Save Our Schools Arizona prepares to fight expansion of ESA program
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Illustration: Allie Carl/Axios
Save Our Schools Arizona is preparing for the likelihood that Gov. Doug Ducey will sign legislation that expands the voucher-style Empowerment Scholarship Accounts (ESA) program to all K-12 students.
What's happening: The group successfully referred a previous expansion of the ESA program to the ballot in 2018, when it was overwhelmingly rejected by voters. It is considering doing the same if Ducey signs House Bill 2853.
- Once Ducey signs the bill, Save Our Schools will have 90 days to collect at least 118,823 valid signatures.
- If the group collects enough signatures, the expansion plan would go on hold until voters can weigh in during the 2024 general election.
There's more: Beth Lewis, a spokesperson for Save Our Schools, says the group is considering other options as well, including litigation under the Arizona Constitution's Voter Protection Act (VPA).
- The VPA severely restricts the legislature's ability to alter voter-approved laws.
- Lewis says Save Our Schools could sue under the VPA because voters already rejected ESA expansion four years ago.
- Yes, but: Whether the VPA could prevent lawmakers from enacting a law similar to one voters already rejected is an untested legal theory, Lewis acknowledges to Axios.
Lewis says Save Our Schools' national funders have also approached the group about a possible citizen initiative for 2024 that would enshrine the current limitations in the ESA program, including helping only students with disabilities or those who attend failing schools.
The other side: Republican Rep. Ben Toma, who sponsored the ESA legislation, says things have changed a lot since 2018, when voters defeated the last expansion law.
- Toma says unpopular education policies enacted during the pandemic have increased public support for school-choice programs.
- He also says that many ESA supporters, including himself, voted against the 2018 law because there was a cap on the number of students who would be eligible, meaning the VPA would have prevented future expansion.
What's next: Save Our Schools will announce its plans either this week or next, likely depending on if or when Ducey signs the bill.