Arizona ESA accountability proposition must be rewritten to be included on the ballot, judge rules

The ESA accountability initiative set to appear on the November ballot as Proposition 212 may have to be rewritten before it’s permitted on the official ballot after a court ruling.

According to the Arizona Free Enterprise Club, a nonprofit that advocates for school choice and tax cuts, the group filed a lawsuit challenging the legality of the ballot measure, claiming the wording of the proposition.

“Arizona voters deserve the truth about what this anti-school-choice initiative would actually do,” the Arizona Free Enterprise Club said in a statement celebrating the court order.

The initiative, filed in February, would set a $150,000 income cap and pull any leftover funds from ESAs back into the state’s general fund. It would also require schools receiving voucher money to have students complete state testing or become nationally accredited.

The state’s Empowerment Scholarship Account program allows families to use public education tax dollars for private school or homeschooling expenses. It had over 100,000 enrolled students at the end of the 2025-26 school year.

A Maricopa County Superior Court Judge ruled that the measure’s language does not disclose essential information about government control of school voucher funds and does not include mention of potential future lawsuits upholding the measure. The ruling banned Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes from printing ballots with the current version of Prop 212 on it.

Proposition 212 Ruling by shiratanzer

The ruling also claimed calling the ESA program a ‘school voucher program’ was misleading.

Now the Protect Education Act team must rewrite the measure to comply with the judge’s request before it is permitted to appear on the ballot.

Save Our Schools Arizona and the Arizona Education Association submitted 421,451 signatures to the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office to put the Protect Education Act on the ballot in July.

This comes after an Arizona judge ruled that a Republican-referred attempt to block Prop 212 is ineligible for the November ballot because it covers more than one subject in a single proposition.

Funding for this journalism is made possible by the Arizona Local News Foundation.

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