(The Center Square) - Arizona voters will get to vote on a constitutional amendment to protect military families who rely on the state’s school choice program.
State lawmakers approved House Concurrent Resolution 2048, which will be on the Nov. 3 ballot. Voters will decide whether to amend the state Constitution to protect state-run scholarship and savings accounts for children of military families. The amendment is intended to protect school choice accounts from a potential initiative to impose new regulations, which, if it qualifies, would be on the same ballot.
HCR 2048, also known as the Military Families College Savings and Scholarship Protection Act, would prevent the state government from taking away these funds from children of military families.
Matt Beienburg, director of education policy at the Phoenix-based Goldwater Institute, told The Center Square that the state’s Empowerment Scholarship Accounts would be protected.
Currently, supporters of regulating school choice are attempting to qualify a teachers union-backed ballot initiative of the Nov. 3 general election. The initiative would impose additional regulations.
The initiative, also known as the Protect Education Act, would “run afoul of” HCR 2048 because it includes a provision that “would confiscate funds from military kids,” according to Beienburg.
As a constitutional amendment, HCR 2048 would, if it passes, overrule any provisions in the Protect Education Act, which seeks to change state law, Beienburg said.
Military families using the ESA funds would be able to continue using them if both HCR 2048 and the Protect Education Act pass with voters, the education expert explained.
Olivia Fierro, the communications director for the Protect Education Act, told The Center Square by email that “Arizonans are smart enough to see through these deceptive tactics and vote yes on the Protect Education Act, and no on this misleading legislation that will maintain a program that is costing our state over $1 billion taxpayer dollars.”
Fierro added that the ESA program “is endlessly funneling public funds to private schools and personal bank accounts.”
State Rep. Nick Kupper, R-Yuma, who served in the Air Force for 20 years, told The Center Square that all four of his kids have used the ESA account at one point in Arizona.
Kupper has two children enrolled in Arizona’s ESA program under the military eligibility category and another child using the disability eligibility category. His oldest child child graduated from high school and is no longer able to use it.
If the ESA funds are removed from his family, it would be “devastating,” the military veteran said.
“The only reason that we can educate our children in the way that we best see fit is because of the ESA program. We literally could not financially afford it otherwise,” he said.
Kupper noted the military moved him from New Jersey to Arizona because of the school choice program.
He added that the ESA program is a “nice soft landing spot” for new military families in Arizona because of how often they move.
If Arizona voters don’t approve the constitutional amendment, potential bad actors can come in and attempt to remove something the state promised military families, Kupper said.
“We can’t be going back on our word,” he said.
