On Monday, Republican leaders went home for the year, ending the longest legislative session in state history without even so much as a token attempt to address the state’s biggest K-12 crisis: a universal ESA voucher program that is spiraling out of control. 

❌ Despite severe warnings from AG Mayes around lack of oversight and child safety, Republican lawmakers  failed to create any semblance of controls or safety regulations.

❌Republicans also ignored both Supt. Horne’s and Gov. Hobbs’ warnings that this year’s budget will be blown out of the water and failed to budget for the $320 million shortfall predicted by both  Horne and Hobbs.. With the triple threat of costs ballooning to $950 million, a next-to-zero surplus, and drastically reduced revenue due to Ducey’s enacted “flat tax,” Republican legislative leaders are displaying a marked lack of fiscal common sense  by refusing to act. 

❌ Even though the ESA voucher administration is under scrutiny by the Department of Homeland Security, the legislature failed to add any child or parental protections or controls to ensure taxpayer dollars are used wisely. 

In short, Republican lawmakers made a colossal mess last session when they expanded ESA vouchers universally. Instead of acknowledging their mistakes  and developing solutions, they’ve acted like toddlers, shoving their fingers in their ears to drown out all reports of fraud, abuse and scandal. 

Arizona voters have had our fill of stalling and political posturing — and are demanding actual action. 

Instead, Republican legislators have instead spent the year tilting at windmills, pushing various divisive, manufactured culture-war bills they knew Hobbs would veto: attacks on vulnerable LGBTQ+ youth, attacks on teachers and teaching, attempts to ban books, and of course, attempts to expand vouchers even further. Read more in our K12 Legislative Recap here! 

Veteran GOP strategist Chuck Coughlin characterized the 2023 session as mostly “a bunch of politicians screwing around and not getting a lot done.” And indeed, “not getting a lot done” was a central pillar of this year’s Republican agenda: GOP lawmakers point to a lack of action on Arizona’s extravagant, unaccountable universal ESA voucher program as one of their biggest “wins.” 

It’s abundantly clear that this program is a failed $1 billion experiment that comes at the expense of over 1 million Arizona kids and families who choose public schools. With universal ESA vouchers poised to blow a hole in next year’s budget, reining in the unaccountable program must be a top issue for the 2024 session. 

We predict ESA vouchers will be the deciding factor in electing a pro-public education legislature in 2024 — just as we predict lawmakers who fail to put controls on this budget-busting spending spree of taxpayer funds will pay the price at the ballot box.