The Arizona-based Goldwater Institute (GI) made a request to the Arizona Attorney General’s Office (AGO) Wednesday, asking it to take action against the use of taxpayer dollars to send school representatives to a school board event that would oppose school choice.
“Arizonans should be appalled to learn that school districts are using taxpayer resources to have district employees participate in an event clearly geared toward a political objective,” said GI Senior Attorney Scott Day Freeman. “All Arizona families should be free to make educational choices for their children without having the government work against them by rigidly defending a status quo that protects bureaucrats and government unions.”
In a letter sent to the AGO, Freeman outlined that it is illegal for school districts to use district resources to influence the outcomes of elections. Under Arizona Revised Statute (ARS) § 15-511, district resources cannot be used to support or oppose the circulation of a petition for a ballot measure.
Yet Freeman alleged that this is precisely what will happen at an upcoming Arizona School Board Association (ASBA) Law Conference. The ASBA is a local nonprofit which engages in political advocacy. Also attending the conference on September 7-9 will be the organization known as “Friends of the ASBA.” According to a social media post from the organization, part of its plans for the event includes “our [organization’s] efforts to stop voucher expansion and use the event as an opportunity to sign circulating petitions!”
Freeman argued that Friends of the ASBA has an “overtly ideological mission,” which is to oppose the recent expansion of Arizona’s Empowerment Scholarship Accounts (ESA). He outlined that staff and representatives from various school districts would attend the conference, and district resources would be used to send them to the event. Sending them to an “event clearly geared toward a political objective” using these resources would violate Arizona law, according to Freeman.
He concluded the letter by asking the AGO to investigate how school districts are using resources and taking action against any illegal activity.
The Arizona Sun Times reached out to the AGO regarding any response to this letter but did not receive any before publishing.
The GI created the ESAs in Arizona more than a decade ago, which have grown from serving just 100 families in 2011 to 11,000 now.
As reported by The Sun Times, HB 2853, the ESA expansion, gave every Arizona family with a child enrolled in kindergarten through 12th grade the ability to use education funds in their child’s best interests. Families can receive roughly $7,000 per year for tuition, therapists, home education, or private schools through an online application. Arizona’s ESA program is currently the most expansive in the nation.
According to Jenny Clark, founder of Love Your School, nearly 6,500 new applicants were submitted to the Arizona ESA program between August 16-29. She further shared that the increase in applications under the expansion may be from parents with special-needs kids and home-school families struggling financially.
Furthermore, she denounced a claim stating that ESAs will “decimate public schools,” saying that there are still 1.1 million children happily in public schools, and ESAs will give those who do not fit into that educational model equal access to needed funding.
🚨BREAKING: 6494 new applications have been submitted under the Arizona Empowerment Scholarship Universal expansion between 8/16-8/29. What does this mean? 🤔Some thoughts based on inquiries we’ve received below: 🧵 pic.twitter.com/kVH71sGIsw
— Jenny Clark (@ClarkRimsza) August 30, 2022
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Neil Jones is a reporter for The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Neil on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Mark Brnovich” by Mark Brnovich. Background “Goldwater Institute” by Goldwater Institute.
