Republicans in the Arizona State Legislator said in a Friday press release they will not pass the budget proposed by Governor Katie Hobbs (D), which would eliminate tax credits for low-income families with students and force about half of the students currently participating in the popular Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) school choice program to return to public schools.
The joint press release by State Representative David Livingston (R-Peoria) and State Senator John Kavanaugh (R-Maricopa) declared Hobbs’ budget proposal “partisan” and “wildly unrealistic,” and revealed “both Arizona Senate and House Republicans vow to block her efforts to raise taxes and cut school choice.”
Hobbs’ 2025 budget proposal, released Friday, would require students to attend public school for 100 days to become eligible for the ESA program, which the Republican lawmakers wrote would “remove half of the students enrolled” in the program they note has “garnered national recognition for empowering parents to take control of their children’s learning environments.”
A frequent critic of the ESA program, Hobbs has repeatedly vowed to reduce the state’s spending on school choice, and in 2023 pitched a budget that would have cut it entirely.
The governor’s 2025 budget proposal would also eliminate all tax credits for donations to School Tuition Organizations (STOs), which the lawmakers said includes “those to assist low-income and disabled children.” According to Republicans, Hobbs’ proposal would result in “a tax increase on Arizonans, hurting students and their families” for the governor “to fund new spending.”
Kavanaugh stated that Hobbs’ proposals to remove the tax credits and cut the ESA program “are dead on arrival with the Republican Majority” in the Arizona Senate. The senator further admonished Hobbs for speaking about bipartisanship during her State of the State address while “her funding cuts strictly target Republican priorities.”
Livingston called Hobbs’ budget “an unserious mess” comparable to her 2023 budget, adding that the governor’s “revenue and enrollment predictions don’t reflect reality, and her solution to the deficit proposes cuts to K-12 and water investments.”
The lawmaker declared, “We understand most of this is meant to appeal with her base. When she is willing to engage more seriously, Republicans are ready.”
After Hobbs hinted that she wanted to make changes to the ESA program in her State of the State address last week, the Arizona Freedom Caucus told The Arizona Sun Times her “half cocked attempt to destroy” the program was “dead on arrival” in the Arizona Legislature.
Arizona State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne also pushed back on Hobbs’ plans, which included increased oversight for contracts, saying the Arizona Department of Education already has such a procedure in place.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Georgia Star News, The Virginia Star, and the Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Katie Hobbs” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0.
