When the Biden/Harris Administration and the Democratic Congress passed the American Rescue Plan in 2021, they included an expansion of the Clinton/Gore era Child Tax Credit where families received up to $3600 for children age six and younger and $3,000 for older ones. This expansion resulted in the Child Poverty Rate being nearly and briefly … Read more
When his own Empowerment Scholarship Account Director recommended common-sense reforms to the ESA handbook that included greater regulations like increased oversight of potential “luxury items” purchase requests, Arizona Superintendent for Public Instruction Tom Horne persuaded the State Board of Education to defer revisions to the handbook until next year to allow for greater community feedback. … Read more
Over the last several weeks, Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs has taken several positive steps to help groups in need secure affordable health care and gain relief from medical debt. On February 20, in a gathering with parents, children, and child-health rights activists, the Governor announced that, after bipartisan negotiations with members of the State Legislature … Read more
One of the misfortunes of the American Rescue Plan was that the provisions to expand the Child Tax Credit for the nation’s families expired at the end of 2021 after helping drop the child poverty rate to its lowest rate in decades. While several states, including Arizona, sought local remedies to partially or fully make … Read more
When only one poor child can not get health insurance, that is one child too many. That is the primary motivation for Arizona State Senator Brian Fernandez who introduced SB1487 on January 30, 2024. This measure, if it becomes law, would expand eligibility for impoverished families at 250 percent of the Federal Poverty Level to … Read more