Alexandra Olgin /KJZZ

Superintendent Diane Douglas.

Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Diane Douglas is discouraging Arizona's teacher movement from pushing forward with a statewide ballot initiative aimed at stabilizing school funding.

Referencing economic outlooks, Douglas said raising income taxes on the highest earning households isn't necessary and warned pushing for an additional tax hike could backfire.

"Strong economic growth is based on the very people that this budget initiative will tax," Douglas said, "And, I think that could potentially undermine the whole budget plan that's been laid out to support our teachers and education."

Her chief opponent in the upcoming elections, former Sen. David Schapira, sees the tax as decades overdue and a threat of high earners moving away as hype.

"[The tax] would still leave us a much lower than income taxes in many other states, including some of our surrounding states," Schapira explained, "I kind of doubt that someone who has a home in Orange County is going to start claiming income tax there, because they're going to pay higher taxes there than they do in Arizona."

The proposal, dubbed the Invest in Education Act is estimated to generate $690 million annually by tacking on an additional 3.46-percent to the 4.54-percent state income tax for Arizona residents earning more than $250,000 a year.