Arizona Republicans Should Reduce ESA Scholarship Vouchers

The Arizona Legislature has one task left to do before it can adjourn for the year: pass a balanced state budget that fixes a $1.8 billion deficit caused by universal vouchers and tax cuts for the Arizona wealthy. It was from Governor Doug Ducey.

Given our divided government, it might be easier for a clown to find a needle in a haystack while riding a unicycle and blowing a horn.

This should not be so hard. Lawmakers could simply approve Gov. Katie Hobbs’ budget proposal to limit private school vouchers to students who have attended public schools in the past or stop giving vouchers to the wealthy.

By doing so, they would immediately recoup $400 to $500 million a year (strikingly close to next year’s projected deficit of about $676 million) and would be well on their way to solving their budget problems.

Arizona has few options to balance the budget

This highlights the Legislature’s options:

Reform the irresponsible ESA bond program that is bankrupting the state;
Or cut funding for public services like firefighters, healthcare, police, affordable housing and public schools.

Choosing the first option doesn’t hurt anyone; Choosing the latter hurts everyone in the state.

So far, Republican lawmakers have stubbornly refused to touch the universal voucher program.

Universal bonuses are difficult to defend

Arizona Republicans Should Reduce ESA Scholarship Vouchers

Even though the program is projected to cost nearly $1 billion this year, Republicans refuse to acknowledge that Arizona clearly cannot afford the huge new costs incurred by the vast majority of voucher students who have never put down a foot in a public school.

As states like Texas, Tennessee and Idaho look at the Arizona voucher fiasco and reject similar voucher schemes on a bipartisan basis, Arizona Republicans stubbornly refuse to rework the unpopular and irresponsible program.

Study after study shows that Arizona’s voucher program is overwhelmingly benefiting the wealthy, but Republican lawmakers flatly reject any attempt to limit the program to roll back the welfare voucher for wealthy private school families.

Republicans refuse to offer basic accountability

Even though a new poll from the nonpartisan Center for Arizona’s Future shows that 80% of Arizona voters want private schools that receive public taxpayer funding through vouchers to be held accountable, Legislative Republicans stubbornly ignore the public’s call to pass accountability measures.

Even though the bonus program is riddled with waste and fraud, Republicans have stubbornly refused to create any form of oversight, transparency, or even basic safeguards.

Bottom line: Republicans in charge of the Legislature would rather cut public safety services, public schools, roads, health care and universities that serve all Arizonans than reform their crazy, unpopular and irresponsible voucher program.

They would rather cut services for vulnerable children, working families, and the middle class than cut voucher funds for their wealthy class of donors.

There is still time to act. The alternative is not pretty

And they’d rather watch public schools starve in exchange for vouchers, almost as if that was the plan all along.

There is still time for House Speaker Ben Toma and Senate President Warren Petersen to join Governor Hobbs at the negotiating table to discuss the common sense voucher reforms she has proposed, rather than forcing budget cuts that will hurt ordinary Arizonans.

Or they can choose to play unicycle-riding clowns and pretend their task is harder than it is, but Arizonans are smarter than that.

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