ProPublica published a story about which families benefit from Arizona’s universal voucher program. It is not low-income families.
The state’s so-called Education Savings Accounts (or Empowerment Scholarship Accounts) were enacted by the Legislature in 2011. Whatever they are called, they are vouchers, which violate Arizona’s Constitutional ban on public funds for religious schools. They initially contained restrictions as to which students qualified to receive a voucher. The usual claim for vouchers was that they would “save poor kids from failing public schools.” However, that never happened.
From the start, the Republicans in control wanted vouchers for all students, not just those from low-income families. Even though there was a state referendum in which voters overwhelmingly rejected voucher expansion in 2018, the Legislature ignored the vote and passed universal vouchers in 2022. Any student, whatever their family income, is entitled to use public money for tuition in a private or religious school or for home schooling.
The result: few students from low-income families use vouchers.
The article in ProPublica explains why.
Vouchers don’t cover the cost of most private schools.
Most private schools are not located in low-income neighborhoods.
Low-income families can’t afford the cost of transportation to and from private schools.
In Arizona, as in other states, most students who take vouchers were already enrolled in no public schools. Their parents can afford to pay the tuition. Now the state subsidizes them. And in many cases, the schools raise their tuition in response to the state subsidy.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Universal vouchers are designed to transfer public money out of public schools and into the pockets of affluent parents that can already afford to pay for private tuition. The vouchers are not helpful to poor students because they do not cover transportation, lunches and fees for co-curricular activities. The voucher bonus goes to the welfare for the well-to-do crowd, not the poor that get to attend public schools that have lost funds due to reckless, wasteful vouchers. Vouchers are a lose, lose scenario for poor students.
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Vouchers are designed to weaken public schools and, by extension, local communities.
Public schools are often the source of community connection and environment. School activities like marching band and sports, often bring parents together in groups and help develop bonds.
Republicans, especially religious conservatives want that to be the role of the church. Years ago, the Devos family said as much.
There are several other reasons as well. Individually, I find that thy are designed to transfer the wealth of households from the childless to those with children so that we can subsidize their households with new computers and fancy trips. It’s the very definition of socialism. You know, that thing conservative shiver about. Straight up wealth redistribution.
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TRUE! Thank you.
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Tennessee had been a leader in the process of transferring money from the poor to the wealthy. Though vouchers have not done well, they instituted a lottery gambling system after present Senator Marsha Blackburn, then just a Republican organizer, led the opposition to a state income tax.
The story is that the state was falling behind in higher education due to its dwindling ability to pay professors. Then governor, Republican Don Sundquist, proposed an income tax. According to her ads this cycle, Marsha Blackburn went to bat for the little guy and helped defeat the state income tax. What the ads do not tell is that they passed a law allowing for a state lottery that would supply money to the students who qualified for college. Eventually, this fund became so flush with money that Governor Bill Haslam was able to fund free jr college.
Poor folks play the lottery. Rich folks qualify for the scholarships. It is always the same song.
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As anyone with half a brain could have foreseen. Of course, I go back half a century in memory when the rich were complaining about paying for their kid’s educations twice. They finally found a way to get what they wanted, tuition rebates.
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