The use of federal stimulus dollars to help balance the budget may help keep Arizona's public schools afloat through the end of the fiscal year, but Gov. Jan Brewer believes it underscores the need for the controversial tax hike she is proposing.

As part of a second round of reductions the fiscal 2009 budget, Brewer authorized the use of $250 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for K-12 schools. The governor, however, had planned to use stimulus money to balance budgets for the next two years, and Brewer spokesman Paul Senseman said that money likely will be gone by 2011.

Arizona is slated to receive as much as $4.2 billion in stimulus money over the next three years, with a stabilization fund of more than $800 million earmarked for K-12 and university education. Senseman said the remaining money will be enough to cover education spending in fiscal 2010, but the only way to raise enough money for 2011 is to implement Brewer's plan for a temporary tax increase that would raise about $1 billion a year through 2012.

"The governor believes it's now more imperative than ever, with the declining revenue projections, that all five points of her five-point plan are available," Senseman said.

Sen. Linda Gray, one of the few Republican lawmakers who has shown public support for the governor's plan, said she would only support a temporary sales tax increase if it was less than one cent on the dollar – Brewer has not specified the type of tax increase she is seeking – and if the money were dedicated specifically to K-12 education.

"But other than that, just having a general amount to raise taxes, no I'm not going to support that, and I don't think the public would support giving the Legislature $1 billion to spend as we so wish," the Glendale Republican said.

Gray's tentative support may bode well for Brewer, but the hard-line stance taken by many of the senator's colleagues may be an indication that support for her plan is not rising along with the state's need for more revenue. Conservative Republicans have opposed her plan from day one, and many say there is no more support for the tax increase now than there was when Brewer proposed it more than three months ago.

"I don't see any sympathy for it on the Republican side … in the House or the Senate," said Sen. Al Melvin, a Tucson Republican. "The votes are not here for that."

"I have seen no increased support at all. And I haven't seen hardly any support for it whatsoever on the Republican side," said Rep. David Stevens, a Sierra Vista Republican. "It's not going to happen with me."

Senseman said Brewer's discussions with lawmakers over the five-point plan have been "positive," but he would not say whether any Republican legislators had pledged to support the tax increase.

"I just can't comment on what she's secured at this point," he said.

Democratic Rep. Steve Farley said the House Democrats' budget plan includes tax increases, and there could be widespread support in the Legislature for such a plan. But Brewer must take a more active role in the process, he said.

"I think the governor needs to be a lot more specific. We're getting a little worried about her lack of leadership in this regard," the Tucson Democrat said. "If there's a vacuum at the Governor's Office, somebody's going to come in and fill it, and I don't think that these guys in the Senate or the House majority are the right people to fill that vacuum."