Lawmakers adjourn voucher panel seeking 'appropriate governance' of ESAs with no proposals

A legislative committee established to provide oversight of Arizona's universal school voucher program concluded its work Tuesday with no proposals on how the program should operate.

Instead, the two-hour hearing at the Capitol highlighted the passions both for and against the state's Empowerment Scholarship Account program, following presentations on the program's cost and steps the Arizona Department of Education is taking to provide more accountability.

Despite suggestions from the program's fans and foes, no one on the eight-member committee offered any recommendations to meet the panel's intended purpose of seeking ideas for the "appropriate governance" of the rapidly growing program.

“I am open to suggestions," House Speaker Ben Toma, a Glendale Republican who served as the committee's chairman, said after Tuesday's meeting. "So far, nothing has been brought forward to my attention.”

Toma and then-House Democratic Leader Andrés Cano created the ad hoc committee earlier this year to speed along bipartisan support for a state budget. It was intended to quell complaints from Gov. Katie Hobbs and fellow Democrats that the ESA program would bust the state budget.

The goal, according to the House's own announcement, was "to provide clarity and ensure that the governance and administration of Empowerment Scholarship Accounts (ESAs) is appropriately designed to manage a growing and complex program."

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Toma, the sponsor of the 2022 legislation that opened the voucher program to every school-age Arizona child, offered a stout defense of the program and castigated those who criticized it.

"We will defend it," he said of the program, the first of its kind nationally. He warned against efforts to roll back Arizona's school choice options.

“Please recognize that there are partisans out there who privately and sometimes even publicly admit they wish to eliminate more than just ESAs, but all forms of school choice," Toma said.

He was referring to a social media post from the Pima County Democratic Party that said: "Let's kill school choice - send it to the grave."

Facing criticism, the party took down the post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

The hearing aired familiar comments about the voucher program. Parents showed up to testify how the program was a game-changer for their children's educational progress. Critics cited reports of the vouchers being used to purchase extravagant items such as pianos and espresso machines. Those opposed to the program also cited its transparency drawbacks, from the lack of testing to the absence of backgrounding the instructors hired with voucher dollars.

The presentations from the Legislature's budget staff and the education department, which administers the program, offered some data. But it also highlighted what is not known.

Budget staff presented scenarios where the voucher program subtracts from the state's general fund, and where it saves the state money.

State Rep. Judy Schwiebert, D-Phoenix, tried to pin down whether the program's overall cost was a plus or minus to the state's general fund.

But budget staffer Patrick Moran couldn't provide a definitive answer. Numbers vary based on students' individual circumstances, he said. Factors include whether the student was previously in a public school, whether that school got state assistance or was financed by local property taxes, and whether the student had special needs. That level of detail isn't available.

John Ward, who runs the ESA program for the Department of Education, said the agency is creating a publicly available dashboard that will contain more detail about the program. He said he's hopeful it will be available in the spring.

Ward acknowledged many of the early participants in the universal voucher program came from students who were already enrolled in private schools, which resulted in a net loss of state budget money.

But since the beginning of this school year, 40% of the students in the ESA program were previously in public schools, Ward said. That's a testament to advocates who say the program is attracting more than well-off families who were already paying for private schooling and are now benefitting from the $7,000 taxpayer-funded voucher.

The committee is required to present a final report by Dec. 31. Toma said it will compile the reports from the legislative budget staff and Education Department.

It also will include the research on demographic and school enrollment trends done by economist Alan Maguire, who was paid $5,000 for his work. In a presentation last month, Maguire said there were "significant limitations" on available ESA data, making it difficult to project growth trends for the program.

Reach the reporter at maryjo.pitzl@arizonarepublic.com or at 602-228-7566 and follow her on Threads as well as on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter @maryjpitzl.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona legislative voucher panel adjourns with no recommendations