For 56 years, the Arizona Supreme Court had five justices. That changed in 2016 when Gov. Doug Ducey packed the state’s highest court by swearing in a sixth and seventh justice.
A new Arizona law allows any of the state’s 1.1 million students to pay for private schools using tax dollars set aside for the state education budget.
Gov. Doug Ducey has not yet made good on his promise to address a spending limit that blocks schools from accessing necessary funds in order to operate properly.
While students without a bachelor’s degree can teach in certain situations, they must be supervised by a certified teacher and cannot be the teacher on record for the classroom.
The vouchers provide families with about $7,000 annually to fund private education, but the average cost of private school tuition in Arizona is $12,650.
The spending plan for the upcoming year uses a record surplus to invest in education and infrastructure while lowering state debt and preparing for an economic downturn.