Why are Arizona families moving their kids from public to private schools?
A growing number of Arizona families are moving their kids from public to private schools for a variety of reasons.
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PHOENIX — A growing number of Arizona families are moving their kids from public to private schools, many motivated by the state’s school voucher program.
In fact, the program is winning over some parents who initially opposed Empowerment Scholarship Accounts (ESAs), which allow them to use public education tax dollars for private school or homeschooling expenses.
Priscilla Ramirez originally was very anti-ESA, believing that the program was taking money from the public school system. She had three kids in West Valley public schools, but she didn’t feel they were meeting the family’s needs.
“All of my concerns, I just wrapped them all together,” she explained. “You know, my special-needs second-grader who has more needs, his services being disrupted. The safety, and then we had an incident at that specific middle school where parents were upset at another family, guns were drawn and it’s like they didn’t notify the parents. … It’s stuff like that, not letting the parents know of real issues that are going on. The elementary school changed their whole curriculum, didn’t notify the parents.”
She wound up deciding to pull her kids from public schools before the 2025-26 school year.
Her situation isn’t unusual. According to Pew Research Center, 83% of parents who switch their children to private school cite school environment as the leading reason.
Tucson mother says private schools hold kids accountable better
In some cases, parents feel like their children are not learning or being held accountable at the level they should be. Rebecca Erskine is a Tucson parent who switched her children from a public school to a private school after learning about the ESA program in October.
“I was unaware of it. … Somebody mentioned to me, like, I had told them I just really want to send them to this private school. I can’t, I’m going to be saving up for it, and they’re like, ‘You don’t have to, now you could apply for this,’” she said.
Erskine said children at the public schools were not being held accountable for actions like bullying and throwing rocks. She added the curriculum was not up to par, with her kids needing to catch up on math in their new school.
About 35,000 Arizona students switched from public to private schools in fiscal year 2024, according to nonprofit EdChoice.
According to Public School Review, over 80,000 Arizona students are enrolled in private schools, about 7% of the state’s K-12 population. The ESA program hit a milestone by surpassing 100,000 enrollees this week, which happens to be National School Choice Week.
Valley public schools face declining enrollment
The popularity of ESAs is contributing to enrollment declines at public schools across the Valley. And with state funding tied to enrollment, many districts have been grappling with budget shortfalls.
Scottsdale Unified School District Superintendent Scott Menzel blamed ESAs for his district’s declining enrollment during a December board meeting that included the approval of two school closures.
“We’ve had a proliferation of choice and charters in the universal voucher expansion. … In 2010, we had 71% of the students who lived in our boundaries attended Scottsdale Unified. This past year, 56% are attending Scottsdale Unified,” he said.
Shelby Doyle, vice president of policy and national partnerships at the National School Choice Awareness Foundation, said private schools are simply opening more options for parents looking for something specific. The more private schools open, the more people will switch when they find their niche environment.
“They’re looking for something that fits into their life, and the way American working parents’ lives work is a little bit different than it was 10 years ago. And so, I think you’ll see private schools coming in and offering themselves as an option that is a little bit different than this sort of public school schedule, but with private school values,” she explained.
Funding for this journalism is made possible by the Arizona Local News Foundation.
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Comments
16 Comments
When you spend four decades defunding public schools, slandering the system, and then provide partial funds to move your kids to private school, this is the outcome. For families in the top economic demographics that is. Those at the bottom will need to leave their kids where they are because they can't afford to pay the difference between tuition and the ESA vouchers. There, they will fall even further behind due to services that are already diminished and dropping. Great system you got here, unless you're one of the have-nots. But then that's the plan, right.
I live near one of those religious private Institutions. I frequently observe high end vehicles, $100,000 SUV's picking up the kids. So glad I could help. So glad my tax dollars are being used by people who really need it.You're welcome.
If you're asking why "Arizona families are moving their kids from public to private schools," chances are you went to public school yourself. Parents want their kids to learn skills that will help them in the future which are found in private schools.
Public schools just aren't getting it and aren't making the necessary changes to deliver a good education.
I can't help but laugh every time ktar and loony gaydos start complaining about ESAs, claiming there's fraud involved and to get rid of them. Sure, there is, but there's also fraud in SNAP, which those same folks were worried about keeping during the democrat shutdown. It just shows that fraud is a convenient excuse for ktar and gaydos to get rid of a program that's actually doing better than public schools.