By Howard Fischer, Capitol Media Services via Arizona Capitol Times
Gov. Doug Ducey is finally willing to talk about keeping public schools from falling off a financial cliff after 2020.
And it involves a word at which he normally blanches: taxes.
Ducey said late Tuesday he is supportive of efforts to ask voters to extend the the 0.6-cent sales tax surcharge they approved in 2000. That money, about $650 million a year at current sales, goes to fund teacher salaries.
Related: House, Senate begin budget meetings with Ducey staff
But absent voter approval, the levy self-destructs in 2020.
At the same time, though, the rest of Proposition 301 continues in perpetuity. And the main provision of that requires the state to boost aid to schools to match inflation.
That mandate was restated just last year in Proposition 123, remains in perpetuity.
