Arizona voters may decide future of universal school voucher system [View all]

Arizona voters this year may get to decide which students can pay private school tuition or be homeschooled with taxpayer money.

Last week, the Arizona Education Association, the state’s largest teacher’s union and Save Our Schools Arizona, a public education advocacy group, filed language with the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office for a ballot measure that would completely overhaul the state’s school voucher system.

AEA President Marisol Garcia said that intent is to rein in the program’s exploding costs — the Empowerment Scholarship Accounts, as they’re formally known, will cost more than $1 billion this year — which inevitably detracts from the state funding that is available for public schools. She pointed out that teachers are already shouldering the burden of an underfunded public education system.

Arizona has an ongoing teacher retention crisis. During the 2024-2025 academic year, nearly 20% of public school teachers left or switched schools. Dismal teacher pay is a large part of why the Grand Canyon State continues to see teachers leave. The average teacher salary in Arizona last year was $62,714 — far less than the national average of $72,030.




https://azmirror.com/2026/02/11/arizona-voters-may-decide-future-of-universal-school-voucher-system/