Keegan has proposed shifting capital funding from the local districts to the state and paying for it by instituting a three-quarter-cent sales tax. But the very word "tax" strikes fear in the heart of Senate Republicans and "keeps Brenda awake at night," as Keegan puts it, referring to Brenda Burns, the Senate president.
"It isn't, as Marc says, the largest tax increase in the history of Western civilization," Keegan continues, "it's a shift from property to sales tax. The [property taxes] go away, and Marc knows it."
But in the current ideological climate, the political mantra is to lower taxes.
"There have been Republican [Senate] members that have actually sat there and said that they believe that they are there for the purposes of returning every tax dollar to the taxpayers that they possibly can and to build more prisons," says Mary Hartley.
Keegan continues: "If you create a sales tax, it's state-imposed, and they don't want any part of that. They know there are huge inequities, but they don't want any part of that. 'It's the local school board--ack!--what are you going to do? It's your problem, your responsibility.' And in fact, that's not constitutionally true. It's the state's responsibility. They have to set up something that is inherently equal, and then the inequalities can come from local effort."
Spitzer is not convinced.
"The Keegan plan misallocates resources," he says. "If you really get to the heart of what she's trying to do, the right-wing think tanks do not like school districts and they view the school districts as barriers to choice. The Keegan plan would have the practical effect of destroying the school districts."
Furthermore, he says, it panders to big business, which would love to see property taxes phased out. An April 1997 report on education funding by Greater Phoenix Leadership, an alliance of utilities and industries, says as much.
Governor Jane Hull remains sphinxlike, silent on what she feels should be done.
"Let's look at getting from the Supreme Court their reasons why they don't like [the ABC] plan," she says simply.
With Republicans sparring, the compromise may come from an unexpected source: the Democrats. Senator Hartley has co-sponsored another plan with a cute acronym, the BEST plan, for "Build Excellent Schools Today."
The BEST plan establishes a baseline of wealth as measured by bonding capacity. School districts below the line would receive additional funding to bring them up to the median, and rich school districts would have caps placed on how much they could spend. But the districts would maintain the local control so important to the Republicans.
Spitzer told New Times that he's willing to look at it seriously.
"There might be a couple of minor problems with it," says Tim Hogan, but he believes that it meets the constitutional requirements.
However, if he hadn't sued in the first place, nothing would be getting done.
