More than 1,000 teachers fanned out across Arizona on Saturday collecting signatures as they try to meet a July 5 deadline to collect 150,000 signatures to get education funding on the November ballot.
Teachers went to several high traffic areas such as libraries and swimming pools to collect signatures.
The "Invest in Ed" initiative is calling for 700 million dollars to go into school budgets every year by raising income taxes on the top 1% of Arizona earners.
“That’s going to help fund full-day kindergarten, that’s going to help make class sizes smaller, get those pay raises for those people who really need them, and this is going to help our students in every way,” said Madison School District teacher Amy Ball.
Ball was just one of the many teachers at the state capitol Saturday morning helping get people set up to go canvassing for signatures, rallying their supporters to help push them over the threshold.
Generally, Arizonans are opposed to any type of tax hike in the red state but this year might be different.
Polls show education is a major issue for Arizonans and that could help their cause.
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“Arizona has a lot of unique laws that other states would love to have, and that’s because our voters have the opportunity to weigh in when the legislature and the governor are too far removed from what the voters want,” said Arizona Education Association President Joe Thomas.
“It has broad support across all political spectrums.”
