PHX Reporter

Empowerment scholarships for 5,642 students in the PHX Reporter readership area could be on the chopping block if Arizona’s Governor Katie Hobbs’ efforts to repeal the program are successful.

Hobbs’ executive budget from early January 2023 proposed reversing the state’s Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) program, an expansion which allowed any K-12 Arizona student to receive a scholarship worth up to $7,000 enabling them to attend a school outside the public school system.

There were 5,642 students within areas reported on by PHX Reporter who benefited from the ESA program in the third quarter of 2022, according to a PHX Reporter analysis of Arizona Department of Education data.

This is the most current and up-to-date quarterly information from the Department.

If the ESA program is rolled back, scholarships would only be available to students who met certain requirements, such as identifying as having a disability, attending a low-performing school, or residing on an American Indian reservation.

Steve Smith, Arizona state director of the American Federation for Children, told the Grand Canyon Times that rolling back ESAs could affect school choice and aid extended to low-income students.

“If the ESA program were to be eliminated, nearly 50,000 families would have their education of choice ripped away from them, including special needs and disadvantaged families,” Smith said in February 2023.

Gov. Hobbs claimed in a PBS interview that the school scholarship system will “bankrupt the state.”

“This scholarship system we are under now doesn’t provide real choice in educational opportunity for most families. It diverts resources from schools,” said Hobbs.

Data from the Common Sense Institute, however, indicated a scholarship costs Arizona taxpayers $7,000 compared to the $12,000 per student cost in the public school system.

District/Charter	Enrollment
Deer Valley Unified District	1,673
Paradise Valley Unified District	1,303
Washington Elementary School District	532
Roosevelt Elementary District	393
Phoenix Union High School District	392
Madison Elementary District	320
Creighton Elementary District	186
Portable Practical Educational Preparation, Inc. (PPEP, Inc.)	177
Pendergast Elementary District	132
Phoenix Elementary District	85
Cartwright Elementary District	81
Osborn Elementary District	70
Alhambra Elementary District	66
Arizona Autism Charter Schools, Inc.	57
Fowler Elementary District	52
Balsz Elementary District	38
Isaac Elementary District	30
Union Elementary District	30
Valley of the Sun Waldorf Education Association, dba Desert Marigold School	15
Horizon Community Learning Center, Inc.	10