A new survey measuring how much control parents have over their children’s education finds Arizona near the top nationwide. The Parent Power Index from the Center for Education Reform looks at criteria including school choice, innovation and charter schools in a given state; Arizona ranked second in the country, including high scores for charter schools and choice programs including vouchers and tax credits.
Katie Nelligan, a former teacher and a research fellow at the Center for Education Reform, joined The Show to discuss what stands out about Arizona in this report.
Full conversation
KATIE NELLIGAN: So Arizona earned second place, 92% in a grade of A on the 2025 Parent Power Index, ranking second nationally. Its bold policies, groundbreaking innovations and unwavering commitment to educational freedom that empowers parents with maximum control is really what drives it to the top.
So you see multiple tax credit scholarships in Arizona available for families. You also have a universal education savings account, which over 86,000 students currently participate in. And it really allows families to access a learning environment that fits them best with no barriers, no limits. And then that contributing score also is Arizona's charter sector. It's one of the strongest in the nation.
You see a multitude of different schools specializing anywhere from children with autism all the way to hybrid models that allow parents again to access educational models that might not be present in the traditional system.
MARK BRODIE: Are you finding that the laws on the books are also sort of being implemented on the ground, the way that you would want?
NELLIGAN: We see that Arizona has always been a pioneer in education reform for decades. You have some of the earliest charter school legislation happening in 1994. You have pioneering tax credit scholarships that happened in the late-90s. You had the first ESA program launched in 2011, and then recently in 2022, you had universal meaning that all families in the state could apply for a scholarship.
And the way that that has impacted implementation is transformational because you see these new school models that are starting to emerge. You see micro schools. You see really dynamic charter schools that are opening up because this policy is allowing the educators and it's allowing parents to really drive a system of change.
BRODIE: One of the criticisms about the universal ESA program in Arizona is that a not insignificant number of families that are taking advantage of it are those that have never been in public schools, that have always paid to send their students to private schools and are now just having the state pick up some of the tab for that.
I guess I'm curious, like what you make of that argument.
NELLIGAN: Yeah, I think, you know, it's still again, in its early phases, education savings accounts is a relatively new choice movement. But I really believe that a robust choice environment is a rising tide that lifts all boats. You know, it does so by driving innovation, expanding opportunity, pushing every part of the education system to do better.
And it might be the fact that those families that are already in the private school are just more aware of the resources available to them, but you have families that are starting to engage in this now, and it's really expanding what's possible for students. It's expanding what's possible for educators, and it's expanding what's possible for families to really drive an education that best fits the needs of their child.
BRODIE: Is it possible, do you think, to have a robust school choice system in a given state? Not specifically necessarily in Arizona, but just in general, while also having a robust, well-funded public district school education system? And I asked because one of the other big criticisms of universal ESAs in Arizona is that lawmakers have underestimated the cost of the program. It's costing a lot more than folks thought, which is in turn taking money away from public education.
NELLIGAN: Yeah, and I think that's often a misconception that a lot of folks, when they learn the information, they really understand that these education savings accounts are funded on the state's per pupil dollars, so local property tax. So when a student opts into an ESA, their school district is keeping all of the local and federal funding, while the smaller state amount is typically around $7,000 or $7,500. It's provided in the student's ESA.
And, I know that there were lots of concerns around that, around, you know, are these programs fiscally irresponsible? But in fiscal year 2024, Arizona's Department of Education actually reported a $4.3 million surplus, which contradicts the claims that, you know, education savings accounts were draining the budget.
BRODIE: How do you find the distribution geographically of choice? I mean, obviously, for example, in Arizona, a lot of schools that students and families can choose from in the Phoenix area, in the Tucson area, in the more metro areas, I'm wondering about more rural, you know, rural, out of town communities.
NELLIGAN: Right, and that's kind of the beauty of these choice programs is that when these programs are made universal, students across the state, regardless of geography, can access these programs.
And when the program is implemented with fidelity and excitement, you see educators that are now popping up, starting to want to make their own school or creating new opportunities in rural areas that might not exist outside of the traditional public school.
BRODIE: Are you seeing around the country, if not specifically in Arizona, that there are private schools opening in more rural communities?
NELLIGAN: Yes, definitely. You see it in West Virginia. You see it in Florida. You have a lot of schools that are popping up, and they don't look like a traditional private school that you would think of that's, you know, been well established.
I talk a lot about micro schools, which is a really engaging way that families feel supported and are excited about smaller classroom size. They're excited about, really, dynamic education models or curriculum that's being provided at these, at these smaller private schools.
BRODIE: Is this the kind of thing do you think that it's going to take some time to really understand the full impact of, you know, having students able to go to any number of schools in, you know, using any different type, any number of different types of curricula, different types of models, that kind of thing.
Like, is this the kind of situation where we're not going to know for a number of years, you know, maybe until these students are out of high school, maybe even out of college, like what the real implications are of all this.
NELLIGAN: Yeah, it's going to take some time, but I think we're already starting to see some of the impacts, especially around those kinds of hard to measure quantitative descriptors that you often see in the news, right, test scores. You see all of those graduation rates. And, I think a lot of these new school models now, you see different types of results. And it was a product of COVID where parents saw what was happening and they wanted something different.
And so it's definitely going to take a little bit to be able to measure this really well and to measure it qualitatively and both quantitatively. But we're already starting to see some of the qualitative impacts in the system and families that are so excited about these new school models and are excited about the innovation that's happening. And it's totally changing the education sector for the better.
