2nd ESA ballot initiative filed, leaving out income caps while still requiring accountability

PHOENIX – A second ESA-related ballot initiative has been submitted to the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office, aiming to get accountability in front of voters in November but without an income cap for voucher users.

This comes after the Arizona Education Association teachers union and the Save Our Schools Arizona advocacy group filed a similar initiative — but with income limits — in February.

Arizona’s Empowerment Scholarship Account school voucher program allows families to use public education tax dollars for private school or homeschooling expenses. It was created in 2011 and became universal in 2022, opening the program to any Arizona students. The program currently has over 100,000 users.

The efforts to modify the program are happening amid recent reports of misused funds by ESA families.

Who is behind the new ESA-related ballot initiative

The new ESA-related initiative was filed by a political action committee called Fortify AZ. If it collects more than 255,949 signatures by July 2 and passes legal scrutiny, it will end up on the statewide general election ballot.

Brian Jodice with the American Federation for Children, a school choice advocacy group, told KTAR News 92.3 FM the new initiative was submitted to combat the union-backed proposal, which he said aims to “gut” the ESA program.

“I mean, they’re talking about doing things that would make the program unrecognizable, unworkable and unusable for families. Arbitrary income caps, over-regulations of schools. I mean, really taking away the heart of how school choice benefits, not just kids in Arizona, but across the country,” he said.

The new initiative require national testing for ESA students, disqualify parents who misuse the program and create paths for parent feedback.

The teachers union-backed ballot initiative includes a $150,000 income cap for school voucher users, except for students with disabilities, as well as national testing and safety requirements for schools where parents spend ESA funds.

Marisol Garcia, president of the Arizona Education Association, welcomes all efforts to add oversight to the ESA program. She said adding a second initiative expands the conversation about waste and abuse of taxpayer dollars.

“We welcome more people to this fight. This program is a disaster. … We should actually come together and do one together, because clearly this is an issue. And there’s some compromises, but, I mean, why would you run two things to do this same thing?” she said.

Jodice, however, questioned the union’s motives.

“What you’ll hear from the unions is, ‘We want to attack fraudulent spending and ensure that this program, you know, there’s no fraud throughout.’ They’re using that as a as a Trojan horse to come in and ultimately gut this entire program,” he said.

Last month, Beth Lewis with Save our Schools Arizona said the goal is not to eliminate the voucher program, but to rein it in.

“Sometimes we get a bad rap because, yeah, we don’t love the way this voucher program has rolled out and the way that it’s decimating our public schools,” she said. “But that is because we care about kids. … We workshop this with ESA families around the state.”

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

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