Ballot Math / Statewide / Prop 320

Ballot measure: Statewide, referred statute

Proposition 320: The 60 percent classroom mandate with the missing definition

Officially: Proposition 320, SCR 1032 (2026). "Requires certain school districts to spend at least sixty percent of their operational spending on direct instructional expenses as defined by the Auditor General; reduces certain state funding for non-compliant districts." Sponsored by Sen. Jake Hoffman. It adds Section 15-917 to the Arizona Revised Statutes.

In one sentence: large school districts must spend at least 60 percent of their operating budgets on "direct instructional expenses," a term the measure does not define. The state Auditor General would define it after you vote, and districts that miss the mark lose teacher-pay money.

What it does

  • Who is covered: districts with 7,500 or more students, or operating in a county of 500,000 or more people. That is 76 districts covering about 83 percent of Arizona's public school students, including both Mesa Unified and Chandler Unified.
  • The mandate: at least 60 percent of "operational spending" must go to "direct instructional expenses." Neither term is defined in the measure. The Auditor General defines both afterward.
  • The phase-in: districts below the line must gain half a percentage point per year starting fiscal 2027-28.
  • The penalty: a district that fails to make required progress loses Classroom Site Fund money, 25 percent in the first year, escalating toward 100 percent. The Classroom Site Fund is the stream created by Proposition 301 that pays for teacher salaries and class-size reduction. Limited waivers are available from the Superintendent of Public Instruction.

The math, Mesa Unified edition

Mesa Unified's Classroom Site Fund share is over $52 million a year.

A first-year penalty is 25 percent of that, roughly $13 million, taken from the fund voters created to raise teacher pay and shrink classes, because the district did not move enough spending into a category that does not have a definition yet. That is the mechanical heart of this measure: the enforcement mechanism fines districts out of the classroom fund in the name of funding classrooms. Whether that trade is worth it depends on whether you believe the mandate will actually move money to instruction faster than the penalties remove it, and on definitions nobody has written yet.

A YES vote

The mandate, phase-in, and penalty become law. The Auditor General publishes the definitions, and covered districts must reach 60 percent or lose Classroom Site Fund money on the escalating schedule.

A NO vote

District spending shares remain a local board decision, reported through existing state categories, with no state percentage mandate and no Classroom Site Fund penalty.

The strongest case for YES

  • Follow the money to the classroom. Supporters argue district bureaucracies grow while teacher pay stagnates, and only a mandate with teeth changes the ratio. Arizona districts have resisted voluntary versions of this idea for years.
  • The phase-in is gentle: half a point a year, with waivers, gives districts a long runway to restructure rather than slash.
  • The Auditor General is a technician, not a politician, on this view, and letting that office define the terms keeps the definitions consistent across all 76 districts.

The strongest case for NO

  • You are voting on an undefined term. Whether counselors, librarians, buses, or special education count as "direct instructional" decides whether this measure is mild or drastic, and that decision happens after the vote, by definition. A ballot measure whose meaning is TBD asks voters to sign a blank term sheet.
  • The penalty cuts the classroom fund. Non-compliance is punished by reducing the Proposition 301 money that pays teachers, the opposite of the measure's stated purpose in the years a district is catching up.
  • It is nearly irreversible. A voter-approved Arizona measure can only be amended by a three-fourths legislative vote that furthers its purpose, or by another public vote. If the definition comes out badly, there is no easy fix.
  • One percentage for unlike districts. A rural-edge district with long bus routes and an urban district with short ones face the same 60 percent line on different cost structures.

The fine print

  • This page takes the drafting problem seriously because it is objectively there: the official ballot language itself says the key term is "as defined by the Auditor General." You can support classroom spending completely and still have a view about voting first and defining later.
  • Small districts are exempt only if they are both under 7,500 students and outside a big county. Size or location, either one, pulls a district in.
  • Leaving this one blank is a legitimate, complete choice. It does not affect the rest of your ballot, and it is what more than a few voters do with measures they find under-specified.

How to vote without getting your ballot rejected

  • Mail it by Tuesday, October 27, 2026. After that day, do not mail it: use a drop box or a vote center.
  • It must be received by 7 p.m. on Election Day, Tuesday, November 3, 2026. Postmarks do not count.
  • Sign and date the affidavit envelope, and write a current phone number on it. If your signature is questioned, the county needs to reach you.
  • Leaving any item blank, including this one, is allowed. It does not affect the rest of your ballot.

Sources

Ballot Math: analysis only, no endorsements. Read the official ballot language yourself; it is linked above because we want you to check us. Back to Ballot Math home.