Arizona Universal School Choice: What is it and how does it impact my family?

In June 2022 the State Legislature in Arizona passed HB2853, a bill that expands the current Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) to include all 1.1 million K-12 students. Governor Ducey signed the legislation on July 7th and the new expansion is set to begin effective September 24th, 2022.

In the past, the ESA program was only available to a small minority of students. As of 2019, eligibility encompassed the following: students with special needs, students from a Native American reservation, foster care students, students from public schools rated D or F by the State Board of Education, prior ESA students and younger siblings and children of active duty or fallen members of armed forces. In FY 2019, ESA served 6400 students state wide.

As you can imagine, to call this bill controversial would be an understatement. The views and opinions about the program are as diverse as the choices for different homeschool curricula. Outside the homeschool community, the debate focuses primarily on whether or not the program siphons money from local public schools and charters, while inside the homeschool community the debate boils down to control and freedom. If we apply for and are granted ESA funds for our children, do we vanquish the freedom to control what we teach our children?

Let's explore these two primary concerns.

Does the ESA program defund public schools?

There are many who postulate that making $6,400/year available to every K-12 will result in a mass exodus from the public school system and siphon desperately needed funds from remaining enrolled students. For an in depth review of this claim, I would recommend reading a 2019 study from the Goldwater Institute that very clearly dismantles that claim and provides the data to support it.

The report takes this argument, which is coming primarily from special interest groups and lobbyists, and instead found that "ESA's serve families without disruption to public school enrollment" and that "ESA's actually increase funding to local school districts."

In a recent interview, Corey DeAngelis, senior fellow at American Federation for Children, also points out that “the money doesn’t belong to the government schools...Education funding is meant for educating children, not for protecting a particular institution. We should fund students, not systems.”

Additionally, Benjamin Tooman, Majority Leader for the Arizona House of Representatives stated that, "though more than 250,000 students are currently eligible, just 11,000 or so use an ESA after a decade of existence. In areas with great public schools, there are often few ESA users." This would imply that even with an expansion of the ESA program, it is doubtful that the State will see a mass exodus from the public school system.

For those in favor of universal school choice (homeschool families should fall into this category), the expansion of the ESA program will not only do good for many families as they seek to provide the best educational experience they can for their children, but local school districts will benefit by way of additional funds as well.

Will my family be exposed to government control if we accept these funds?

This is a valid question and one every homeschool family should ponder. I would recommend everyone to do their own research as they determine what is best for your family. For the purposes of this post, we will focus on the specific aspect of this question which is to know to how much influence the government will have should you apply for, and be granted ESA funds for your student(s).

You have probably heard the saying that, "shekels equal shackles". Does this statement apply here? The short answer is, yes, sort of. But to what extent?

Before we answer this question, it is important to understand how Arizona classifies students. "There are six educational classifications in Arizona: public school, charter school, virtual charter school, private school, empowerment scholarship account (ESA), and homeschooling. Each classification has a legal definition within the Arizona Revised Statutes." The statute for homeschooling is ARS 15-802 (G)(2). This statute defines homeschooling as “a nonpublic school conducted primarily by the parent, guardian or other person who has custody of the child or nonpublic instruction provided in the child’s home.”

In order for your a child to be classified as a homeschooler, "the parent is required to file an Affidavit of Intent to Homeschool for children ages 6 to 16. A homeschooling parent takes full responsibility for their child’s education, including the financial responsibility. There are no reporting or standardized testing requirements for homeschooled students and the parent does not need to be a certified teacher. The parent creates the high school transcript and issues a diploma to their child." HB2853 requires parents to "not file an affidavit of intent to homeschool pursuant to section 15-802, subsection B, paragraph 2 or 3." This means that for a student to receive ESA funds in the State of Arizona, their classification will be ESA and not homeschooling.

This classification means everything to some, and not as much to others. For those who wish to have complete freedom with no strings attached, applying for ESA funding is probably not for you. If having some strings attached doesn't bother you, it is important to know to what extent the government will have in the education of your student(s) should you accept these funds.

How much control will the government have in our education if we accept ESA funding?

This question is by far the one receiving the most discussion both in person and online amongst current homeschooling families. Institutions like HSLDA and AFHE are both opposed to families accepting funding from any form of government. Attorney Kevin Boden on behalf of HSLDA stated that "using public funds necessitates government oversight and regulation that is not present when educating your children privately at home under the Arizona homeschool affidavit." Further, he stated that he believes that "legislation like this [HB2853] poses risks to the homeschooling community", but does not articulate what those risks may be.

For their part, the AFHE board released a statement as well (some of which has been cited in this post) and similarly argues against homeschool families from changing their classification status from homeschooling to ESA. However, they do not provide details to defend that position other than "Homeschooling in Arizona is the maximum-freedom minimum-regulation education option." While this is true, it leaves the reader to assume acceptance of ESA funds is a negative option.

After reading and re-reading the full bill a half-dozen times, there are very few limitations or regulations tied to the spending of the ESA funds. Broadly, the bill states in section 15-2402 (B)(1) that parents must "use a portion of of the Arizona empowerment scholarship account monies allocated annually to provide an education for the qualified student in at least the subjects of reading, grammar, mathematics, social studies and science." In section 15-2402 (B)(4) the bill details the allowable expenses the monies can be used for. Nowhere in any of the remaining subsections will you find restrictions on the materials that can or must be purchased.

It would seem, at least for now, while there are definitely restrictions on what you can and cannot purchase, there is not any part of the bill that would intrude on the parent's choice in what their child is learning. Additionally, the the bill does not stipulate that a parent must use ALL of the monies to meet the outlined subjects, it specifically states that a PORTION of the monies must be used on those subjects.

This is not to say that the government will never impose material and curricula restrictions as they do with similar programs in other states, but, for now the AZ ESA requirements are loose enough for parents to decide what curriculum they will use for their child without any fear of reprisal by our local government.

My Conclusion

Before I divulge my personal conclusions (if you haven't picked up on them already), I'd like to state that my homeschool experience began in 1991 when my parents began their own homeschool journey. In those days, homeschooling was not widely accepted and I remember times when my mom would not want to take us to Costco mid-afternoon in Southern California for fear of being judged by others, or worse, having someone report her to CPS (yes, that was a real fear).

Fast forward 30 years and the cultural tide is still very much against parents having any choice in the education of our children (in many cases openly hostile) especially when it comes to homeschooling. Despite these realities, we do have freedoms today that haven't been the norm and are not shared equally in every state even today. For these reasons I'm deeply grateful for organizations like HSLDA and AFHE and the work they've done to advocate for homeschooling families and the educational freedoms we do enjoy today.

Being that the HSLDA and their ilk are committed to total parental freedom with regard to homeschooling, it's not surprising that they have hardline views when it comes to a bill like HB2843 and the AZ ESA program in general. That being said, it does feel like these organizations are posing a false dilemma to homeschooling parents in AZ. That is, you can either choose not to receive government assistance or you can choose to receive that assistance, but if you choose to receive assistance, you're not a homeschooler. Really?

Technically speaking if you enroll your student(s) in ESA, they are not, by definition, classified as a "homeschooler" in the State of Arizona. Does that mean you are suddenly no longer educating your child at home on your terms? Of course not. What if a homeschooling family decides it is best to enroll one of their children in ESA but not others? Should they be ostracized from the homeschool community? No way.

Sadly, it appears there are many in the greater homeschool community that are taking the same hardline stance as the HSLDA and AFHE. The key difference is that organizations must take a stand on key issues. To be sure, we at PCA have non-negotiables as well. But families are not organizations and given the current cultural moment of our society and the endless battle for the minds of our youth, I am personally for any program that opens the doors to school choice for parents, whether it is a program our family decides to participate in or not.

Joe Sapko

President, Prescott Classical Academy