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GOP budget maneuvers anger educators
Public school advocates’ frustrations with the state budget go beyond Gov. Doug Ducey’s tax plan – the rebirth of zombie bills and expansion of empowerment scholarship account eligibility are an added blow to groups that say the Legislature should prioritize traditional public education.
Voucher expansion proposal puts Udall, John on the spot
The Senate’s passage of a massive voucher expansion will test the resolve of two Republican House members who killed the expansion earlier this year.
ESA opponents pick union politics over racial equality
To be clear, lawmakers should seek to advance policies that protect the rights and liberties of all people, regardless of race or wealth. But especially as union activists seek to point fingers in every direction but their own when it comes to “structural barriers” holding back communities of color, perhaps it is time lawmakers rethink their loyalties and take action to remove the real obstacl[...]
ESA families were right all along
After heaping contempt and suspicion on the families participating in Arizona’s Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) program for years, partisan activists should acknowledge that their diagnoses of the program’s ailments have been wrong, and their solutions poorly prescribed.
Vouchers help Native American students climb ‘the ladder’
I am not saying that every family should use an ESA or that every child should be in a private school. What I am saying is that having no choice but to be in a public-school setting is no choice at all.
Micro schools and more school choice helps tribal children succeed
This week I am especially grateful for Arizona’s micro schools. As students, parents, and educators will gather at more than 50,000 events and activities around the nation, let’s use National School Choice Week to continue to innovate so that all children can find schools where they succeed.
Mesa homeschooled students given ESA vouchers by mistake
An error by Mesa Public Schools could lead to 27 homeschooled students losing access to the Arizona Empowerment Scholarship Accounts program they were mistakenly granted.
The Breakdown: Last laugh
Arizona kicked off the holiday weekend with a fight with Nike that put the governor in the national spotlight. Was that the intent all along, and what might that signal for Gov. Doug Ducey’s future plans?
Education department reverses course, grants military family voucher
A 5-year-old Sierra Vista boy denied an Empowerment Scholarship Account and featured in a video posted over the weekend by a school choice organization will get state help paying for private school this fall.
Law or not, school voucher oversight in the works
A provision slipped into the budget directs state officials to contract with a private company to help administer Arizona’s school voucher program.
State should do more to empower Native Americans with school choice
When eight Navajo families in Window Rock received a letter from the Arizona Department of Education last month, they were shocked by what was inside.
The Breakdown: Just roll with it
With no clear resolution ahead in the battle between the governor and Republican legislators, budget talks could take a turn toward empowering the minority party.
