Arizona Governor Proposes Scaling Back Vouchers

Plan would redirect millions of dollars to K-12 public schools

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs is proposing scaling back that state’s runaway school voucher program - calling for income limits that would save an estimated $150 million.

Gov. Hobbs Calls to Stop Voucher Welfare for the Wealthy

As Save Our Schools Arizona points out:

While exact data on who uses ESA vouchers is challenging to obtain due to the program’s total lack of transparency (the Arizona Department of Education doesn't collect household income data on ESA voucher families, for example), the scant data available to taxpayers paints a clear picture: the vast majority of vouchers go to the wealthiest zip codes in Arizona. Multiple analyses have found a clear correlation: for any given zip code, the higher the household income, the more families that use vouchers.

And, as Hobbs (a Democrat) seeks to insert some sensibility into a state voucher program that threatens to eat away at dollars available for public schools, Republican Ron DeSantis of Florida is presiding over a voucher program with an appetite for billions in taxpayer dollars.

An analysis of the Sunshine State's private school voucher program reveals the total cost to taxpayers is $3.9 billion annually.

The Education Law Center in conjunction with the Florida Policy Institute conducted the analysis of the state's school voucher program. The results of the study show the cost of vouchers growing steadily. Vouchers now consume 23% of state education dollars, up from just 12% in the 2021-22 school year.

In spite of the budget-busting nature of school vouchers as, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has called the General Assembly into a special session next week to vote on his school voucher scam.

Ahead of this special session, some lawmakers hosted a forum with education policy professor Josh Cowen. Prof. Cowen shared the findings of his research: School vouchers cost a ton of money and don’t improve academic results for kids.

In Arizona, for instance, the state faced a $1.4 billion budget shortfall, much of which was the result of new voucher spending. Similar issues have arisen in Ohio, where vouchers now account for $1 billion of spending and Ohio House Republican leadership is eyeing a $650 million cut to public school funding. In Arkansas, the governor is steering more than half of the state’s budget surplus to its voucher program — shortchanging other priorities.