The latest numbers are out — and Arizona’s expanded school voucher program will cost the state at least an extra $200 million this year.
Enrollment has risen to nearly 34,000 students, and that is far above what budget officials estimated when Republican lawmakers narrowly voted to open up the so-called empowerment scholarship accounts to students statewide.
When that law passed last summer, Arizona became the first state to create a universal voucher program. So there was no good model to predict how big the program might get. But now, it’s clear — it is big.
Mary Jo Pitzl has been covering the latest numbers for the Arizona Republic. She joined The Show to talk about it.
