Arizona voters may have at least 2 choices in deciding reforms for school voucher program

Arizonans may have at least two choices in deciding what reforms, if any, to put on the state's voucher program.

A group called Fortify AZ has filed the paperwork with the Secretary of State's Office to collect signatures to put a measure on the November ballot to impose some guardrails on how money is spent by parents in the Empowerment Scholarship Account program.

That includes not only setting up a system to screen purchases by parents who use the $7,400 per student vouchers of taxpayer funds to home school their children — instead of using the cash for tuition to private or parochial schools — but an extensive list of what they cannot buy with those funds.

Dubbed the Arizona Empowerment Scholarship Account Reform and Accountability Act, it also includes requirements for teachers at private and parochial schools that accept students with vouchers to be fingerprinted.

That’s similar to what is in a similar initiative proposal filed a month ago by two education groups.

But what Fortify AZ is offering to voters has some significant differences — most notably what it does not have.

One is the requirement in the initiative pushed by the education group for students at these schools to take assessment tests similar to what are required at public schools. Instead, the Fortify AZ proposal says testing is necessary only for students not enrolled in "qualified" public schools, a term that is undefined.

The proposal by the Arizona Education Association and Save Our Schools would put into law that families making more than $150,000 a year — adjusted annually for inflation — are ineligible for the vouchers of tax dollars.

The new Fortify AZ proposal has no such income cap.

There has not been any sort of limit on who can get the vouchers since the Republican-controlled Legislature voted in 2022 to open the program to any student. That resulted in the program exploding from about 12,000 students a year — each of whom met a special qualification — to now more than 100,000, with a price tag of $1 billion a year.

More significant is research showing that many of the new recipients already were attending private and parochial schools with their parents picking up the tab — money now coming from the state.

There was no immediate response to inquiries made to Fortify AZ using the contact information it provided on the application for the initiative.

But it is being backed by the American Federation for Children, a national group that has been at the forefront of the "school choice" movement which promotes the ability of parents to decide where their children will get the best education, including religious schools, without state interference — but with state dollars.

In a prepared statement, Tommy Schultz, the organization's chief executive officer, said what Fortify AZ is offering is far superior to the alternative being pushed by the education groups.

"The teachers union initiative would gut school choice in Arizona for more than 100,000 kids," he said. "This pro-choice school initiative makes it durable for generations to come."

That last point goes to the fact that the Arizona Constitution says anything approved at the ballot — whether the one by AEA or Fortify AZ — could not be altered or repealed by the Legislature. Other than some fine tuning, which requires a super-majority vote of lawmakers, all changes would have to go back to voters.

AEA President Marisol Garcia said her organization welcomes anyone calling for "common-sense reforms to Arizona's billion-dollar voucher mess." But she also said the new proposal "appears to be missing some key reforms that are necessary to prevent out-of-control spending."

And Garcia said backing of the initiative by the pro-voucher American Federation for Children shows "it does not appear to be a genuine push for voucher reform."

The fact that voucher supporters felt compelled to craft their own initiative to what the education groups are offering shows a recognition that there is growing support in Arizona for making changes in the whole voucher system.

Vouchers were first approved more than a decade ago as an option for students with special needs that could not be met by traditional public schools. But even at that time, proponents acknowledged they would be angling to expand it.

That has happened, with changes over the years adding foster care children, those living on reservations, those attending schools rated D or F — and culminating with Gov. Doug Ducey signing the universal voucher plan in 2022.

Some of the concern is that $1 billion price tag. But most of the headlines have been over how parents have spent their voucher dollars.

In a series of reports, Craig Harris of KPNX-TV has documented purchases that appear to be beyond what parents need to educate their children. There were big screen TVs, lingerie, diamonds, wedding gifts and even condoms.

Harris, through public records requests, also reported he found voucher dollars used to pay for trips to 44 states and 13 other countries.

What percentage of the total voucher dollars were spent on these items remains in dispute between Harris and state schools chief Tom Horne. But Horne has not disputed the items that Harris said have turned up on the list of items for which parents sought reimbursement.

The version of the initiative proposed by the education groups contains language barring parents parents — mostly those who home school and can use vouchers for educational materials — from spending their cash on "non-educational items or luxury goods."

Fortify AZ is offering a virtual carbon copy, with a nearly word-for-word list of what is clearly barred, from jewelry and lingerie to hot tubs, bounce houses and motorized vehicles and watercraft as well as child care expenses and restaurant dining.

Schultz, in his statement, said the initiative measure being pushed by the education groups should not be the only choice for voters in November.

"Standing on the sidelines is not an option as one of America's oldest school-choice programs faces an existential threat," he said.

And Schultz indicated that there would be funding to back the plan.

"We are taking the fight to the union's turf and, more importantly, to the voters who are clearly on our side," he said. "We will do what it takes to bring this critical measure to the ballot."

Backers of each of the proposals have to gather 255,949 valid signatures on petitions by July 2 to get their issues before voters.

Geneva Fuentes, communications director of the Arizona Education Association, has not shared figures on how much it would take to not just get the signatures but to wage what could be an expensive campaign to convince voters to support it.

But, like Schultz, she said the resources would be there, saying her group "knows what it takes to win, and we're going to be doing that."