Arizona superintendent hopefuls debate ESAs, education funding and teacher pay

Arizona superintendent of public instruction candidates Republican Kimberly Yee and Democrat Teresa Leyba Ruiz took the debate stage Tuesday night, discussing Arizona’s school voucher program, the teacher shortage, academics and education funding.

Both candidates agreed on multiple issues, including the need for guardrails when it comes to the Empowerment Scholarship Account program and raising teacher pay.

Yee, the current state treasurer, said she supports ESAs as a form of school choice, but emphasized that misuse of funds cannot be allowed within the program. If elected, Yee explained she would implement an automated system determining if a purchase is allowable under the rules.

“I would really like to ensure that our ESA financial platform is in place to ensure that those expenditures are accounted for, are abiding by state law and are used for qualified educational expenses,” she said. “And we can do a better job of that by using a more sophisticated technological platform for the ESA plan. We don’t have that today.”

Arizona’s ESA program allows families to use public education tax dollars for private school or homeschooling expenses. It had more than 100,000 enrolled students at the end of the 2025-26 school year.

Meanwhile, Ruiz, the former Glendale Community College president and longtime math teacher, claimed the universal ESA handbook was “made to be exploited” and called for an audit of the voucher program.

“As far as funding goes, it’s hard to imagine that there’s a billion dollars a year being spent on an expanded ESA program when our public schools are last in the nation in per-pupil funding. So, if you’re going to bring [school] choice, if you’re going to have ESAs, you also need to make sure that you are bringing those resources to our public schools and that’s not happening,” Ruiz said.

The democrat added that while her children attended private school in Arizona, she did not use ESA money for their education.

Both superintendent candidates support renewing Prop 123

Both candidates addressed the current amount of funding going to Arizona teachers, with the state’s average teacher pay at $64,291 a year, according to the National Education Association.

Yee explained that she wants more funding to come from bonus pay for educators, incentivizing teachers to increase academic achievement to earn higher pay.

“I would fully support [putting] more money into the teacher funds and creating bonus pay allowing for teachers who are doing very well in their classrooms, moving students out of their grade levels successfully and proficiently through assessments, to be able to be rewarded for that great work,” she said.

Yee also supports the renewal of Proposition 123, which increased the amount of State Land Trust money allotted to public education by around $300 million per year. The Legislature would have to refer the measure to the ballot for it to be renewed after it was not approved in the last legislative session.

Meanwhile, Ruiz called Prop 123 a “temporary solution” to the funding problem, stating if she were elected superintendent she would meet with the state treasurer to determine which funding resources can be tapped to support Arizona teachers and classrooms.

“I have traveled the state. I’ve talked to teachers and I have seen how our teachers are spending thousands of dollars of their own money on basic classroom supplies. The money that my opponent talks about is not making its way into the classroom,” Ruiz said.

Both Yee and Ruiz agreed that artificial intelligence should be permitted in the classroom, but must be taught ethically and that workforce development should be cultivated in the state.

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

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