Green Party of Pima County – Vote “No” on Prop. 123 on May 17th
“Proposition 123 does nothing more than reward bad behavior, abuse of power and corruption at the State Level. It literally allows politicians, already legally determined to be withholding money from schools, to mortgage our future educational dollars without thought of any future need beyond 10 years.
First, proposition 123 does not pay the full amount the courts have already ruled is due the schools pursuant to proposition 301 which voters passed in 2000. Secondly, the Arizona State Land Trust Fund, whose interest of typically 2.5% annually, already earmarked for education, has been targeted for a raid by state pirates and politicians. The land trust funds principal will be tapped to the tune of more than 6% per year, depleting the funds principal and depriving AZ students and taxpayer’s of any form of educational security. This approach to funding literally robs future generations of money for our schools, in order to pay current educational debt that was already withheld by the governor and his majority. Might this also trigger land sales by the state to replenish a diminished land trust, benefiting developers heretofore unknown?
We, the members of the Green Party in Pima County, say the risk to our environmental sustainability and our way of life is too great, and our reward to our children and teacher’s is non-existent. Prop. 123 does not provide enough financial resource to fix the under-funding problems and poor teacher pay already in existence. In fact, the state has a budget surplus of nearly $1 billion which could be used to fund schools immediately. The state has not done so.
When faced with overwhelming evidence of incompetence, at best, and corruption, at worst, an informed electorate must act to solve problems, and correct inequities. Preserve our Land Trust, and let’s fight for what we approved in proposition 301.
Vote “No” on Prop. 123.
Vote “Yes” for our environment and future generations of students.”
1st GPPC Representative Josh Reilly
GPPC Chairperson Mike Cease
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