Sen. Petersen Defends ESAs Against Anti-School Choice Activists
By Daniel Stefanski |
An influential Arizona Republican lawmaker is combating arguments from an anti-school choice organization.
This week, Senate President Warren Petersen responded to a post from Save Our Schools AZ, which highlighted a local media report about school closures in town. Save Our Schools AZ wrote, “Last night, the Roosevelt school board voted to shutter 5 neighborhood public schools due to major budget deficits caused by chronic lack of funding from the state legislature and universal ESA vouchers.”
Petersen retorted, “First of all it is mostly a declining student population not ESAs or the funding which has doubled over the last 12 years (now 15k/student). Second if someone who receives half your funding is putting you out of business you might want to make some changes.”
The east valley lawmaker then reposted one of his earlier communications about ESA funding to help bolster his point. He stated, “District vs. Charter vs. ESA Funding from all sources. District = $14,857 per student. Charter = $12,510 per student. ESA = $7,700 per student.”
Continuing with this education theme, Petersen stated, “The Republican-led Legislature has always supported K-12 public education. We have dramatically increased funding over the last decade and are now at $14,857 total funding per student. We support empowering parents to make the best educational choices for their kids, whether sending them to public, charter, or private schools.”
Petersen added, “The statement being pushed that ESAs are taking money from district schools is false. The reason some districts are closing a handful of public schools represents a decline in the number of students attending these schools and a decline in enrollment. Public schools thrive based on how they’re administering programs and curriculum. Failure in this area results in families seeking schools that are excelling in these areas to meet their families’ needs.”
Save Our Schools also shared a report of more potential school closures – this time in the Cave Creek Unified School District. The account wrote, “The Cave Creek district is considering shuttering schools. ‘Cave Creek officials are blaming the expansion of AZ’s voucher program, which allows all school-aged kids across AZ to use public money for private school tuition or homeschool expenses, for part of their hardships.’”
The escalating debate between the Republican leader and the anti-school choice organization comes just weeks before the start of the new legislative session, where the issue will surely be discussed increasingly between the opposing sides. In the two years of Arizona’s divided government, Republicans have held the line when it comes to safeguarding school choice, while Democrats, led by Governor Katie Hobbs, have unsuccessfully tried to whittle away at the state’s historic opportunities for families. Petersen has managed to force Hobbs to back off of her repeated promises to reduce Arizona school choice freedoms on a number of occasions, including in both of the past budgets negotiated between the Governor’s Office and Republican legislative leadership. He will continue to engage in this role over the next two years as he returns as his chamber’s leader.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.