The Goldwater Institute has taken a position on the following measures that will be on the ballot for Arizona voters in 2026.

Vote YES on Prop 142 Ban Discrimination and Raced-Based Preferential Treatment

In 2010, Arizona voters ratified—by a 19-point margin—a constitutional amendment to ban racial discrimination (including so-called “affirmative action”) policies from our public institutions, but this language left the door open to schools and universities seeking to circumvent its intent. Since that time, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) offices, programming, and practices have spread across state institutions to promote race-based preferential treatment and ideological indoctrination of applicants, staff, and students.

Prop 142 prohibits Arizona public agencies from promoting race-based policies or programs and ensures that all students, staff, and job candidates are treated equally regardless of skin color. One such important public intuition is our public schools and universities. If passed, Prop 142 will prohibit public educational institutions from requiring students to take DEI courses in order to graduate.  This is especially critical, as recent Goldwater Institute reports have uncovered practices across our state universities mandating students to take courses steeped in DEI simply to graduate, or to graduate with honors.

Over 80% of Arizona voters agree that public schools and universities should NOT give preferential treatment to students and employees based upon race and agree that public educational institutions should hire teachers based upon teaching ability, not political ideology. Prop 142 closes this loophole in our state constitution and ensures a person is considered based on their merit, not the color of their skin.

Read more about prop 142 here.

See the language of the measure here.

Vote YES on Prop 320 Prioritize Teacher Pay Act

Prop 320 ensures that school districts prioritize teacher pay in their budgets. School districts consistently say how important their teachers are, but many Arizonans would be shocked to learn that teacher salaries often account for less than half of a district’s budget. Too much instead gets diverted to superintendent and administration pay, empty buildings, and lavish trips for their administration.

Despite funding increases enacted by both voters and state lawmakers, school districts are putting an ever smaller share of their funding toward classroom instruction. In 2004, school districts spent an average of 59% of their budgets on instruction, but now that number has fallen to 52%.

Prop 320 fixes this problem by ensuring K-12 monies go to classroom instruction, not to administrative bloat, by requiring that 60% of districts’ budgets go to direct instructional expenses. Direct instructional expenses as defined by the auditor general:

• Includes “teachers, teachers’ aides, substitute teachers, graders, guest lecturers, general instructional supplies, instructional aids, field trips, athletics, co-curricular activities, and tuition,” including special education teachers and aides.
• Excludes superintendents, principals, business managers, clerical, accounting & HR staff, media specialists, curriculum development, teacher training, and instruction-related technology services. While other important roles such as counselors, audiologists, speech pathologists, nurses, social workers, librarians and special education directors are also outside of direct instruction, these positions may still be funded from the remaining 40% of the district’s operational spending.

Under Prop 320, districts that are spending less than 60% of their operational dollars on instruction must increase their share by at least 0.5% each year until they reach this level.  If a district fails to make any progress in prioritizing its teachers, their portion of the Classroom Site Fund will be redirected to districts who do until they get back on track.

Prop 320 does not apply to small, rural districts (those with fewer than 7,500 students in counties with populations under 500,000). The Prioritize Teacher Pay Act is an important guardrail that ensures critical K-12 dollars go where they are needed most: in the classroom.

Read more about teacher pay in Arizona here.

See the full language here.

See the full list of teachers and teacher’s aides eligible here.