Why are Arizona families moving their kids from public to private schools?

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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