By Howard Fischer | Capitol Media Services
Key Points:
- Republicans propose a guarantee for school vouchers in return for teacher pay
- If passed, the voucher program would be enshrined in the state Constitution
- Hobbs calls proposal a non-starter citing cost, partisan games
The head of the House Education Committee said on April 30 that any plan to ask voters to increase the pay of public school teachers must also include inserting a right to vouchers for private and parochial schools into the Arizona Constitution – a proposal that could blow up the whole plan.
Rep. Matt Gress, R-Phoenix, said he believes that House and Senate Republicans are supportive of finding the dollars to raise teacher pay. That proposal would provide a $4,000 across-the-board increase, a move that would put average salaries here above the national average.
But Gress told Capitol Media Services his GOP colleagues want something else: protections for school choice.
