For years, Arizona’s Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) program has been the target of relentless attacks by anti-school choice groups. Critics have argued that the program is draining public funds and failing to meet the needs of students.
Yet when we take a closer look at how families actually feel about the ESA program, it becomes clear that these criticisms are far from the truth. In fact, despite the barrage of negative headlines, parent support for the ESA program remains strong and unwavering.
Moreover, we recently found that Arizona has an education budget surplus, further proof of the reality gap between anti-education choice rhetoric and the state’s bottom line.
Education choice programs have been around for decades, allowing families to find and access the best educational fit for their children. These programs include public, private and non-traditional schooling options like open enrollment public schools, public charter schools, magnet schools, home schooling, online learning, education scholarship accounts, vouchers and tax-credit scholarships.
ESAs—sometimes referred to as Education Savings Accounts or Education Scholarship Accounts—are flexible spending accounts funded by the state and controlled by parents. With an ESA, parents can customize and direct funds to a combination of approved uses, such as tutoring, therapy for students with disabilities, instructional materials/curriculum, online programs, private school tuition, contracted services with school districts, exam fees and savings for future education expenses, among others. There are 18 states that currently have adopted ESA programs, though not all have launched.
Opponents of education choice in Arizona have lambasted the ESA program in news stories over the past two years. The disconnect between the media narrative and the experiences of Arizona families is striking.
Parents who utilize ESAs often speak of the freedom and flexibility the program provides, allowing them to find the right schooling environment for their children. Whether it’s a specialized private school, homeschooling resources or other educational services, the ESA program empowers parents to tailor their child’s education to their unique needs.
Public support for ESAs among Arizonans is high. EdChoice, a national school choice advocacy group, measures state and national sentiment on education choice via its Public Opinion Tracker using survey responses collected by Morning Consult, a national polling firm.
State sentiment on key issues is measured using a 12-month rolling average of data on key questions that remain the same month over month. In Arizona, 69% of adults and 72% of school parents support ESAs. Among education choice policies surveyed, ESAs enjoy higher levels of support than vouchers and charter schools in the state. Support is defined as those who respond that they either “strongly” or “somewhat” support the policy.
When it comes to polling, all three school choice policies enjoy strong support, but we wanted to find out if opponents’ recent attacks on ESAs had caused a notable decline in their popularity.
Short answer: They have not.
We asked our partners at EdChoice to compare the rolling average of support over the past 12 months (September 2023 to August 2024) with the rolling average over the 12 months before that (September 2022 through August 2023).
Among the general population, support for ESAs slightly increased from 67% to 68% with opposition increasing slightly from 13% to 15%. Support among school parents declined from 83% to 72% between the two 12-month periods, a noteworthy decline among this group, but with strong support among parents remaining at 42%.
With low public trust in government and dwindling confidence in societal institutions, the fact that ESAs remain highly popular despite ongoing attacks is noteworthy. (National support for school choice programs, including ESAs, mirrors state-level support.)
One of the most persistent myths propagated by critics is that the ESA program is breaking the bank, draining resources from public schools and putting an undue strain on Arizona’s education budget.
However, the reality couldn’t be more different. According to recent data from the Arizona Department of Education, not only is the state’s overall education funding coming in under budget, but the ESA program is also operating efficiently within its means. That’s because, as the program is currently structured, students leaving public schools to use ESAs actually generate savings within the public system.
“I think there is a desire amongst a lot of those who are opponents of the program to try to hide the fact that it costs less per student than the public school system,” said Matt Beienburg, the Goldwater Institute’s director of education policy.
“Even as you’ve had more kids joining the ESA program, that offsetting savings from those kids not enrolling in the public school system at taxpayer expense actually means taxpayers spend less,” he added.
— “Education surplus reignites debate over school vouchers in Arizona,” Arizona’s Family, August 2024
The state’s education budget has consistently come in under projections, debunking the myth that the ESA program is an unsustainable financial burden. This fiscal responsibility should reassure both taxpayers and policymakers that the program is both beneficial for families and fiscally prudent.
Not only is education choice not busting the Arizona budget, but researchers have documented how programs can actually save money in other states. A 2021 report found that educational choice programs generated an average of between $1.80 to $2.85 in estimated fiscal savings for each dollar spent on the programs. The 40 choice programs examined in the study generated an estimated $12.4 billion to $28.3 billion in cumulative net fiscal savings for state and local taxpayers.
The Arizona ESA program continues to thrive, driven by strong parental support and sound financial management. While critics will likely continue to spread misinformation, the truth is that the program is providing Arizona families with the educational opportunities they need without compromising the state’s bottom line. Looking ahead, hopefully we can maintain our focus on the real stories and experiences of families who are benefiting from ESAs rather than being swayed by misleading headlines.
