortunately, the legislature slashed taxes for the wealthy a few years ago, cutting their top rate from 4.5% to 2.5% and $2 billion annually now goes back to households with an income level above $200,000 instead of being invested in children. 3. Why should spending on food and transportation, which is not instruction, be placed in competition with each other? Spending more on instruction is a good idea, but Prop. 320 is a poorly developed means to help Arizona’s children succeed. Dave Wells, President, Beyond Numbers Analytics, Phoenix Prop 320 is an underhanded legislative referral that seeks to fool voters into forcing our public schools to fail. Its rigid, punitive constraints were cleverly crafted to split public school funding into unsustainable buckets, crippling schools’ ability to function. It’s time for the special-interest lobbyists and voucher backers attacking our schools and teachers to back off. We strongly urge a NO vote. Prop 320's inflexible, arbitrary 60% threshold for “direct instructional expenses” includes only teachers, some aides, instructional supplies, field trips and athletics. Schools that can't comply would be defunded. This narrow definition leaves out all the other components that make a kid’s school day work. Imagine a school without custodians, counselors, librarians, teacher training, technology, building maintenance and repair, groundskeeping, security, accounting and payroll, air conditioning, insurance, food service, buses, clerical staff, security, lighting, or the extra services students with special needs require. How would it function? Would that help our kids learn? Proponents' noise about "administrative spending" is grossly deceptive. In reality, Arizona's district schools spend among the least on administration nationwide. Arizona's average for-profit charter school spends 22% on administration — double what public district schools do — but this measure doesn't include them. That's by design: Prop 320 was crafted by special interests who are trying to discredit district schools so they can divert our education tax dollars into the pockets of profiteers. Arizona's public district schools are struggling with the inefficiencies of Republican lawmakers' choice to bankroll three separate school systems: public district, public charter, and private ESA voucher-funded, which cost the state significantly more per student than either of the other options. That's not students' fault. Those who seek to profit off our kids, instead of keeping their education a nonprofit good, do not have their best interests at heart. Please vote NO. Melinda Iyer, Co-Director, Civic Engagement Beyond Voting, Phoenix and Catherine Sigmon, Co-Director, Civic Engagement Beyond Voting, Tempe

Vote NO on SCR 1032 The League of Women Voters of Arizona supports high-quality public education, competitive educator salaries, fiscal accountability, and adequate funding for Arizona's public schools. We also believe that local school governing bodies are best positioned to make budget decisions that reflect the needs of their students and communities. SCR 1032 imposes a rigid statewide spending formula requiring certain school districts to spend at least 60 percent of operational funds on direct instructional expenses. While classroom instruction is essential, quality education depends on much more than a single spending category. Arizona schools must also provide transportation, school safety, special education services, counseling, technology, family support services, building maintenance, and other programs that help students succeed. The needs of a large urban district differ from those of a rural district, and a one-size-fits-all mandate does not recognize those differences. The League supports funding formulas that account for varying student needs and local circumstances. SCR 1032 replaces local decision-making with a state-imposed spending requirement and penalizes districts that fail to meet the prescribed target by reducing access to Classroom Site Fund dollars. Ironically, districts facing the greatest financial challenges could lose funding needed to improve student outcomes. The measure also leaves key definitions to be determined later by the Auditor General, creating uncertainty regarding what expenses qualify as direct instruction and how compliance will be measured. Arizona's public schools need adequate and sustainable funding, not inflexible spending mandates. Decisions about how education dollars are allocated should remain with locally elected governing boards and communities that understand the needs of their students. Support quality public education. Preserve local control and flexibility. Vote NO on SCR 1032. Pinny Sheoran, Board Officer, Secretary / State Advocacy Chair, League of Women Voters of Arizona, Scottsdale

Please vote no on this proposal, which hurts local control and puts an unfair, one-size-fits-all solution on school districts. On the surface, requiring that schools spend 60% of their operating funds on direct instruction sounds great. But most people would be shocked at what is NOT counted as instructional spending. Many tutors working directly with kids, speech therapists for disabled kids, counselors, and more are not counted as instructional, even though they instruct kids. This is not to mention necessary spending on school lunches, security, transportation, nurses, etc. Proponents claim schools overspend on administration. But US Census data shows that Arizona schools spend the least in the country on school administration, and in the bottom 20% nationally in general administration. Even worse, this proposal hurts districts with the most vulnerable disabled children the most. If a district has more special ed students, they will spend more on student support services (like therapists) . But this does not count as instructional spending. Also, compare a wealthy district that has been able to use bond money to keep their facilities in good shape, with modern air conditioning, weathertight buildings, efficient buses, etc., versus a poor district with 25 year-old air conditioners and inefficient buildings that constantly break down, old buses requiring frequent repairs, etc. The poor district has to spend more operational funds to fix their HVAC, pay exorbitant utilities, hire mechanics for their buses, etc. But this spending doesn't count as instructional - even fixing air conditioning and paying utilities FOR CLASSROOMS, or paying for bus mechanics and drivers needed to get kids to school. Yet this proposal would PENALIZE a poor district if it doesn't reach the magic 60%. A court recently ruled our school finance system is unconstitutional. This proposal would make it even worse. Please vote no. "Take money away from the classroom to get more money into the classroom." That is what this Prop 320 does. Please vote "No." If "Instruction" is less than 60% of a school district's operational spending, then this Prop would punish the teachers in the school by taking away their "Classroom Site Funding." Voters created the CSF to promote performance pay for teachers to earn more for better work. This prop would reverse what voters approved in 2001. Not only is it wrong and illogical, it is also harmful to students. "Instruction" is narrowly defined by a partisan political appointee to mean teachers, aides, and books in the classroom. To comply with that narrow definition and this bad proposition, a school would have to CUT SOMETHING FROM AN AREA THAT ALSO SUPPORTS CLASSROOMS such as: Counselors, math and reading specialists, speech pathologists and other special education professionals, safety officers, buses, and technology. Daniel Adelman, Past Executive Director, Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest, Scottsdale ---> Arizona ranks among the lowest in per pupil funding year after year, and it has not kept up with inflation. This prop would make it worse for our students. To get the best results from your education tax dollars, politicians should not micromanage whether a school hires a counselor or a crossing guard. Please vote No. -- State Senator Mitzi Epstein, and State Senator Lauren Kuby Mitzi Epstein, State Senator, Arizona Senate, Tempe and Lauren Kuby, State Senator, Arizona Senate, Tempe

Another attempt to micromanage public school districts and undermine their ability to provide an effective and supportive education. Guess what, buses, bus drivers, food service, cafeteria workers, reading specialists, librarians, counselors, security officers, custodians, utilities, maintenance and administration are all essential to make schools work. What's more, Arizona districts already spend the lowest percentage of their funding on administrative costs among all 50 states! Support our kids and our future. Vote NO! Janene Miller, Chandler We pay local taxes to support local schools, and our local schools decide how best to spend the money to benefit students. Prop 320 takes away this local control by allowing the State of Arizona to dictate how local schools can use their locally collected taxpayer dollars. While it sounds good to require schools to devote 60% of their budget for “instructional” needs, the fact is that everything our public schools do fosters education. Effective instruction requires sound buildings, functioning school buses, and, in my rural area, reliable wells providing clean water. Each school serves a distinct group of students in a specific type of setting, and only the local school can understand how best to use their limited budget. By failing overall to fund public education adequately, our legislature is asking schools to rob Peter to pay Paul. And this proposition tells them exactly how much to rob from Peter. It dictates how the biggest school districts can use their limited funding, without considering distinctive local needs. If this proposition is approved, it’s only a matter of time before the state tries to take local control away from our rural schools as well. As a former university professor and longtime resident of rural Arizona, I respectfully urge voters to mark your ballot NO on this proposition. Cheryl Knott, Pearce You need to vote no on SCR 1032. This proposal, if approved by the voters, could force school districts that provide important services to special education students face possible state funding reductions. I have spent my entire career working in K-12 education on education issues. My work includes being a special education teacher early in my career, and I now work on school district funding issues. However, from my early special education teaching experience, I know how important school district support services are to special education students including services provided by audiologists, speech therapists, school psychologists, physical therapists, and other specialists. I also know the importance of special transportation services which are provided to many special education students. The problem is that SCR 1032 will not allow school districts to count the expenditures for these special education services to meet the required 60% type of expenditures that school districts must spend to prevent state funding reductions from SCR 1032. Arizona school districts have more students needing special education services. The more school districts spend on existing and new special education students the more likely they are to face funding reductions under the provisions proposed by SCR 1032, Vote no on SCR 1032. Chuck Essigs, Scottsdale Prop 320 will negatively affect teachers and students. It will do this by eliminating the jobs on a school campus that help and support both the teacher and the student. This will happen immediately and then increase over time by reducing the funding available to provide student assistance and instructional support on school campuses. A teacher’s job will become more difficult because there will be fewer supports in place to assist their work and help students that need assistance. Less help and support will be available to students that needs basic assistance outside the classroom like speech or occupational therapy or the type of career counseling that helps a teenager decide on a path to a career! There will be fewer nurses, librarians and counselors on campuses to assist the students. And there will be fewer supports in place to help teachers be effective; like technology specialists that keep the computers, smarts boards and sophisticated teaching equipment updated and available to both the teachers and students. This will impact every school district in Pinal, Pima and Maricopa County and the biggest districts in several of our other rural counties. Regardless of the size of the district and the economies of scale that are at play, the same requirement applies to the smallest district in rural Pinal County as our biggest urban districts. Leaving nurses, librarians, counselors, audiologists, speech pathologists, special education directors, media specialists, and other individuals that support our students and teachers out of a budget requirement will deprioritize and defund them. Putting a random percentage budget requirement in cement that can only be changed in the future by a vote at a statewide ballot doesn’t sound like a path to creating a world-class public-school system. Vote no on Prop 320 John Scholl, Retired Superintendent, Prescott Prop 320 is another effort to defund and weaken our neighborhood public schools as part of a long-running push to divert students into select religious schools. We must preserve the separation of church and state, fully fund public education, and ensure schools remain places where students learn accurate facts, science, and history. Do not let this proposition distort history or undermine the freedom to practice any faith—or no faith at all. Vote NO! Nancy Hartl, Concerned Citizen, San Tan Valley; Gunner DeBusk, Concerned Citizen, Florence; Amanda DeBusk, Concerned Citizen, Florence; Taylor DeBusk, Concerned Citizen, Florence; Baylor DeBusk, Concerned Citizen, Florence; Jagger DeBusk, Concerned Citizen, Florence; Diane Boen, Concerned Citizen, Florence; Mark Boen, Concerned Citizen, Florence; David Herrera, Concerned Citizen, Superior; Craig Hurtt, Concerned Citizen, Florence; Stephanie Daniel Hurtt, Concerned Citizen, Florence; Robert Ekstam, Concerned Citizen, Florence; Francine Ekstam, Concerned Citizen, Florence; Vicki D’Elia, Concerned Citizen, Florence; Deb Kinnaman, Concerned Citizen, Florence; Starla Clark, Concerned Citizen, Florence and Jim Clark, Concerned Citizen, Florence

As a retired educator with over 26 years of experience in all grades K-4th, and in 3 different school districts, I can absolutely attest to the very different needs of individual school districts. One school had 90% of its students as bus riders, another school had to deal with low income families, another with crumbling infrastructure and mold in the walls. With less monies being provided to public schools by our legislature, it is imperative that those monies address the very necessary needs of each school to educate their students in a safe environment, and provide the teachers with the tools and support that enables them to provide the best possible learning experiences to all students. That should include councilors, librarians, nurses, transportation services if needed, technology support, school safety personnel, and well maintained facilities. *Please vote "NO" on PROP 320, which requires school districts in Pima, Pinal, and Maricopa counties to spend at least 60% of their operating budget on a narrowly defined category of classroom instruction. Let us all vote for the right of all school districts to have local control over how they should allocate their public monies resources! Lisa Glenn Willcox, Arizona Lisa Glenn, Willcox It is unconscionable that our legislature would undermine the autonomy of individual school boards to determine the best use of public monies for their schools. The people who live in these school districts are the very ones who are paying taxes to support their schools. It is they and their school boards who determine how that money is to be spent. Here we go again. Politics over the support of children’s needs at school. The spending definition being used in this proposition can be a little misleading, because you need to know Arizona education funding pretty well to know that all the classroom support isn’t included. Imagine schools with no nurses and teachers having to hand out bandages and prescriptions. Imagine schools with no custodians, giving the teachers vacuum cleaners, a bottle of wipes, and they can empty the trash on the way out to their car at night. You may not have a child with special needs, but those special services are excluded too. This Support isn’t really optional. It wouldn’t surprise people to know that buses and bus drivers aren’t included, but they are part of the budget, and something else will have to go. Removing supports for teachers and students will not improve student educational outcomes, and it will certainly not make a teachers job any easier. Vote NO. Roger Freeman, Retired Educator, self, Phoenix Please join me in voting NO on Prop 320! As a 14-year school board member, I want to put as much of the budget into the classroom as possible. Our district is one of the highest in the state for in-classroom spending at 57%. But I also know the difficult financial decisions made each year to balance our budget. The superintendent, chief financial officer, and school board members work together on this while taking into consideration the priorities of our community. During my service, I have made decisions to close schools, cut staff, and cut programs to balance the budget. Local control is essential because only local school boards can balance the real needs of the students in their district. Prop 320 says that if school districts of over 7,500 students do not spend at least 60% of their operating budget in the classroom, they will be punished by the state legislature. How will the districts be punished? Their classroom site funding, which comes from sales tax, will be taken away from them. In my district, our school board has used the classroom site fund to increase teacher pay. A level of 60% in the classroom is not a sustainable option with current state funding. This will only punish school district schools. Private schools, charter schools, those who use an ESA at home or anywhere else are not held to the same standard. For example, American Leadership Academy, a large charter school in Arizona, has over 16,860 students and would NOT be required to meet the 60% in the classroom standard. This is not a level playing field and does not improve education for students attending district schools. Please join me in voting NO on Prop 320! Jill Humpherys, School Board Member, Gilbert Public Schools, Gilbert Nurses. School Counselors. Bus Drivers. School Maintenance Employees. As a teacher, I know these are people who play critical roles and have just as much of an impact on students and their success as I do. At my public high school in Phoenix, my students have access to a community liaison who helps students with clothing needs, hygiene products, internet access, and food boxes. We have safety employees who make sure our campus is safe for all students and they can focus on learning during the school day. We have a school nurse who administers medications, helps with disability 504 accessibility plans, and can address medical issues that pop up during the school day. My students can talk to their counselor to ensure they are on track to graduate and discuss possibilities for after high school. These services are crucial to my students. These people have a long-lasting impact on my students and their future success. And all of these jobs are at risk of being cut because, according to Prop 320, they are not “direct instructional expenses”. The way Prop 320 is written, public school districts with 7,500 or more students would have to cut these services. In our college education, teachers are taught about Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Simply put, Maslow said that people need to have air, water, food, health, safety, shelter, and stability before any learning can occur. To me, that means that ALL school roles have an impact on the instruction and learning for every student. The bottom line is this: instead of investing in our schools, Prop 320 could end all support programs and people for my students. This means an end to programs, bigger class sizes, and more students at risk of falling behind. Prop 320 is bad for students. Please vote NO. Erin Henderson, Public School Teacher, Phoenix Prop 320 , sponsored by Republicans in the House and Senate, would defund public schools. It includes rigid, punitive constraints that were cleverly crafted to split public school funding into unsustainable buckets. It would cripple public schools’ ability to function by forcing public schools, but not charter or private ESA voucher-funded ones, to spend at least 60% of their funding on “direct instructional expenses.” This rigid requirement leaves out all the other pieces that make school days work for out kids. Imagine a school without custodians, counselors, librarians, teacher training, technology, building maintenance, groundskeeping, security, accounting, air conditioning, insurance, food service, buses, clerical staff, lighting, or extra services for special needs students. We OPPOSE Prop 320 Gayle Shanks and Bob Sommer Changing Hands Bookstore Co-Founders Gayle Shanks, Tempe and Clive Sommer, Tempe

Education Forward Arizona urges a no vote on Prop 320. Every Arizona student, regardless of their zip code, needs access to a world class education that prepares them to attain education and training after high school, which leads to highly-skilled, high-wage, high-demand jobs. Prop 320 does not provide new resources to classrooms, the ability to raise teacher pay, improve literacy, or help more students graduate prepared for college and career training. Instead, it creates a rigid spending mandate and threatens to take funding away from school districts that fail to meet an arbitrary formula. The data on the Arizona Education Progress Meter is clear: Arizona is already falling short on the outcomes that matter most. Too few students read proficiently by third grade. Too few are prepared in math. Too few graduate high school ready for education and training after graduation. Too few working-age adults hold the degrees, certificates or credentials Arizona’s economy needs. These outcomes are the product of decades of politically convenient and sometimes shortsighted policy choices. Punishing schools for the real costs of keeping campuses open, safe and functioning would be yet another choice that sends us further in the wrong direction. School districts must pay for transportation, utilities, maintenance, student support services, special education, counseling, nurses, safety, technology and the operational needs that allow instruction to happen. In many cases, these staff help ensure students graduate and go on to education or training after high school. Arizona cannot maintain the status quo and expect different results, but neither can we impose simplistic formulas that ignore the complexity of educating students and then call it reform. If Arizona wants stronger schools, higher attainment and a more competitive workforce, we need to fund proven strategies across the full education pipeline. Prop 320 moves us in the wrong direction. Rich Nickel, President and CEO, Education Forward Arizona, Phoenix

SCR 1032 threatens to reduce spending on school activities, counselors, transportation, and many other important services that help students succeed. Growing up, I struggled to participate in activities outside of school due to both cost aspects and the fact that my parents worked “9-to-5s” and were unable to take me to events or extracurriculars. This limited my opportunities to explore new interests, which at times left me feeling isolated and out of place amongst my classmates. Inschool activities, after-school enrichment programs, and school transportation were all factors that allowed me not only to feel included but also to explore new interests. Without these invaluable opportunities, students in Arizona’s public school districts would struggle like I once did. They would miss out on the chance to explore new hobbies or discover passions that might spark a strong interest, possibly shaping their transition into adulthood. This is why I ask you to vote NO on SCR 1032/Proposition 320 and help Arizona schools As the daughter of two full-time working parents, Arizona’s public school system was an integral part of my childhood and early adulthood. From kindergarten to my freshman year of college, I’ve been enrolled in an Arizona public school. Because of this, my memories consist of school plays and choir concerts, field trips to D-backs games and museums, dance rehearsals, and a multitude of experiences that allowed me to grow and develop new skills that otherwise wouldn’t have been possible. Yet for current and future public school students, these experiences are at risk of being taken away due to SCR 1032/ Proposition 320. keep funding, which is used not only to better educate students but also to ensure equal opportunity. Xitlali Landry, Social Media Comms Director, Lumen Strategies, Tempe

Vote “NO” on Prop 320. This harmful measure sabotages our students’ learning experiences and limits the impact that our teachers can have in the classroom. Prop 320 boasts that it will increase compensation for teachers, but actually cuts the supports that allow teachers to provide quality instruction to our students. This proposed mandate restricts local control of public school funding and limits district spending to only 40% of its budget on critical operational needs, including student support services, instructional support, campus maintenance, food service, and transportation. As a school board member and a product of Arizona public schools, I know that a student's experience is more than sitting in a classroom learning lessons and taking tests. My experience as a student included riding the school bus, eating meals in the cafeteria, enjoying a well-maintained, safe campus, developing critical thinking skills with support from librarians, and visiting the counselor to discuss plans after graduation. As a parent and social worker, I see the importance of these non-instructional expenses every day. How will families without vehicles ensure their students make it to school if the district makes cuts to transportation costs? Where will students play safely if the school property is not maintained due to cuts to plant operations? Who will students talk to during times of distress at school if counselors are eliminated? If this measure passes and requires districts to restrict their non-instructional funding, then we commit a great disservice to our students, our teachers, and our community. The authors of this measure have grossly underestimated what our students need from their school experience. Please join me in voting “NO” on Prop 320. Stephanie Miller School Board Member, Social Worker, Mother Stephanie Miller, School Board Member, Flowing Wells Unified School District, Tucson As a future educator, I strongly believe that SCR 1032/Proposition 320 would have serious consequences for teachers and students. For a school to function effectively, it must be a collaborative effort. Teachers do not work alone; they rely on the services of the resources—like counselors, school safety, and transportation services—that this legislative referral will cut. Limiting a district's ability to fund counselors, nurses, safety, and transportation staff would create unnecessary stress for educators who are already managing larger class sizes with fewer resources. Each role within a school requires unique expertise, and cutting these out would place the burden on educators who may not be equipped to handle said tasks. Students also deserve an education system that supports them. SCR 1032 will cut after-school programs, arts, and athletics. After-school programs not only give parents extra time to work but also offer unique challenges for developing brains, teaching them to collaborate and overcome obstacles individually. Cutting transportation will affect many parents who rely on school transportation to pick up their students. Without transportation, students will face the decision of either walking in 110-degree heat or missing class. And cuts to school nurses will only make the problem worse. If SCR 1032/Proposition 320 passes, many schools may lose resources that students and educators depend on every day. Teachers will be asked to fill roles they are not trained for. Students will lose access to critical support systems they have relied on throughout their schooling, and the families trying to support them will face increased burdens. Finally, like I said in my opening, as a future educator, I urge you to consider the long-term effects of this bill and vote NO on SCR 1032/Proposition 320. Supporting public education means supporting the full network of people who benefit the system. James Sadler, Volunteer Experience Director, Lumen Strategies, Phoenix

Under HCR 2007/SCR1032/Proposition 320, Arizona’s largest school districts would be required to spend 60 percent of the school district’s money solely on “instructional expenses.” If a district fails to meet this 60 percent, it’s immediately put on a strict timeline to correct its spending. Districts that fail to meet the mark are financially punished through revoked funds at an incredibly unfair rate. It’s determined by a 25 percent decrease after each year, meaning that after 4 years, the school district would receive no state funding whatsoever. In Arizona, most public schools don’t receive enough funding to stay financially stable due to decreasing enrollment, campus closures, and local inequities. A 25 percent decrease would plunge a school district into financial ruin and possibly even shut it down entirely in a single year. Eventually this threatens jobs and even pressures students and their families to find an entirely different option for their child’s education. Another concern is that the “instructional expenses” are determined by a single individual, the auditor general, rather than by the school board or any other democratically led group. Without the perspectives that a school board might have, there are no mechanisms for community feedback and local expertise. One of many consequences of this is that positions determined as non-instructional, such as social workers, janitors, bus drivers, and nurses, will have a significant reduction of pay without any way to negotiate these terms. Ultimately, HCR2007/SCR 1032/Proposition 320 risks destabilizing the very institutions it’s claiming to protect. Staff and students alike will suffer from unstable financial decisions and a lack of school and community representation, and Arizona will continue to fall into the bottom tier of U.S. states for public education. This is why I urge you to vote NO on HCR 2007/ SCR1032/Proposition 320. Elizabeth Davidson, Policy and Community Affairs, Lumen Strategies, Phoenix

Mi Familia Vota Recommends Voting NO on SCR 1032. This measure is an arbitrary, out-of-touch attack designed to dismantle public schools in Maricopa and Pima counties. It strips local control from large school districts (7,500+ students) and forces them to submit to rigid budget rules dictated by a single, partisan political appointee. The severe consequences of SCR 1032 include: Our children deserve a first-rate education with access to nurses, safe rides to school, and counselors who help them perform at their best. SCR 1032 will drastically increase class sizes and put students at risk of falling behind. Vote no on this reckless experiment. Monica Sandschafer, Arizona State Director, Mi Familia Vota, Phoenix

Proposition 320 imposes arbitrary limits on how school districts can spend taxpayer dollars without regard for local needs. It is a one-size-fits-all solution that fails to recognize that not all school districts are the same. What works in Phoenix or its surrounding suburbs does not necessarily work in the rest of the state. Proponents are unable to explain how they arrived at the 60% threshold for classroom instruction except that it sounds - Gives Power to a Single Bureaucrat: A partisan official gets to unilaterally decide what qualifies as a "direct instructional expense." - Forces Cuts to Vital Services: Anything not deemed "direct" faces the chopping block. This means forced funding cuts for school counselors, nurses, mental health services, school safety, building maintenance, after-school music and sports, and student transportation. - Devastating Penalties: Districts unable to comply face catastrophic, escalating across-the-board cuts: 25% in year one, 50% in year two, and up to a complete 100% loss of funding by year four. - Unfair Exclusions: These draconian penalties apply strictly to traditional district public schools, completely exempting charter schools and voucher recipients. reasonable. This ignores the reality of many districts in rural Arizona. Some districts encompass a large area. My own Florence Unified School District sprawls out over nearly one thousand square miles and serves multiple communities scattered across Pinal County. This means that the district has needs in terms of transportation, maintenance and even additional staff to adequately manage such a vast jurisdiction than urban and suburban areas, where districts can consist of a few neighborhoods. The limits placed here sound like common sense to legislators in Phoenix, but they do not consider the realities faced by people in much of the state. This is why these decisions are best left to local people who understand the needs of their own communities. Vote no on proposition 320 to maintain local control. SHERRI JONES School Board Member San Tan Valley, Arizona Sherri Jones, Development Director, Rural Arizona Action, Coolidge

My name is Hannah Phelps. I’m an ASU student, a proud product of our public schools, and a future educator here in Arizona. I urge you to vote NO on this threat to our public schools. As an undergraduate pursuing a teaching degree, I’ve learned about the public school ecosystem that enables every student to thrive. Not only do our students need highly qualified teachers, but they also need a robust network of support staff, bus drivers, counselors, nurses, and other critical positions — each and every person playing a role in our children’s education. This measure threatens to upend the support systems our students need, inserting partisan politics into our schools and expanding the statewide bureaucracy. If passed, partisan politicians will be able to police our schools and dictate what spending falls within the category of “direct instructional expenses.” As a result, school districts that invest in mental and physical health resources, after-school programs, and anything or anyone deemed as unnecessary by a politician will face slashed funding as punishment. That doesn’t lead to improved student outcomes and wellbeing. That leads to political targeting and statewide overreach. Already, Arizona consistently ranks among the lowest in the country for public education funding. This measure would lead to even deeper cuts in school funding, larger class sizes, reductions in student support programs, and declining achievement. Teachers across the state, including future educators like myself, focus on one thing: their students. I ask you to do the same and vote NO on this anti-student, anti-education measure. 320 Hannah Phelps, Future Educator and ASU Student, Chandler

I’m voting No on Prop 320. As a mother and former Osborn School District board member, I know our children need more than a desk and a textbook to succeed. They need counselors, nurses, bus drivers, safe school buildings, after-school programs, arts, music, and trusted adults who help them feel supported and ready to learn. Prop 320 puts those essential supports at risk. This measure would impose arbitrary budget mandates on public school districts in Maricopa and Pima counties and threaten devastating cuts if they cannot comply. Those decisions should be made by families, educators, and local communities and not by political appointees using one-size-fits-all formulas. I have seen firsthand how public schools serve as the heart of a community, especially for working families, immigrant families, and students who already face barriers. Cutting the supports that help children thrive will only make it harder for them to succeed. Arizona should be investing in every child’s future, not setting public schools up to fail. Join me in voting no on Prop 320. Ylenia Aguilar, Former Osborn Unified School Board Member, Phoenix

Arizona students deserve opportunity, not a rigid mandate that puts school funding at risk. Prop 320 would impose an arbitrary budgeting formula on local public schools and give an unelected state official sweeping power over education dollars that should be guided by local communities, parents, and educators. Every child learns differently, and schools need flexibility to meet students' needs. Prop 320 could force districts to cut vital supports, such as after-school programs, athletics, music, counseling, transportation, safety staff, and other services that help students stay engaged, healthy, and ready to learn. These programs are not extras — they are part of what helps students build confidence, develop leadership, and succeed in and out of the classroom. Instead of strengthening Arizona schools, Prop 320 threatens to punish them. Districts that cannot meet their one-size-fitsall requirements could face severe financial penalties, potentially losing a growing share of their state funding over time. Those cuts would hit students directly through larger class sizes, fewer educators and support staff, reduced enrichment opportunities, and fewer resources for academic success. Arizona families want schools that prepare students to compete and thrive. That requires more than a narrow spending formula. It requires teachers, counselors, nurses, safe transportation, extracurricular programs, and the flexibility to invest in what students actually need. Prop 320 would strip local schools of power and put students at risk. Arizona students deserve investment, stability, and opportunity — not punishment from politicians. Joel Edman, Phoenix

Kathy Hoffman, Former Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction (2019-2023), Phoenix

Vote No on Prop 320 and protect your neighborhood public school from brutal mandatory cuts. As Arizona’s former Superintendent of Public Instruction, I know students need more than textbooks and classroom instruction to succeed. They need counselors, nurses, librarians, social workers, bus drivers, coaches, arts programs, safe buildings, technology support, and after-school activities. Prop 320 puts those essential supports at risk. This measure would impose arbitrary budget mandates on public school districts in Maricopa and Pima counties and threaten massive cuts if districts cannot comply. Decisions about student needs should be made by educators, families, and local communities and absolutely not by political appointees using one-size-fits-all formulas without any knowledge of local context. The result if this passed could be disastrous. No sports, larger class sizes, fewer student supports, less access to arts and music, and reduced services that help children stay safe, healthy, and ready to learn. Arizona should be investing in our students, not setting them up to go schools decimated by devastating cuts. Every child deserves a great education and the support to thrive. Vote NO on Prop 320.