PHOENIX -- Saying they're promoting the rights of parents to choose, a Senate panel agreed this afternoon to open the door to all 1.1 million students in Arizona schools to use state dollars to attend private or parochial schools.
The 4-3 vote by the Senate Education Committee followed hours of testimony from individuals who already get what lawmakers call "empowerment scholarship accountsβ detailing how they have helped their children. Eligible groups range from children with special needs to those on reservations and those who attend schools rated D or F.
And Sen. Debbie Lesko, R-Peoria, sponsor of SB 1431, said vouchers save taxpayer money. She said schools get an average of $9,529 a year for each student while a typical voucher is in the $5,200 range.
But Chuck Essigs of the Arizona Association of School Business Officials said that's misleading.
He said that $9,529 figure includes federal aid to schools as well as locally raised dollars for bonds and overrides. Essigs said the actual amount paid out of the state treasury to in state aid to schools is an average of $1,100 less per student than what the state would give a parent to send a child elsewhere; for high schools the difference is $1,200 per child.
Sen. Steve Smith, R-Maricopa, said even if SB 1431 is approved and all students are eligible for vouchers, there's no danger of wholesale shifting of funds from public schools. He cited existing law that limits vouchers to no more than one-half percent of all students, a figure that computes out about 5,500.
What Smith did not say, though, is that cap self-destructs in 2019, removing all limits.
Today's vote came after lawmakers rejected a bid by Sen. David Bradley, D-Tucson, to add a requirement that any school which accepts vouchers must comply with the same regulations that apply to all public schools. That includes not only requirements on testing and accounting but also the mandate to accept all students, even those with special needs.
Sen. Kate Brophy McGee, R-Phoenix, broke ranks with her Republican colleagues in opposing the measure.
Brophy McGee said she supports school choice. But she said there needs to be a level playing field, including "the same level of accountability and transparency.β
And Brophy McGee said she cannot support having tax dollars going to private and parochial schools until the state adequately funds the public schools it is required to maintain.
"We need to resolve the teacher shortage,β she said. "We need to get us somewhere in the middle of the pack of school per-pupil funding.β
