Although a ballot question on authorizing a surcharge to support public schools is opposed by the University of Hawaii faculty union, a group of more than 118 university faculty and graduate students Monday came out in support of it — arguing approval of the proposal is a way to provide necessary funding to make improvements in a public education system that grossly lags behind others in the country.

Calling itself Hawaii Scholars for Education and Social Justice, the group says it backs the Nov. 6 ballot question asking voters whether to amend the Hawaii Constitution to allow the state to tax investment property to support public schools. The question is phrased as follows: “Shall the legislature be authorized to establish, as provided by law, a surcharge on investment real property to be used to support public education?”

About half a dozen UH faculty members and graduate students from the group held a press conference Monday in front of UH Manoa’s Hawaii Hall.

Colleen Rost-Banik, an adjunct lecturer in the UH system and a doctoral candidate, said the group’s research debunks the argument that the Department of Education is properly funded.

Hawaii ranks among the lowest states in percentage of state and local expenditures going to K-12 education, and there’s a clear correlation between school funding and student achievement, Rost-Banik said. “When adjusted for cost of living, Hawaii’s teachers are the lowest-paid in the nation,” she said.

Lawrence Boyd Jr., who is with the Center for Labor Education and Research based out of UH West Oahu, said property taxes have been rising already due to higher values caused by a high number of out-of-state investors. The local government in Vancouver, British Columbia, imposed a 15 percent tax on foreign investment buyers in the metropolitan Vancouver area, also to improve education, Boyd said.

“And it dampened rising property prices,” he said. “The same thing could happen here. And if we do something about home prices, we can do something about homelessness.”

The University of Hawaii Professional Assembly is opposed to the ballot question, putting the union at odds with the Hawaii State Teachers Association, which represents 13,700 members and shepherded the issue through this year’s Legislature.

UHPA Executive Director Kristeen Hanselman spelled out the opposition in an email over the weekend to its 3,100 members. “Although the amendment may have honorable intentions, it has raised serious concerns from many in the community,” Hanselman said.

The UHPA email said HSTA “introduced and promoted” the ballot question after failing for several years to convince state lawmakers to obtain an increase in general excise tax for public education. “This new amendment did not include input from other unions or stakeholders and did not consider the broader impact of this proposal.”

Hanselman’s email also noted that language was removed from the initial proposal specifying the surcharge would be imposed only on residential properties assessed at greater than $1 million — suggesting it is now applicable to all “investment” properties.

UHPA said any increase in property taxes would ultimately get passed on to renters and that the proposal’s language does not specify that overall spending for public education would increase.