Universal Education Savings Accounts Become Law in Arizona
In addition to introducing the concept of tuition tax credit scholarships in 1997, Arizona introduced Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) in 2011 as an alternative form of school choice.
Vouchers or tax credit scholarship programs allow parents to send their children to private schools with tuition covered by the state government directly (in the case of vouchers) or indirectly via scholarship funds (in the case of tax credit scholarship funds). By contrast, ESAs allow parents to withdraw their children from public schools and instead use state money to either cover tuition at a private school or pay for home-schooling costs in the form of online curricula, textbooks, ballet lessons, museum visits, and similar educational goods and services.
Yet in the case of Arizona, ESAs were limited to students residing on Indian reservations or struggling with disabilities or stuck in repeatedly low-performing schools. No more. After clearing the Arizona House and then Senate, a bill to provide all students access to ESAs is now state law, reported National Public Radio affiliate KAWC.
“Rejecting claims of segregation and favoring the rich, Arizona Republican lawmakers late Friday gave final approval to the most comprehensive system of vouchers of taxpayer funds for private and parochial schools in the nation,” reported KAWC on June 25th. “The 16-10 Senate vote came as proponents said parents want more choice for their children.”
To opponents, the legislation meant denial of the consequences of insufficient funding of public schools and unnecessary funding of children from middle- and upper-income families already enrolled in private schools.
To Senator Martin Quezada, D-Glendale, there's a simple explanation for the widespread disappointment in the state’s public schools that led to the clamor for ESAs. "’We created the crisis,’'' he said, according to KAWC, “by not properly funding public schools. ‘And we are at fault for people wanting to look for other choices.’"
Making matters worse, Quezada said, is that the state will now fund the enrollment of children in private schools who are already there.
"Now we've just handed them a check for $7,000 for each one of their kids,'' said Quezada.
“Legislative budget staffers figure that the cost of giving vouchers to parents of kids already in those private schools,” reported KAWC, “will cost the state about $125 million a year by the 2024-2025 school year, meaning even less money for public schools.”
"We are perpetuating the discrimination, we are perpetuating the inequity, we are in fact codifying the segregation of our schools,'' Quezada said.
Some observers in neighboring Nevada celebrated the school choice victory and noted that a Republican legislature in the Silver State several years ago had passed a similar universal bill that would have allowed all parents to withdraw their children from public schools and mix and match state funds as they saw fit to cover educational expenditures.
“Ironically, for a brief moment in 2015, it was Nevada leading the way with school choice,” opined The Las Vegas Review-Journal in a June 28th editorial. “Republicans had swept to power in 2014. The Legislature then passed a near universal ESA program. While the Supreme Court found the program was constitutional, it overruled its funding on a technicality.
“Nevada’s ESA program didn’t last, but it showed other states what was possible. Now, Nevada students need to benefit firsthand from such a program.”
The editorial board of The Wall Street Journal likewise celebrated Arizona’s new law in a June 27th declaration of support: “The school choice movement continues to gain support, and the latest breakthrough is legislation in Arizona that will expand the availability of education savings accounts for any K-12 student in the state who wants one.”
“The new bill allows any of the state’s more than a million K-12 students to be eligible for more than $6,000 for education expenses, including private school tuition and curricular materials,” the editorial continued. “Most other state programs cap the number of students, set income eligibility requirements, or require students to be enrolled in public schools to apply. Arizona’s program may be the nation’s broadest.”
The Journal endorsed the range of Arizona’s new ESA, in particular: “The bill also expands the use of ESA funds for transportation and such equipment as computers or other education technology. The scholarship money is funded by the state and equal to 90% of what the state would provide for charter-school students. It will follow students to the schools of their choice—private, charter, or traditional union-dominated district schools.”
- S.E. Abrams