Good news from Arizona.
Supporters of the state’s underfunded public schools say they are on track to collect enough signatures to block the expansion of vouchers and force a referendum.
“Save Our Schools spokeswoman Dawn Penich-Thacker says the group isn’t releasing an exact count of the number of signatures it has collected so far. But she said the all-volunteer effort should have well above the minimum of 75,000 signatures by the Aug. 8 deadline.
“We know we have enough petitions out in the field, we know exactly who has them and we have enough out that if there was such a thing as 100 percent we could be getting more than 150,000 back,” Penich-Thacker said in an interview late last week.
“Opponents of vouchers say they siphon money from the state’s underfunded public schools and the expansion will allow wealthy families to use state cash to send their children to private and religious schools. They also say vouchers won’t cover total costs at many private schools, meaning people of average means won’t be able to use them. Proponents, including Ducey, say the move will save the state money and let parents decide where their children attend school…
“Arizona has had a school voucher program since 2011 that began as a program for disabled students. It was expanded to other groups and now allows about a third of all 1.2 million K-12 students to use public money to attend private schools.
Still, only about 3,500 students currently take advantage of the program.
The new law expands eligibility to all students by 2022 but caps total enrollment at about 30,000.”
Voucher supporters in the legislature are sure that the people of the state want vouchers but afraid to let the people vote.
Maybe they know that vouchers have never won a statewide vote.
Read more here: http://www.idahostatesman.com/news/business/article160733024.html#storylink=cpy
Diane Ravitch's blog 
As with the Arizona Republic Article this one is unclear about where to sign the petition. They are missing at least 6 with this family! Can anyone post where to find a copy?
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Curtis,
I wil get the address
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See this article:
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/446481/arizona-universal-school-choice-program-doug-ducey-education-savings-account
According to the article, about 3,300 families have chosen to participate in school choice/ESAs in Arizona. According to BallotPedia, there are 1,089,384 students enrolled in K-12 public schools in Arizona (2012-2013 school year). About half of the participants (in the ESA program) are special-needs children. The ESA program has enabled parents of these children to obtain educational programs, which the publicly-operated schools cannot deliver.
With 3,300 families participating, out of 1,089,384 families, that works out to .033% of Arizona families using ESAs. The legislation, passed this year, will expand the number of eligible families.
The legislature is well-aware that no state has ever brought in vouchers through the referendum process, but they must also be aware, that no state has ever terminated an existing voucher/ESA program by referendum, either. No state which has school choice/vouchers/ESAs has ever terminated the program through the legislative process either. The fact is, that every state which has ever enacted school choice/ESAs has expanded the program (Arizona, included).
If the proposal to cap the expansion ever makes it to a referendum, it is still going to be up to the voters of Arizona, to cancel the expansion bill. If the expansion is cancelled, it will be a first.
Once parents of special-needs children hit the media, with stories of how their handicapped children have been helped (through ESA and choice), the opposition will have a rough time, getting people’s sympathies.
This is going to be interesting.
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The public schools are mandated by law to provide services for children with disabilities. Private schools are not.
With less than 1% claiming vouchers, this is obviously an unpopular program that drains money from the schools that enroll nearly 90% of students.
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3,300 families have chosen to participate. That means that approximately 1.1 million families have chosen not to participate. Why should the wants of those 3K families outweigh the needs of the other 1.1 million families?
And, as Diane said (in kinder words), I call bovine excrement on the notion that public schools can’t provide special education but voucher schools can (and will). Special education students are expensive to educate – more expensive than the value of the voucher. Any school that tries to take in very many (if any) such students will quickly be looking at financial disaster. To whatever extent public schools “can’t” provide special education services, that’s a result of choicers like you intentionally underfunding and otherwise hamstringing public schools.
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Thank you, Dienne.
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Your question: ” Why should the wants of those 3K families outweigh the needs of the other 1.1 million families?” is meaningless. Here is why: The needs of the 3,300 families which have opted-out of the public school system in Arizona, have not outweighed the needs of the balance of the 1.1 million remaining families. The per-pupil spending on the balance of the remaining students in the public school system is unchanged. In fact, it is increased! Here is why:
The amount of money going to the ESA (in Arizona) is equivalent to 90% (ninety percent) of the per-pupil expenditure on education. (Source:
http://www.realclearpolicy.com/articles/2013/09/09/making_parents_entrepreneurs_for_their_kids_future_642.html )
The state of Arizona, retains the balance (10%) and disburses this amount to the public-school system, when no educational services are provided to the ESA recipients. The remaining students/teachers in the public school system get additional funding, every time that a family opts out.
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It is not accurate to state that 1.1 million families have chosen not to participate in the ESA program in Arizona. The program was first enacted in 2011, on a very small scale, and it was primarily restricted to special-needs children. Gradually, the program expanded, and brought in applicants from other groups: Native American children, children of military parents, children in failing schools, children in foster care, etc.
Only with the passage of recent legislation has the program been able to be accessible to a wider range of families.
Now, the plan will bring in families with children in more grades, and be truly universal in nature.
see
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/446481/arizona-universal-school-choice-program-doug-ducey-education-savings-account
“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.” – Sun-Tzu
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Read the preface, posted by Diane: Q The new law expands eligibility to all students by 2022 but caps total enrollment at about 30,000.” END Q
How can you state, that 1.1 million families have chosen not to participate? If the new law survives a referendum ( not at all certain), then only a maximum of 30,000 will be able to choose to participate.
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The article states 3,300 families used ESAs in Arizona. In 2017, the legislature passed a law authorizing $9.8 billion for public education in Arizona.
The ESAs provide less than $5000 per family. This makes a total of $1.6 million dollars total. This works out to .0593% of the total. The public school systems still get 99.99% of the total spending.
This is not much of a drain.
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For less than $5,000 per student, they will get same education as children of privilege? What a hoax!
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The article states that the amounts going to the ESAs vary. Q For the 2015–16 school year, the accounts received about $4,600 for K–8th grade students and just under $5,000 for high-school students. Special-needs students can receive additional funding, the amount of which varies depending on the services required. END Q
( http://www.nationalreview.com/article/446481/arizona-universal-school-choice-program-doug-ducey-education-savings-account )
No one, not even the most ardent supporters, claim that these amounts are adequate to provide the same education as “children of privilege”.
Q In the case of Arizona’s ESAs, the state deposits funding into each account, and a child’s parents can use the funds for a wide variety of expenses, such as private-school tuition, college-savings plans, online classes, and tutoring. END Q
About half of the participating families, have a special-needs child. The ESA program enables these parents to obtain the counseling, tutoring, and other services, which not all Arizona public schools can provide. (Notwithstanding the mandate, that public schools are required to meet the needs of all children).
Be fair.
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$5,000 and you expect us to believe that voucher schools can educate children with special needs on that kind of money? Please, stop embarrassing yourself.
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Again, I refer you to the article in NR. One blind student, received help through an ESA. His parents were able to get the additional non-public school instruction, and braille materials, which were not provided by the local public school. Although the amount was modest, the funds enabled this special education and training. The student was the youngest (blind) person ever to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. He went on to earn a scholarship to Loyola University.
see
http://watchdog.org/195008/school-choice-bucket-list/
I am asserting, and I continue to assert, that ESAs can and will enable parents of special-needs children, to obtain the additional services, which the public school system is not providing. Ask the family of Max Ashton, the subject of the cited article.
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Incidentally, your math sucks too (not surprising). 100% minus 5.93% equals 94.07%, not 99.99%. So you’re admitting that 0.3% of the families are using 5.93% of the funding.
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I checked my math carefully. (I am an engineer). The total amount going to ESAs in Arizona, is about 0.0593% of the total educational spending in Arizona. That is zero, decimal point zero five, nine three percent. This still leaves over 99.99% of the educational spending (by the state legislature) going to publicly-run schools in Arizona.
The amount (currently) going to families, who opt-out of the publicly-operated school system in Arizona, is a miniscule amount of the total.
see
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/446481/arizona-universal-school-choice-program-doug-ducey-education-savings-account
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He wrote “.0593%,” so a little more than a one-half of a percentage point. (That leaves 99.397% left over.)
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I calculate the percentage of Arizona families which have chosen to opt out, and use an ESA to be 0.033% that is zero point zero three three percent.
1.1 million families, 3,300 participants.
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My math error:
100%
-0.0593%
99.9407%
Since the state only provides 90% of the per-pupil expenditures to the ESA, the public school system still gets 10% of the per-pupil expenditure, rebated. So the amount of the state education budget going to the public school system is in fact, higher than 99.9407% !
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Chas,
$5,000 won’t pay tuition for any school that provides services for special needs. It’s a hoax.
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See this article:
http://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/2014/05/12/scholarship-account-helped-son-learn-talk/9011275/
Amanda Howard reveals how the ESA enabled her to obtain the specialized schooling/tutoring that her autistic son needed.
We are agreed, that special-needs children are more difficult to teach, and it requires more resources to enable special-needs children, to reach their full potential, (The same obstacle applies to gifted/talented children, as well).
In Arizona, (and some other states), the state has decided (correctly) to augment the schooling provided to special-needs students, by allowing parents to seek the specialized training and counseling, outside of the public school systems.
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