Explained: Universal school vouchers are destroying Arizona’s budget, but it doesn’t need to stay this way

In 2022, former Gov. Doug Ducey signed a bill into law that set the stage for the current state of education funding in Arizona.

House Bill 2853 allowed Arizona’s more than 1 million students to use state education funds for private school tuition or homeschooling costs.

These funds, known as school vouchers, are part of a government-sponsored program that siphons money away from public schools in favor of schools outside of the public system.

Arizonan voters rejected universal school vouchers by a huge margin in 2018. Almost 65% of voters voted against Prop 305, which would have expanded Empowerment Scholarship Accounts, or school vouchers.

For reference, that’s a higher percentage of the vote than Arizonans who approved Prop 139, the ballot measure to constitutionally protect abortion, in 2024. Prop 139 passed with just 61% of the vote.

Despite clear voter opposition to vouchers, Arizona Republicans waited four years before rejecting the will of the people and ultimately passing HB 2853 into law.

By detracting funding for public schools, the law has damaged Arizona’s budget and made it harder to fund not only education, but other basic services like fixing the roads and tackling infrastructure projects.

So-called “school choice” advocates argue that vouchers simply let them remove “their” tax dollars from the system and enroll their children in private schools instead of paying for schools they don’t use.

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But this logic doesn’t align with the reality of how taxes function. Taxpayers don’t simply fund the roads they drive on or the fire stations that cover their neighborhood. To put it simply, a person’s tax dollars don’t only fund their own interests. They benefit the broader community.

School vouchers are also primarily being used to benefit students who are already homeschooled or enrolled in private school.

State data showed that only about 18% of students in Arizona using ESA vouchers had even come from public schools. Over 70% of students were already in private schools or homeschooling before ever receiving a voucher. The remaining 12% were entering school for the first time.

In short, families that can already afford private schooling and homeschooling are benefiting from taxpayer-funded subsidies.. Spending on ESA vouchers has soared to around a billion dollars a year, and opponents of vouchers argue that every dollar funneled into “school choice” is a dollar taken away from other projects, programs, or improvements to the state.

Not only are taxpayers subsidizing private schools, they’re also subsidizing fraud. Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes uncovered fraud, and so have other local journalists.

In 2025, two people pleaded guilty to defrauding Arizona of over $110,000 through the voucher program.

Parents of ESA children bought gift cards, phones, televisions, and jewelry with education dollars, according to reporting from 12News.

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, has repeatedly tried to rein in spending on universal vouchers, or at least increase oversight on them. She attempted this via proposed budget cuts in 2024 and 2025, and is trying again this year. All efforts failed or will likely daily because Republicans, who have majorities in both chambers of the state Legislature, do not support it.

No matter where you are in the US, universal school vouchers are largely a Republican initiative. The Republican-controlled Arizona Legislature has shown no interest in regulating or limiting vouchers.

Key decision makers in the school voucher fight are on the ballot this year, including Hobbs and every member of the Arizona House and Senate. A decision over how Arizonans spend tax dollars—and which students benefit—is imminent.

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