Governor Ducey recently signed legislation to fund students and establish Arizona as the nation’s school choice leader. The new legislation enables every Arizona K-12 student to qualify for an Education Savings Account (ESA). The ESA will give approximately $7,000 for parents to choose which school best fits their child’s needs. This is open to all children regardless of what school they currently attend or family income level.
The legislation goes into effect on September 24 and the Arizona Department of Education has stated they hope to have applications available for parents by mid-August.
Families who choose to accept the ESA money cannot accept any STO scholarships.
There is an effort by anti-school choice groups to refer the legislation to the ballot. To succeed, Save Our Schools must file about 118,000 valid signatures by September 24. If that occurs, the expansion will be put on hold until it can be voted on.
We believe parents know best when it comes to their child’s. We celebrate the passing of this legislation that funds students and not systems and empowers every family to choose the best school to meet their child’s needs, not just those who can afford it.
We encourage you to decline to sign the referral petition by Save Our Schools that would limit school choice for every family in Arizona. Please share the importance of school choice with your community, as well.
You can read a fact sheet on the legislation put together by Center for Arizona Policy here.
Also, we want to encourage you to research candidates who support school choice, vouchers, and tax credits, and the ESA expansion ahead of the August 2 primary and be sure to cast your ballot.