Vouchers advocates offer competing ballot measure to change Arizona's system

A group called Fortify AZ has filed paperwork with the Secretary of State's Office to try to put a measure on the November ballot that would impose some guardrails on how money is spent by parents in the Empowerment Scholarship Account program. Those limits would include setting up a system to screen purchases by parents who use the $7,400-per-child vouchers of taxpayer funds to home school their children — instead of using the cash for tuition to private or parochial schools — and an extensive list of what they could not buy with the funds.

Dubbed the Arizona Empowerment Scholarship Account Reform and Accountability Act, the initiative also includes requirements for teachers at private and parochial schools that accept students with vouchers to be fingerprinted.

That is similar to what is in an initiative proposal filed a month ago by two education groups, Arizona Education Association and Save Our Schools.

But what Fortify AZ is offering to voters has some significant differences.

It doesn't include the requirement, which is in the initiative pushed by the education groups, for students at private and parochial schools to take assessment tests similar to those required at public schools. Instead, the Fortify AZ proposal says testing is necessary only for students not enrolled in "qualified'' public schools, which it does not define.

And then there's the issue of of means testing.

The proposal by the Arizona Education Association and Save Our Schools would put into law that families making more than $150,000 a year, adjusted annually for inflation, are ineligible for the vouchers of tax dollars.

There has not been any sort of limit on who can get the vouchers since the Republican-controlled Arizona Legislature voted in 2022 to open the program to any student. That resulted in the program exploding from about 12,000 students a year, each of whom met a special qualification, to now more than 100,000 students, with a price tag of $1 billion a year.

There is research showing that many of the new recipients already were attending private and parochial schools, with their parents picking up the tabs — money now coming from the state.

The new Fortify AZ proposal has no such income cap.

Backed by pro-school choice group

There was no immediate response to inquiries made to Fortify AZ using the contact information it provided on the initiative application.

But the measure is being backed by the American Federation for Children, a national group at the forefront of the "school choice'' movement, which promotes the ability of parents to decide where their children will get the best education, including religious schools, without state interference — but with state money.

Tommy Schultz, chief executive officer of that organization, said what Fortify AZ is offering is far superior to the alternative being pushed by the Arizona Education Association and Save Our Schools 

"The teachers union initiative would gut school choice in Arizona for more than 100,000 kids,'' Schultz said in a written statement. "This pro-choice school initiative makes it durable for generations to come.''

That last point goes to the fact that the Arizona Constitution says anything approved by ballot cannot be altered or repealed by the Legislature. Other than some fine tuning — which requires a supermajority vote of lawmakers — all changes would have to go back to voters. That would apply to either of these two initiatives.

Arizona Education Association President Marisol Garcia said her organization welcomes anyone calling for "common-sense reforms to Arizona's billion-dollar voucher mess.'' But she also said the new proposal "appears to be missing some key reforms that are necessary to prevent out-of-control spending.''

Garcia said backing of the initiative by the pro-voucher American Federation for Children shows "it does not appear to be a genuine push for voucher reform.''

Growing support for spending reforms

The fact that voucher supporters felt compelled to craft their own initiative to compete with what the education groups are offering shows a recognition that there is growing support in Arizona for making changes to the voucher system.

Vouchers were first approved more than a decade ago as an option for students with special needs that could not be met by traditional public schools. Even at that time, proponents acknowledged they would be angling to expand the program. 

That has happened, with changes over the years adding foster care children, those living on reservations, those attending schools rated D or F — and culminating with Republican then-Gov. Doug Ducey signing the universal voucher plan in 2022.

Some of the concern is that $1 billion price tag.

But most of the headlines have been over how parents have spent their voucher dollars.

In a series of reports, Craig Harris of KPNX-TV has documented purchases that appear to be beyond what parents need to educate their children. There were big screen TVs, lingerie, diamonds, wedding gifts and even condoms.

Harris, through public records, also reported he found voucher dollars used to pay for trips to 44 states and 13 other countries.

What percentage of the total voucher dollars were spent on these items remains in dispute between Harris and state schools chief Tom Horne. But Horne, an elected Republican official, has not disputed reporting on the specific items for which parents sought reimbursement.

The version of the initiative proposed by the education groups contains language barring parents — mostly those who home school and can use vouchers for educational materials — from spending the money on "non-educational items or luxury goods.''

Fortify AZ is offering a virtual carbon copy on that particular issue, with a nearly word-for-word list of what is clearly barred, from jewelry and lingerie to hot tubs, bounce houses and motorized vehicles and watercraft, as well as child-care expenses and restaurant dining.

Schultz, in his statement, said the initiative measure being pushed by the education groups should not be the only choice for voters in November.

"Standing on the sidelines is not an option as one of America's oldest school-choice programs faces an existential threat,'' he said. He indicated there would be campaign funding to back the Fortify AZ plan. 

"We are taking the fight to the union's turf and, more importantly, to the voters who are clearly on our side,'' he said. "We will do what it takes to bring this critical measure to the ballot.''

That could prove to be an expensive endeavor.

Signatures needed by July

Backers of each of the proposals must gather 255,949 valid signatures on petitions by July 2 to get their initiatives before voters.

Geneva Fuentes, communications director of the Arizona Education Association, has not shared figures on how much it would take to not just get the signatures, but to wage what could be an expensive campaign to convince voters to support it. But, like Schultz, she said the resources will be there, saying her group "knows what it takes to win, and we're going to be doing that.''

Of note is that what Fortify AZ is offering as an alternative for voters in November may itself go too far for some school choice advocates.

In a post on X, Jason Bedrick, who has written about school choice as a matter of religious liberty, said he was "disappointed'' that American Federation for Children is "pushing a ballot initiative that would impose unnecessary and harmful regulations on Arizona's popular Empowerment Scholarship Account program, especially without having consulted with the local school choice coalition first.'' Bedrick is a research fellow at the Heritage Foundation's Center for Education Policy.