The battle lines in education policy are being drawn at the state Capitol.
Gov. Katie Hobbs highlighted two big education issues in her State of the State address on Monday, which was quickly followed by rebuttals from GOP lawmakers and officials.
At the top of Hobbs’ list of education priorities was beefing up accountability in the state’s school voucher program. She also urged lawmakers to focus on renewing Prop 123, the ballot measure that pulls $300 million from the state land trust every year and pumps it into schools.
Both issues were points of contention between Hobbs and GOP lawmakers last year, and both remain largely unresolved.
The cost of the voucher program stands at roughly $1 billion per year, including some wild purchases that don’t have anything to do with education. Meanwhile, Prop 123 expired last year, despite politicians’ pledges to renew the school funding source.
During her speech on Monday, Hobbs called vouchers an “entitlement program,” a subtle jab at Republicans who often rail against entitlement programs, but hold school vouchers dear to their hearts.
She said she supported the “original mission” of the program to “help kids with disabilities and in military families,” but the program needs more accountability.
“While other government entitlements have strict requirements and oversight, the ESA program continues to operate unchecked, squandering taxpayer dollars with no accountability,” she said.
Hobbs pointed to revelations last year that officials were reimbursing parents without checking whether the purchases were acceptable.
“It seems like every day, we learn about new shopping sprees happening at the expense of taxpayers…diamond jewelry, high-end clothing and furniture … Who knows what taxpayers will be footing the bill for tomorrow?” she said.
As for Prop 123, GOP lawmakers tried, and failed, to tie the renewal of Prop 123 to an amendment that would enshrine school vouchers in the state Constitution.
Hobbs urged lawmakers to remember the broad coalition of groups, including lawmakers from both parties, teachers, parents and business leaders, that helped pass Prop 123 the first time in 2016.
“Let’s recapture that spirit and keep the divisive, partisan policies out of negotiations,” she said.
Renewing Prop 123 will help “stop the teacher exodus” and “stop underfunding schools and letting them crumble,” Hobbs said.
Looking ahead
It’s not clear what GOP lawmakers want to do about Prop 123 yet.
Republican Rep. Matt Gress, chair of the House Education Committee, told us that he was going to “talk to members of our caucus to see where the appetite is on proceeding forward with 123.”
Prop 123 didn’t make it onto the House Majority’s list of priorities, but the voucher program was at the very top of that list.
As for accountability in the voucher program, “we have plenty of guardrails and rules of how to use the ESA,” Gress said.
“What we don't have is sufficient resources to support the Department of Education to carry out those guardrails and those accountability measures,” he said.
Back in 2020, before the voucher program became available to every student in the state, the Arizona Department of Education had one staff member for every 250 students in the program, Gress said. Today, the staff-to-student ratio is 1-to-4,200.
“Clearly, we need more admin support and capacity, and we need ADE to have the resources to leverage AI and other technology to root out fraud,” he said.
Lawmakers will send a bill that provides emergency supplemental funding to Hobbs “as soon as possible,” he said. That money should fund the department of education’s accountability measures.
“We'll see if she's serious about actually funding the guardrails we have in place today,” Gress said.
Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne, a Republican, fired off a news release after Hobbs’ speech.
“By their loud display today, Democrats proved they want to take that power away from mothers and fathers who know their children’s needs best and return education to a government monopoly that parents do not want,” Horne said.
Even though Horne vocally supported the voucher program, it still wasn’t enough for Sen. Jake Hoffman, the head of the far-right Freedom Caucus that is backing Arizona Treasurer Kimberly Yee’s run to unseat Horne this year.
Democratic Sen. Priya Sundareshan, the minority leader in the Senate, said lawmakers in her party remain “very focused on making sure that we are funding public education,” especially as the state government faces a tight budget year.
“Our caucus continues to focus on making sure that public education does not face cuts at the expense of these unaccountable ESA vouchers that are now at the tune of over a billion dollars a year,” Sundareshan said.
Oscar De Los Santos, assistant minority leader in the House, said Democratic lawmakers will be “protecting public education” and “cracking down on ESA voucher abuse.”
“No more taxpayer-funded ski trips, diamond rings and lingerie purchases with money that should be funding public schools,” De Los Santos said.