Steve Smith: Another tax increase for override is not the answer

By Sen. Steve Smith

As a member of the Senate Education Committee and the fact that I come from a family of teachers, I take education and funding for it very seriously.

That being said, currently over 50 percent of the state of Arizona’s entire $9.6 billion budget is allocated for education (totaling more than $4.8 billion).  Arizona is also at an all-time high in K-12 funding, and we just allocated an additional $200 million to our universities earlier this year above and beyond normal funding.

Also, with the passage of Prop 123 in May, an expected $3.5 billion of additional funding will be infused into Arizona’s K-12 system over the next 10 years, providing even more resources. All of this gain was realized without raising taxes!

Therefore, while I understand that there are still areas that can use more funding, another tax increase to the citizens is not the answer, especially since Pinal County is nearly the highest taxed county in Arizona.  We have ‘A’ rated schools in our district right now with the current funding level, so I believe the first step is to adopt those successful policies in the rest of the schools that are not receiving an ‘A’ rating.

It is for these reasons and others that I have to respectfully vote no on the override.

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Steve Smith is a state senator for District 11 and a resident of Maricopa.