By Staff Reporter |
An Arizona mother says the state’s universal school choice program ensured the successes of her nine children.
Andrea attested that the Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) program allowed her family to have choice in the education of their nine children after she and her husband lost their jobs.
“It was a hard time to be able to pay for homeschool; we would have had to put our kids in a public school, and it was really stressing us out,” said Andrea.
Andrea told America’s Women that the job her husband acquired following his job loss didn’t provide enough income to cover the costs of homeschooling. The prospect of forcing her children to enter “a one-size-fits-all system” worried her; Andrea said the ESA program allowed her to provide her children with unique opportunities and freedoms not available within public education.
“Homeschooling with ESA has opened doors beyond traditional education. Our children have the opportunity to learn through real-life experiences — hiking in nature, visiting museums, and engaging in hands-on learning that brings lessons to life,” said Andrea. “They can move at their own pace, receive one-on-one attention, and explore interests that will shape their future paths and careers.”
As of Monday, the ESA program reported surpassing 101,500 students. The program also reported the enrollment of 3,300 new students for the next school year.
The ESA program may undergo reforms from two propositions gathering signatures to make it onto the November ballot: the Protect Education Act and the Reform and Accountability Act. Each would need 256,000 signatures to make it onto the ballot.
The Protect Education Act would impose an income cap on enrollment in the ESA program, in addition to eliminating the rollover of funding. This proposition is backed by two big critics of school choice: the state’s main teachers union, Arizona Education Association, and the nonprofit Save Our Schools Arizona.
Under the reforms on this proposal, qualified schools and tutors would have to pay fees and register annually with the Arizona Department of Education (ADE). Qualified schools must be accredited or administer state assessments, and the state would have greater oversight of nonpublic schools receiving ESA funds.
The Reform and Accountability Act would mandate the ADE to establish an online marketplace payments system starting July 2027. The proposed system would limit ESA purchases to approved vendors. This would eliminate the current system, in which parents rely on reimbursements and debit cards.
The program would need to issue quarterly reports to the attorney general detailing vendor payments, family disqualifications, and recovered funds. As part of that crackdown on misspending, this ballot measure would permanently disqualify parents from the program who intentionally misuse school choice funding.
Students not enrolled full-time at a qualified school would need to participate in an approved examination to gain entry to the ESA program. Then, the ADE would need to maintain lists of approved examinations and curricula.
The American Federation for Children has backed this proposition.
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