Prop 320 would make District One and Yuma Union High spend 60% in the classroom. Right now they're in the 40s.

Most statewide ballot measures land on Yuma the same way they land everywhere else. Prop 320 is a little different. It covers every school district that operates a school in a county with at least 500,000 people, plus any district anywhere else with at least 7,500 students. Outside the Phoenix and Tucson areas, that second rule catches three districts in the whole state: Flagstaff Unified, Yuma Elementary School District One and Yuma Union High School District, KAWC reported.

So for Yuma, this one is pretty specific.

What it does

The Legislature sent Prop 320 to the ballot through SCR 1032. A yes vote would require covered districts to spend at least 60% of their operational spending on "direct instruction." Districts below that line would have to raise their share by at least half a percentage point a year beginning in fiscal 2027-28 until they get there, KTAR reported. There's no new state money attached.

Who decides what counts as "direct instruction"? The Arizona Auditor General, under the measure's text. That matters more than it sounds like it should, and we'll come back to it.

A district that misses its target would lose part of its Classroom Site Fund money: 25% the first year, then 50%, 75% and finally all of it. The state superintendent can grant limited one-year waivers. The measure starts the annual spending-increase requirement in fiscal 2027-28. A funding reduction would follow an Auditor General finding that a district failed to comply in the preceding fiscal year.

A no vote leaves the current law alone.

Where Yuma's districts stand

Statewide, Arizona schools spent 52.1% on classroom instruction in fiscal 2025, the lowest since the state started tracking in 2001, according to KTAR.

Yuma's two big districts are below that. In fiscal 2025, District One spent about 49% on direct instruction and Yuma Union High spent about 47%, according to KAWC.

To put dollars on it: District One's preliminary operational spending for fiscal 2026 was about $138.2 million, with $60.9 million counted as direct instruction. KAWC estimated a first-year penalty for District One at roughly $2 million.

The Classroom Site Fund is not small change for teachers here. In fiscal 2025, the average Yuma Union High teacher salary was $75,310, and $23,094 of that came from the fund. At District One, the average was $60,561, with $13,454 from the fund.

The case for it

Supporters say a lot of school money never reaches a classroom, and that Prop 320 pushes it back there. The Goldwater Institute helped write it and calls it the "Prioritize Teacher Pay Act." Goldwater's Matt Beienberg told KTAR it doesn't require cutting anybody's budget, only steering a bigger share of new money toward instruction as budgets grow. State Rep. Matt Gress pointed to more than 3,000 teacher vacancies.

Locally, Rep. Michael Carbone told KAWC that school administration is bloated and more money should go to classrooms. With Arizona's classroom share at its lowest on record, that's an argument a lot of parents will find reasonable on its face.

The case against it

Opponents say the measure guarantees no raises at all, and that the penalty lands on the same fund that pays for raises. Jamie Sheldahl, District One's retired superintendent, told KAWC it provides no funding, restricts local control and picks an arbitrary number.

The more practical objection is about definitions. District finance officers told KAWC that rising costs elsewhere, like insurance and utilities, could keep their instructional percentage flat even if instruction dollars grow. Yuma Union High CFO Neil Brown noted that grant-funded social workers wouldn't count toward the 60%. Statewide opponents have warned that counselors, nurses, buses and campus safety are the kinds of things that could get squeezed.

Here's the honest catch on both sides: until the Auditor General writes the definition, nobody can say exactly which jobs count. Supporters see that as a manageable detail. Opponents see it as the whole ballgame.

The short version

If Prop 320 passes, Yuma's two largest districts would need to move roughly 11 to 13 points over the coming years, a half point at a time at minimum, with Classroom Site Fund money at stake if they fall behind. Whether that means bigger teacher paychecks or fewer counselors is the question each side answers differently.

Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3.

Related reading

• Yuma Propositions 436 and 437: What Voters Are Actually Being Asked to Change
• District One has picked the reading programs it wants. You can look at them first, until Dec. 8.

Photo credit

Yuma Union High School District's administration building, photographed in 2014. Photo by Shortride, CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped), via Wikimedia Commons. Original image. CC BY-SA 3.0. The cropped image is shared under the same license.

Sources

• KAWC, Prop 320 would affect two Yuma school districts. Here's what's at stake., Oct. 27, 2026. Yuma district figures, salaries, local quotes.
• KTAR, Prop 320 explained. SCR 1032, Auditor General definition, 52.1% statewide, Beienberg and Gress.
• Arizona PBS, Prop. 320 forces schools to spend 60% of budgets on loosely defined instructional expenses, October 2026. Goldwater "Prioritize Teacher Pay Act."
• Arizona Legislature, SCR 1032 as filed with the Secretary of State, June 15, 2026. Coverage rule, half-point annual increase, Classroom Site Fund penalty schedule, waivers, Auditor General definitions.