Arizona Republicans want to tie school vouchers to public education funding, jeopardizing Prop 123

Arizona Republicans are using Proposition 123, a large source of public education funding, as a vehicle to get the controversial Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) school voucher program enshrined in the state constitution. 

In 2016, Arizona voters approved Prop 123—a ballot referral that restored a portion of the inflation dollars that were withheld from public schools during the Great Recession—enabling funding paid out from the State Land Trust to flow to public schools. 

It is set to expire at the end of June, and lawmakers have yet to take any action to send a ballot measure to voters to renew it. There was no previous increase in taxes to support the measure, and there won’t be any future tax hikes associated with its extension as negotiations take place now, or in future legislative sessions.

The State Land Trust, a mechanism that generates revenue through the sale and use of land in Arizona, creates additional funding for K-12 public schools as the trust grows.

When Prop 123 originally passed a decade ago, it was a “purely Arizona process,” said Marisol Garcia, president of the Arizona Education Association, the state’s largest teacher’s union, in an interview with The Copper Courier. 

Stakeholders, regardless of party lines, came to the table, eager for the chance to invest in public schools without raising taxes for Arizonans, and it was tailored to the specific needs of each school district, Garcia said. 

And with most of the money going to educators’ salaries, the measure offered part of a solution to improving teacher retention in Arizona—something the state has struggled with due to low pay. 

Garcia was hopeful that similar conversations would lead to reauthorization of the funds—but that was not the case. 

Instead, the Republican majority wants to use a reliable public school funding source to write school choice and protections for private school vouchers, into the state constitution.   

What are lawmakers proposing? 

Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs, along with the Democratic caucus, wants a special election in November to extend Prop 123 in its current form, while also creating a permanent funding source for teacher pay.

However, it looks like Arizonans won’t see that this year, because Republicans aren’t backing down on the demand that school choice be included in the referendum that would go before voters, Capitol Media Services first reported. 

With the remainder of the legislative session, lawmakers appear focused on passing a state budget rather than debating a Prop 123 extension with school vouchers attached.

Sen. JD Mesnard (R-Chandler) and Rep. Matt Gress (R-Phoenix) are behind separate  amendments to add protections for school choice programs to the state constitution, Senate Concurrent Resolution 1015 and House Concurrent Resolution 2047.

If Mesnard and Gress have their ways, the state constitution will protect all school choice varieties, such as charter schools and the ESA voucher program, making it nearly impossible to add restrictions or guardrails onto the already existing and highly controversial system. 

ESA vouchers have been criticized for costing the state nearly a billion dollars, and as much as $861 million this fiscal year, with little regulation or oversight. 

The vouchers have significantly overspent initial cost estimates — draining $300,000 of state funding from every public school, which over 90% of Arizona children attend.  

READ MORE: Vouchers & poor funding are forcing these Arizona public schools to close

Arizona was the first state to implement the universal school voucher system, which former Republican Gov. Doug Ducey signed into law in 2022. Now, several other states are using Arizona as a model to enact their own school voucher programs. 

Before Ducey and the Republican-led legislature expanded the program to all students regardless of their income, Arizona’s ESA program was limited to students with disabilities—now, the universal program allows any family to use taxpayer funds for private school tuition, educational expenses, and other educational purchases.

Republicans pushing to attach school vouchers to Prop 123’s renewal know that vouchers aren’t popular with Arizonans and couldn’t pass as a standalone ballot measure—so they are instead tying it to the popular measure of raising teacher pay, said Tyler Kowch, communications manager of Save Our Schools Arizona, a nonpartisan, pro-public school advocacy group, in an interview. 

“We say, well put it on the ballot, put vouchers on the ballot by themselves, don’t tie [vouchers] to a separate measure, and let voters decide,” Kowch said.

In 2018, Arizona voters overwhelmingly rejected the universal expansion of school vouchers for all students, but four years later, the Republican-led state legislature passed it and Ducey signed it into law. 

“[Republicans are] more interested in funding vouchers for wealthy families and private schools than they are with funding Arizona’s public schools,” Kowch said. 

Some school staff wouldn’t get raises

School staff like counselors, nurses, and speech pathologists likely will not receive raises under the plan Republicans have drafted to extend Prop 123. 

Mesnard and Gress are not being clear on how a teacher is defined in their amendments, Garcia said. 

The funding measure’s unfinalized and unreleased language, drafted by Republicans, is vague—it defines the classroom teachers who would receive raises as those who spend the majority of their time instructing students—leaving out all support staff, Garcia noted. 

The current form of the funding measure will take money away from educators, providing raises only to who the majority party defines as a performing teacher—but they have yet to explain what that means, she added.

If the state legislature does not take action, and Prop 123 expires in a few months, up to $300 million will be backfilled by the state’s general fund to ensure schools maintain a portion of their required financial support.