In what is not a surprise to the education and political world, enrollment in the Arizona Empowerment Scholarship Account Program (ESA) is surpassing the budget projections put forth in the 2023/24 State Budget. As of today (October 10, 2023,), 68,455 students have received an ESA scholarship, averaging $7300, to the private school or home school … Read more
Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs’s office released a July 21, 2023 study confirming that if the Arizona Department of Education’s (A.D.E.) questionable May 2023 enrollment projections for voucher scholarship accounts are accurate and the Fiscal Year 2024 State Budget may face a close to $320 million shortfall. This happened only hours before: What does the July … Read more
Talk about a potential scam. Or blatant stupidity. The Empowerment Scholarship Account (E.S.A.) Division at the Arizona Department of Education has indicated, through a response on their call center on social media, that taking children to a waterpark could count as a valid expense for physical education activities/coursework. Education advocates and Legislative oversight leaders should … Read more
Get ready for Alt-Fuel Fiasco 2.0. That reference (already made by legislators like Arizona Democratic Senate Leader Mitzi Epstein and former Democratic House Leader Andres Cano) to the turn-of-the-century alternate fuel state tax credit program that blew up Arizona’s revenue coffers may be repeated again with the predictable funding explosion of Empowerment Scholarship Accounts (E.S.A) … Read more
To several objective political observers, the FY 2024 budget deal between Governor Katie Hobbs and Arizona Legislative Republican leadership should not be unexpected. Please click here to view the latest budget documents. In working out a budget deal with the still majority Republican Legislature (several of whom think compromise is a dirty word,) it should … Read more