Fiction: Policymakers are cutting Public Education to Pay for the ESA Program
“The Republican-run Arizona Legislature for years has been devising new and creative ways to siphon money from public schools… This, after all, is Arizona… Where public schools are among the most poorly funded in the nation.”[i]
Fact: Arizona’s public school funding investment has grossly exceeded inflation, enrollment growth, and ESA funding.
While it is true that relative rankings do not show much change in Arizona’s national position, this is because every state has been increasing public school funding in recent years – while at the same time seeing enrollment declines. These two facts are inflating every state’s per-pupil-funding numbers simultaneously, fixing their relative positions.
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Fiction: ESA’s are Bankrupting the State
“Arizona’s voucher experiment has since precipitated a budget meltdown. The state this year faced a $1.4 billion budget shortfall, much of which was a result of the new voucher spending.”[iii]
Fact: Unprecedented revenue growth during and after the pandemic (fueled by runaway inflation and federal spending largesse) enabled nearly every state - not just Arizona – to accumulate massive cash surpluses and dramatically increase funding.
This precipitated the current and ongoing nationwide state fiscal imbalance, and it has little to do with universal ESA’s.
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Fiction: ESA’s are More Expensive than Traditional Public Schools
“Arizona school vouchers cost taxpayers more per student, but Republicans say they don’t.”[vi]
Fact: No matter how the funding is sliced, Arizona taxpayers fund traditional District school students at a much higher amount than other students.
This is true regardless of gimmicks – federal funds, fixed costs, etc. And on the margin, its mostly true for the General Fund too.
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Fiction: ESA’s are Driving Public School Enrollment Decline
“On a larger level, the new law also speeds up the same sort of death spiral that has afflicted public schools across the country, by steadily draining funds away from public education… the money to cover children who leave public schools in coming years will be deducted from public school budgets.”[xii]
Fact: Traditional District public school enrollment has been slowly declining in Arizona for years.
This decline has accelerated and because of demographic decline and changing attitudes will continue – no matter what happens to the universal ESA program.
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Fiction: ESAs Only Benefit Wealthy, Urban Students
“More proof that Arizona’s universal voucher scam is designed to benefit the rich.”[xvii]
Fact: Since the pandemic, demand for traditional District public schools has fallen nationwide – among broad demographic groups.
ESA’s help satisfy that demand but they do not create it. For micro schools especially, evidence suggests the demand is often coming from minority and lower-income families.
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Fiction: There's No Accountability in Arizona's ESA Program
“Arizona’s universal ESA voucher program stands out as both the most expansive and least accountable nationwide, lacking any financial oversight, academic accountability, or student safety.”[xxiii]
Fact: While it is probably true that the Arizona ESA program is the most expansive in the country, the program is far more accountable and transparent than comparable programs.
In fact, the program is overburdened – excessive oversight hampers the efficiency function of Arizona’s ESA program (and not the other way around).
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Fiction: ESA’s are Subject to Rampant Fraud & Abuse
“I think it starts with the Legislature that passed legislation that doesn’t have controls. It starts with educators who don’t care about fraud, waste or abuse, or they would have put some guardrails on this program.”[xxvii]
Fact: There are specific statutory requirements governing the use of ESA monies – including guidelines on permissible expenditures and a requirement that ADE conduct random and regular audits to ensure compliance.
Within that framework, the program has been able to run well, especially compared to similar programs.
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[vii] Based on an estimated $441,993,659 total cost for the 56,196 universal awards in FY 2024 (according to the Q3 ADE report)
[xxi] Data from NCES suggests there are around 67,000-70,000 traditonal private school students in Arizona. Based on the total awards for School Tuition Organization (STO) scholarships – and the fact that usage of an STO scholarship and an ESA are mutually exclusive – CSI estimates there are up to 38,000 students in private school who are using an ESA. Give ESA enrollment figures, 34,000 or more ESA recipients (48%) may be home- or micro-schooled or outside the traditional private system.
[xxiv] District public schools are subject to general accounting and expense reporting requirements – which are far less detailed than individual transaction-by-transaction reporting and review – and irregular review by the Auditor General.