Arizona judge rules in favor of Invest in Education Act

PHOENIX (KSAZ) - A Maricopa County Superior Court judge ruled in favor of the Invest in Education Act on Thursday.

The group had recently turned over 270,000 signatures to put a measure on the November ballot to raise taxes on individuals who make more than $250,000 a year to fund public education.

"Education is supposed to move forward and not backwards, so this will help restore funding to education in Arizona," Joshua Buckley said. "You'll see more teachers stay in the classroom, lower classroom sizes. School districts will hopefully be able to use this for full day kindergarten."

Shortly after the signatures were turned in, Arizonans for Great Schools and a Strong Economy filed a complaint stating the petition had errors and was misleading.

Chairman Jaime Molera says it eliminates income tax indexing.

"Basically what it does is right now, just like our federal taxes, Arizona's income tax rates are indexed for inflation, so if you make $50,000 a year and you're in that tax bracket with inflation increases, which are real, Arizonans don't get bumped into that new tax bracket," he said.

Molera says it will harm the state's economy and hurt small businesses.

"If they're making a salary of $250,000 or an income of $250,000, which is a lot of our small businesses in the state, then they're going to be facing at least a 76 percent tax hike," he said.

Joshua Buckley with Invest in Ed says it will have the opposite effect.

"Businesses want to come to Arizona if they had an education system that supported students to get them the highly qualified and trained applicants they need," he said.