After forming a new education committee, the Glendale Chamber of Commerce could become vocal about funding.

Chamber President and CEO Robert Heidt told KJZZ that educators in his city want the chamber’s nearly 1,400 members to advocate for appropriate funding and resource allocation at the local, state and federal levels.

“Overall, Chambers of Commerce are kind of ‘We don’t want more tax, we don’t want more this,’ and we get that, I think our folks get that around the table, we understand that mindset,” he said. “But we’ve got some big issues on the table that we have to look at.”

Heidt said his members’ were split in 2018, when tens of thousands of Arizona teachers walked out of their classes for six days and rallied at the state Capitol for higher teacher pay and more K-12 funding, and in 2020, when Arizona voters approved Proposition 208, knowns as the Invest in Ed Act, which imposed a 3.5% surcharge on individuals earning more than $250,000 a year.

“We’re not going to be the first chamber out there to immediately poo-poo and put down increased funding or increased taxation, we’re going to want to look at it,” he said. “We’ve got business leaders and community partners that really want to be around the table and want to understand it.”