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ESA enrollment hits 75,000, short of some projections
After a year of roving projections, final enrollment and funding for the Empowerment Scholarship Account program in the last fiscal year fell far short of earlier predictions by the Department of Education and the governor’s office, but remained close to the mark on projections by the Joint Legislative Budget Committee.
Mayes wants answers on school voucher rules, procedures
The Arizona Attorney general is investigating Arizona Department of Education procedures allowing school voucher funds for “supplementary materials” untethered to any curriculum or documentation justifying the purchase as an educational expense.
ESA program gets a few tweaks, but no overhaul
Change to the Empowerment Scholarship Account program remained a game of inches this session.
New voucher rulebook delayed a year for parent input
Following backlash from parents in the Empowerment Scholarship Account program and Republican lawmakers, the State Board of Education adopted last year’s program handbook in lieu of approving a new redlined draft from the Arizona Department of Education today.
Open enrollment closed to students with disabilities
Students with disabilities who try to enroll in a school outside their district through the state’s open enrollment program are often met with denials based on a lack of capacity in special education programs.
Mayes blames lawmakers for making voucher program ‘easy to target for fraud’
Three former Empowerment Scholarship Account employees are accused of defrauding the program of more than $600,000 by using falsified birth certificates and disability diagnoses to enroll five adults, seven children and five “ghost children.”
Senate panel kills one Hobbs voucher bill, moves another
A Senate committee killed a measure to require private schools to lay out and provide services for students with disabilities Wednesday and narrowly advanced a bill to require updated Empowerment Scholarship Account cost projections from the Arizona Department of Education.
Horne vouches vouchers no drain on budget
Arizona’s education budget is set to see a $28.5 million surplus by the end of the year, according to the latest report from the Arizona Department of Education.
Freedom Caucus slams Hobbs’ plan to regulate school vouchers
Arizona’s Freedom Caucus leader said today any legislation Gov. Katie Hobbs proposes to modify the state’s Empowerment Scholarship Accounts program is “dead on arrival at the legislature.”
Hobbs takes aim at regulating school vouchers
Gov. Katie Hobbs released an eight-point plan to curtail the Empowerment Scholarships Account program, but the proposals, slated to run in Hobbs’ executive budget and in the upcoming legislative session, caught near-immediate opposition from Republican leadership who claimed the governor fundamentally misunderstands the program.
Number of failing schools fell; alternative schools headed the other way
The number of schools getting an F on the state’s annual report card has fallen sharply, going from 49 in 2019 to 24 this year, but the number of failing alternative schools rose over the same period.
Wadsack, Hobbs disagree over meeting tied to vouchers
A member of the legislative Freedom Caucus is boasting that she's getting a meeting with Gov. Katie Hobbs, a meeting she said will let her explain to the governor the virtues of making vouchers of taxpayer dollars available to all parents so their children can attend private and parochial schools.
