FAQ

#PublicSchoolProud

$0
Dollars cut from K-12 education in Arizona since 2009

(The number you're waiting for is $4.56 BILLION)†

Did you Know?

Despite our state’s growing population and the larger number of students in today’s classrooms, our public schools are also getting nearly 15% less funding now than they did 10 years ago.6

  • What did voters think?

    Arizona voters across all parties and professions consistently name education as the state’s top priority. Arizonans oppose ESA voucher expansion by more than 2 to 1. Arizona voters blocked the expansion by a 65% margin and 97% of them name public education as central to Arizona’s success.10

  • What happened after Save Our Schools Arizona got enough signatures to put ESA vouchers on the ballot?

    The referendum appeared on the November 2018 ballot as Proposition 305, allowing Arizona voters a say in how their tax dollars are spent and the future of their state. 65% of Arizonans voted NO, rejecting the Legislature’s ESA voucher expansion.

  • Where is the push for ESA voucher expansion coming from?

    Three special interest groups, Americans for Prosperity, the Goldwater Institute, and the American Federation for Children, have each spent untold millions in Arizona on influencing elections and expanding ESA vouchers.11 Together, they are working to dismantle public education, changing it from the force which propelled America to world superpower status into a money-making scheme to benefit the already very rich. 12

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Footnotes:

    1. Empowerment Scholarship Account Quarterly Report to the Arizona State Board of Education Fiscal Year 2022 Quarter 1 October 2021

    2. Making the Grade: How Fair is School Funding in Your State, Education Law Center, 2021. Mary McKillip and Danielle Farrie. “Starting from the Bottom: First Steps to Improve School Funding in Arizona,”  Education Law Center, 2020.

    3. “Arizona CEOs see schools as key weakness” Arizona Republic, 2/17/2016 “AZ lacks top workforce to truly compete” Morrison Institute for Public Policy, 12/23/2013

    4. According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, there is a definite correlation between school expenditures and home values in any given neighborhood. See “Using Market Valuation to Assess Public School Spending,” found that for every dollar spent on public schools in a community, home values increased $20.

    5. “Arizona State Funding Project: Addressing the Teacher Labor Market,” Education Resource Strategies, 06/05/2018.
    6. "Arizona School Personnel, September 2021 Survey Results“ Arizona School Personnel Administrators Association
    7. Empowerment Scholarship Account Quarterly Report to the Arizona State Board of Education Fiscal Year 2021 Quarter 4, July 2021

    8.  “Are Arizona's rural schools in a state of emergency?” AZ Ed News, 6/14/2017 “The State Arizona’s Rural Schools,” Save Our Schools Arizona Network, November 2021.

    9. “Starting from the Bottom: First Steps to Improve School Funding in Arizona,”  Education Law Center, 2020.

    10. “In Arizona's voucher fight, it's citizens v. Koch network” Arizona Republic, 10/31/2017

    11.  “Koch-funded group spends six figures to 'educate' on vouchers” Arizona Republic, 11/16/2017. “Think tank worked to control Arizona school voucher program behind scenes, emails show” Arizona Republic, 12/7/2017.

    12. Part 5: Selling School Choice,” Save Our Schools Arizona Network Blog, May 23, 2020.

†  Arizona's Unrestored Budget Cuts Arizona School Boards Association
††  The cost of cuts: Arizona tax carve-outs last year hit $13.7B Arizona Capitol Times, 5/8/2017