Arizona teacher pay raise vote delayed to next year

A rizonans won’t get to vote this year on a plan to raise teacher pay.

Efforts to schedule a special election collapsed when Republicans demanded that any package going to voters also put a provision in the Arizona Constitution guaranteeing the right of “school choice.’’

And, from their perspective, that specifically includes the ability of parents to get vouchers of taxpayer funds to send their children to private and parochial schools.

Gov. Katie Hobbs has pronounced that a non-starter.

Strictly speaking, lawmakers do not need the governor’s consent or approval to put what they want to voters in a special election.

But the constitutional amendment, by itself, cannot include all the necessary changes in state law to implement the plan. And the Arizona Constitution says statutory cha