Arizona teachers make final push for Invest in Ed measure

PHOENIX — Teachers planned to rally at the Arizona State Capitol on Saturday as part of their final push to the gather signatures needed to get the Invest in Education Act on the November ballot.

The measure would roughly double the income tax rate for Arizonans who make $250,000 or more. The money from the increased rates is expected to generate about $690 million annually for public schools.

Supporters planned to start gathering at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday, with a rally starting an hour later.

“It’s a day of action,” said Josh Buckley, chair for the Invest In Ed campaign. “We’re hoping to send out about 1,000 volunteers to go gather signatures as part of our last big push.”

Buckley, who’s also a teacher at Red Mountain High School in Mesa, said they have a list of about 500 different places where they planned to send people to gather signatures. That list includes the Phoenix Zoo, coffee shops and grocery stores.

“These are places we’ve found people have had a really good chance at gathering signatures,” he said.

Volunteers will gather signatures for a few hours before heading back to the Capitol at 12:30 p.m. for a rally and picnic.

Last week, the campaign held a similar signature gathering effort and collected about 20,000 signatures. Buckley said they hope to surpass that and collect about 30,000 signatures.

The Invest In Ed campaign needs to collect more than 150,000 valid signatures by July 5 to get the measure on the November ballot.

Buckley said they’re on track to collect the signatures needed.

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