IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 9, 2023

Contact: Beth Lewis, Director Save Our Schools Arizona

480-621-2932

beth@sosarizona.org

2024 ESA Projections Threaten to Bankrupt Arizona

Governor Ducey’s 2022 universal ESA voucher expansion is already threatening to bankrupt the state. Last Friday, the Joint Legislative Budget Committee (JLBC) released new projections on the program’s cost which shows first-year cost estimates skyrocketed by 700% from their original estimate. Irresponsibly, the Republican-led legislature passed the nation’s largest voucher program while completely failing to budget for it. The JLBC states that the expansion has already racked up $200 million in entirely unbudgeted costs, and projects these costs will balloon to $376 million by 2024. 

ESA voucher costs are considered unbudgeted because 80% of the families are not leaving public schools, but rather subsidizing private school or home education costs they have already been paying . In these cases, the money does not “follow the child,” as no funding was budgeted to the child to begin with. Pairing these unbudgeted costs with the pre-universal program means Arizona will be sending over $600 million per year to private schools and homeschools — amounting to $3 billion in taxpayer dollars over the next 5 years. With virtually no accountability or transparency for these funds and the dramatic costs to local public schools, Arizona voters are rightfully questioning these expenditures and demanding the program be overturned. 

“Republican lawmakers are robbing our local public schools and proving irresponsible stewards of our hard-earned taxpayer dollars,” said Beth Lewis, parent and director of Save Our Schools Arizona. “Passing a program that costs hundreds of millions of tax dollars without budgeting for it underscores the devil-may-care attitude the Republicans have towards fiscal responsibility.”

“Governor Hobbs is right to prioritize public education spending when Arizona’s schools remain 47th in the nation in per-student spending, even after recent investments,” said rural parent Nicky Indicavitch. “1 million children rely on our local schools, and the false choice of vouchers predominantly benefits higher-income students in the suburbs — at the expense of low-income and rural communities.”

The Arizona State Constitution requires the state to provide a public education to all students; it does not require the funding of private schools or home education. This Legislature must undo the harm last year’s legislature and Ducey caused by repealing universal ESA vouchers before this unaccountable, wasteful program bankrupts our state and our schools.

For reference: JLBC 2024 Baseline Projections, Slide 9