SOSAZ’s urgent memo to state leaders last week — which sounded the alarm that ESA vouchers had already blown through their $624M budget and are now projected to cost nearly $300M over budget — set off a barrage of press as Governor Hobbs called upon Republican leaders to remove their heads from the sand and come together to find responsible solutions to prevent vouchers from busting the state budget.
Gov. Hobbs echoed the warning that state leaders should “pass accountability and transparency measures, and bring an end to this wasteful misspending.”
The governor continued with a scathing criticism of the program: “The school voucher program is unaccountable and unsustainable. It does not save taxpayers money, and it does not provide a better education for Arizona students. Instead, taxpayer dollars are funding ski resort passes, luxury car driving lessons, and pianos because partisan politicians refuse to place real limits on the program.” She explained that runaway spending eats away at other state services, like public safety, social workers, and medical care.
Then, adding to these warnings of an impending economic crisis, the Joint Legislative Budget Committee (JLBC) Finance and Advisory Committee issued an alarming update on revenue forecasts for this year. We knew it would be bad — but not this bad.
Republican leaders, for their part, have continued to deny economic reality. In a joint statement this week, Senate President Petersen, Speaker of the House Toma and Supt. Horne doubled down on the ESA voucher program, denying its negative impact on the state budget. When Sen. Petersen says, “We will evaluate ways to cut spending to accommodate any budget shortfall, but our school choice program will not be on the chopping block,” he is really saying that he is willing to put all other programs that our communities need (public schools, roads, safety, and healthcare)on the chopping block, while protecting unaccountable private school vouchers at all costs.
SOSAZ’s urgent memo to state leaders last week — which sounded the alarm that ESA vouchers had already blown through their $624M budget and are now projected to cost nearly $300M over budget — set off a barrage of press as Governor Hobbs called upon Republican leaders to remove their heads from the sand and come together to find responsible solutions to prevent vouchers from busting the state budget.
Gov. Hobbs echoed the warning that state leaders should “pass accountability and transparency measures, and bring an end to this wasteful misspending.”
The governor continued with a scathing criticism of the program: “The school voucher program is unaccountable and unsustainable. It does not save taxpayers money, and it does not provide a better education for Arizona students. Instead, taxpayer dollars are funding ski resort passes, luxury car driving lessons, and pianos because partisan politicians refuse to place real limits on the program.” She explained that runaway spending eats away at other state services, like public safety, social workers, and medical care.
Then, adding to these warnings of an impending economic crisis, the Joint Legislative Budget Committee (JLBC) Finance and Advisory Committee issued an alarming update on revenue forecasts for this year. We knew it would be bad — but not this bad.
Republican leaders, for their part, have continued to deny economic reality. In a joint statement this week, Senate President Petersen, Speaker of the House Toma and Supt. Horne doubled down on the ESA voucher program, denying its negative impact on the state budget. When Sen. Petersen says, “We will evaluate ways to cut spending to accommodate any budget shortfall, but our school choice program will not be on the chopping block,” he is really saying that he is willing to put all other programs that our communities need (public schools, roads, safety, and healthcare)on the chopping block, while protecting unaccountable private school vouchers at all costs.
ICYMI: ABC15’s “Data Guru” Garrett Archer and reporter Melissa Blasius issued a staggering expose on Arizona’s ESA voucher program and showcased the rampant misuse of taxpayer funds under the program. The three-part series provided an in-depth analysis of ESA voucher expenditures for the 2022-23 school year, during which time Arizona taxpayers unwittingly paid $587 million for the voucher program.
Laurie Roberts Pulls No Punches: This week, AZCentral columnist Laurie Roberts didn’t hold back in her reaction to the ABC15 story, in which she called ESAs “taxpayer-supplied vouchers that apparently come with few to no strings attached.”
In response to Horne’s ESA Director saying, “While you may think this may not be a good use of that family’s ESA funding, at the end of the day, they get a fixed amount of money, and if that’s how they’re going to choose to use it, that’s their prerogative,” Roberts retorted, “I suppose that’s why we bought a $4,000 piano for somebody’s living room… I don’t know about you but I certainly feel reassured that my money is being well spent on the education of tomorrow’s leaders … and golfers.”
In response to any notion that state leaders will actually work to fix the program, she had this to say: “Just don’t expect Republican leaders to jump through any hoops to place some reasonable limits on the state’s universal school voucher program… Maybe if they’d had some of those taxpayer-supplied trampoline lessons.”
Texas is fighting to “Give Vouchers the Boot!”: The same special interests who forced vouchers into Arizona are employing the same dirty tactics and arm-twisting to bribe and browbeat Lone Star state legislators into passing universal vouchers (albeit with much more accountability than Arizona’s wild, wild West interpretation of universal vouchers, inviting any and all fraud and abuse). The Texas Senate passed the voucher bill this week with an 18-13 vote — but the harder-to-crack Texas House is still holding strong. To pass the bill, the Texas Senate paired vouchers with teacher pay raises and a $5.2 billion infusion into public schools — identical tactics to those used in Arizona, where new K-12 funds were negotiated into the education budget only to be thoroughly drained out by vouchers a year later.
SOSAZ’s Nicky Indicavitch & Beth Lewis talked to the Texas group Mothers for Democracy Institute this week for a no-holds-barred podcast about the cautionary tale vouchers have become in Arizona. We’ll keep you posted about Texas’ fight to stop school privatization in its tracks!
Voter Registration Training – Tuesday, October 17 @ 3pm – Register HERE!
SOSAZ Statewide Volunteer Huddle
Join us Sunday evening at 6pm for our Statewide Volunteer Huddle with special guest, Senator Christine Marsh. We will discuss the state’s bond and override elections and give other important updates from our team.
Yuma Rural Action Summit – November 4 – Mark “Going” HERE!
Have you signed the AZ Loves Public Schools Pledge yet? Be part of our growing community of public school supporters, sign the pledge and then share with your friends! Also check out our map of Arizona’s public school supporters and help us fill it in!
Don’t forget to join us on social media. Pick your favorite(s) and join us for fun, engaging content!! This is where we post important updates, key news articles, and informative graphics and videos you can’t get anywhere else.
Check your mailbox! Ballots are in the mail NOW for critical bond and override elections that have a huge positive impact on Arizona kids all around the state. Check to see if your ballot will have an education funding measure on it here: bit.ly/YES4KidsAZ — and tell everyone you know to vote YES on every school funding measure!
Ready to get involved? Check out our awesome Bond & Override Weekend of Action to plug in where you can to canvasses, car painting, postcard writing, yard sign pick-ups and more! Click HERE and Mark ‘GOING’!
Not sure about voting? Every vote matters!!! Hear from Maricopa County School Superintendent Steve Watson and SOSAZ’s Beth Lewis why you should vote YES for all bonds and overrides — and find out why most bonds and overrides have ZERO tax increases!
Teacher Pay Penalty: A new report from the Economic Policy Institute has found that Arizona has the second-worst teacher pay gap in the nation, behind only Colorado. On average, Arizona teachers make 33.2% less than the average worker with a Bachelor’s degree. That means an Arizona teacher makes only 66 cents for every dollar made by other comparable professionals. It should come as no surprise that this substantial pay gap is a major factor in our state’s growing teacher shortage. The Arizona School Personnel Administrators Association found that one month into this school year, Arizona had a whopping 2,229 vacant teaching posts, plus an additional 3,997 posts filled by under-credentialed teachers.
A Drop Of Logic: In an interview with ABC15 this week, Supt Horne admitted that the ESA voucher program may need reforms. While Supt Horne claimed that the approved purchases during his administration (which include snack boxes, ninja training, and luxury car driving lessons) were “reasonable,” he remained open to potential reforms, stating “maybe an amendment is needed to the legislation. I’m happy to work with the governor and trying [sic] to find compromises to satisfy all parties.” We hope that the Superintendent is true to his word and will work to bring true accountability to the ESA voucher program — but we won’t hold our breath.
Horne’s Bad Math: In the same interview, Horne continued to deny that universal ESA voucher costs have spiraled well over budget and threaten to bankrupt our state. Supt. Horne’s faulty math conflates state spending (which is used for vouchers) with federal and local dollars (which are not) and uses false numbers to hide a real economic disaster. Check out the video below for a fact check of Horne’s misinformation!
Still waiting…. After Superintendent Horne clawed back $70 million in grants to fund a $40 million tutoring program at the beginning of September, Arizona families and schools are still waiting to hear more from Tom Horne’s Department of Education. According to one interested parent, “I know it’s been almost a month right into it, and we’re already doing parent-teacher conferences, so I wasn’t sure when it was going to start or kind of. I haven’t heard anything yet.”
When asked for an update on when the program will launch, Supt. Horne demurred: “I spent the last week and a half in Northern Arizona, so I’m not totally up to date. When I left, I thought we were close to choosing vendors and having contracts ready to be approved by the school districts, so we’ll just have to check into that.” In the meantime, AZ students are missing out on the programs canceled after Superintendent Horne revoked their funding.
Check out some incredible pictures and stories from across the state that make us #PublicSchoolProud!
Students from Peoria Elementary School walked, biked, jogged, scooted, and rolled to school last Wednesday. Students got to start the day right with some outdoor exercise, environmental consciousness, and community building!
Congratulations to the Holbrook Unified School District Special Olympics team! Together, the team brought home four bronze medals, two silvers, and two golds. Way to go, Roadrunners!
Students at Mesquite Jr. High School in Mesa celebrated Hispanic Heritage Month by decorating doors across campus with artwork and information about Roberto Clemente, Rita Moreno, Ellen Ochoa, Cesar Chavez, Frida Kahlo, and Sonia Sotomayor.
Voter Registration Training – Tuesday, October 17 @ 3pm – Register HERE!
SOSAZ Statewide Volunteer Huddle
Join us Sunday evening at 6pm for our Statewide Volunteer Huddle with special guest, Senator Christine Marsh. We will discuss the state’s bond and override elections and give other important updates from our team.
Yuma Rural Action Summit – November 4 – Mark “Going” HERE!
Have you signed the AZ Loves Public Schools Pledge yet? Be part of our growing community of public school supporters, sign the pledge and then share with your friends! Also check out our map of Arizona’s public school supporters and help us fill it in!
Don’t forget to join us on social media. Pick your favorite(s) and join us for fun, engaging content!! This is where we post important updates, key news articles, and informative graphics and videos you can’t get anywhere else.
We’re excited to announce 1000 Strong for Public Education, a Save Our Schools Arizona Network campaign to demonstrate the overwhelming support for public education in communities across Arizona.
We’re asking 1,000 people to make a meaningful financial investment in our work by the beginning of 2024. All fully tax deductible gifts go directly to our largest budget expense — our people, who live and work in the communities they organize. Every dollar helps!
DONATE HERE TO BECOME A CHARTER MEMBER
Thank you for helping us work toward a future where a high-quality, fully-funded public education is available to all Arizona students.
Sign up for a Community Action Team: East Valley, West Valley & North Phoenix, Scottsdale & Paradise Valley, Central & South Phoenix, Northern Arizona, and Southern Arizona! Your local coordinators will help you with using Request to Speak and contacting your lawmakers.
Request an SOSAZ Education Roadshow presentation HERE
Sign up to automatically receive the SOSAZ Legislative Weekly Report HERE
