Over the last week, 12 News and AZ Central Investigative Reporter Craig Harris has broadcast a series of reports on the now billion dollar a year Arizona’s Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA)-Private School Voucher Program that MAGA Republicans would like to formalize in the State Constitution.
The apparent conclusions from Harris’s reporting (there are still more episodes to air this week) confirm what most observers of the Arizona political and educational scene have known since Governor Doug Ducey signed legislation expanding the Empowerment Scholarship Account program in 2022.
Those are:
- The expanded programs primarily benefits the rich. Harris’s reporting noted Paradise Valley zip code 85253 where typical homes are valued at three million and one in ten homes has a child that has received an ESA voucher. He also noted that 62 percent of the homes above Arizona’s median income have children taking advantage of the expanded ESA program with over a third from “households making over 100,000 a year.” He also relayed that his research showed that 44 percent of ESA children had never set foot in an Arizona public school. Tyler Kowch, the Communications Manager for Save Our Schools Arizona, responding to a request for comment to Blog for Arizona disputed the 44 percent figure in Harris’s reporting, saying the figure was close to 65 percent, writing “According to ADE’s 2025 Q2 report (Table 4, page 20), there are 29,092 students in the program who attended public school (district or charter) prior to enrolling in the voucher program. Out of the 83,819 recipients in the program, that means 54,727 (65%) students were already in a private program before receiving a voucher.” Whether readers believe Harris or Kowch’s interpretation of the data, the conclusion is inescapable. ESA Private School Vouchers in Arizona are Welfare Coupons for the Wealthy.
- Most Families with less means can not afford the difference in private school tuition that is still owed after the $7000 to $8000 ESA allotment is provided.
- Most of the children whose families are taking advantage of the program are leaving A and B grade districts and renowned charter schools like Mesa Unified, Peoria Unified, Deer Valley Unified, Chandler Unified, Scottsdale Unified, BASIS Charters, and Great Hearts Academies. The contention that most of these children are leaving failing schools is another MAGA Republican scam talking point.
- The system, as evidenced by prosecutions of scam artists by the Arizona Attorney Generals office and earlier reporting by other news outlets, is an invitation for grift, waste (one million for Legos, going to a baseball camp, a vasectomy testing kit, a Rolex, and $16,000 for a cello are several examples in Harris’s reporting,) money hoarding, and fraud. There was evidence of that before the expansion with families double dipping the system.
- The expanded and financially ballooning ESA system is a fiscal challenge to the state budget with 87,000 approved applicants as opposed to 12,000 before the expansion began. Again, so much for the myth that Republicans are the party of fiscal responsibility.
Now, Arizona MAGA Republicans want to memorialize these runaway spending vouchers/welfare for the wealthy program in the State Constitution without any meaningful reforms to the system, at the expense of funding for the state’s public schools and other vital areas.
Texas Republicans, with Ducey traveling to the Lone Star State offering his support, have already adopted a system like the one in Arizona and Donald Trump’s current Project 2025 budget and tax legislation includes a federal version of this grift, waste, fraud, and abuse welfare for the wealthy program.
In a segment of Harris’s special reporting on this topic, Arizona Senator John Kavanagh said “Every kid has a right to educational choice.”
What Kavanagh fails to acknowledge in the segment is children and their wealthy families had the right to educational choice before the expanded voucher program. They just had to pay their own money to the private or home school of their choice rather than ripping off the tax payers, many of whom, even with the $7,000 to $8,000 ESA allotment, still could not afford sending their child to a private school.
He also said “Education is the responsibility of the state government.” He left out one very important word. Public. Public Education is the responsibility of the state government.
In comments to Harris, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne was dismissive of the fact that affluent families were taking advantage of the present system, blamed left wing boards (Doubtful that BASIS and the Great Hearts boards are to the left)that promoted DEI and Critical Race Theory for causing families to pull their schools, and countered that his team, including attorney Maria Simms, have developed safeguards to regulate the out of control expense system of the program which has caused irate sectors of homeschool families to protest the recent rejection of $35 million in spending requests and has invited a probable MAGA primary challenge to him because extremists beneficiaries of the ESA program can no longer put their hands in the voucher cookie jar with impunity.
In commenting to Harris, Save Our Schools head Beth Lewis said what MAGA Republicans in Arizona and across the country are doing is “The privatization of education. So vouchers are really setting up a whole new system of education that creates a two tiered system for winners and losers…We know that most of the vouchers are going to rich kids.”
On the need to reform the system so extravagant and outlandish spending requests like a $16,000 cello continue to get rejected, Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs commented to Harris:
“It’s taxpayer money. It is taxpayer money and taxpayers deserve accountability. They deserve reasonable guardrails that ensure that these funds are being spent on education because these are funds that are being pulled out of their local public schools.”
Arizona House Democratic Assistant Leader Nancy Gutierrez offered a comment to Blog for Arizona on the Harris reporting, stating:
“This report confirmed what we’ve been saying all along, the purpose of universal vouchers is to pay for rich families to send their children to private schools. The truth is that public schools educate all students and that’s what most Arizona families choose for their children.
The Republicans have co-signed a universal voucher program that is not based in actual education or safety. They are perfectly fine spending money on a program with no means testing or safety measures because it benefits their wealthiest donors. It’s quite concerning that when we were debating the Developmentally Disabled funding, they were quite concerned about reporting requirements and an escalating budget, but not at all concerned about any of that when it comes to private school vouchers.
Public schools educate more students of all backgrounds and abilities in this state and that is where our public tax dollars should be spent. If a family wants to send their children to a private school, they should pay for it.”
Dr. Teresa Leyba Ruiz, Democratic Candidate for Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction, also responded to a request for comment from Blog for Arizona, relaying:
“School choice” sounds great until you realize that our hardworking families are being forced to pay private school tuition for the wealthy, while our underfunded public schools suffer. At a minimum, any educational institution or business that accepts our taxpayer money should be held to the same reporting requirements that govern our public districts.
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