ARIZONA, WILL YOU DEFEND SCHOOL CHOICE?
KHRISTIAN’S STORY
The number of Arizona students using an ESA jumped from 12,000 to almost 52,000 after Arizona lawmakers, led by bill sponsor Rep. Ben Toma, opened the program to all Arizona families last year. Nearly 40,000 more students use ESAs to attend the educational environment that best suits them and their families.
Kelli Oppong’s 12-year-old son, Khristian, is among them. Khristian struggled in classrooms with more than 30 students. Overstimulated and lacking in one-on-one attention, Khristian fought to keep even a passing grade.
When Kelli learned about the ESA program, it opened up opportunities she had not even considered. Now, she is able to work from home and homeschool Khristian through his 7th grade year. The scholarship covers the curriculum expenses and allows her to give her son the one-on-one attention and quieter environment he needs to thrive. As a former educator, Kelli is a firm believer that one size does not fit all when it comes to education, “When I think of education, I think of individual kids. What does the student need? It’s about what is best for them. That’s what matters.”
Kelli says her son’s academic success through homeschooling doesn’t squelch Khristian’s innate need to socialize and play sports. Co-ops, including physical education co-ops, give him crucial exercise and socialization. Kelli says the ESA was critical to Khristian’s success this year, “We would not be able to provide the quality we are able to provide, without the ESA.”
Still, those opposed to educational freedom continue to propagate false claims in an effort to kick families out of the ESA program.
THE LEFT’S GOAL FOR ARIZONA
Arizona is represented in the United States Senate by two supporters of unrestricted abortion. Two supposedly “moderate” progressives have voted to spend your taxpayer dollars on abortion, to restrict freedom, and family!
And secular progressives—including out-of-state billionaires—are pouring massive resources into the Grand Canyon State. They sense an opportunity to flip Arizona from its pro-life, pro-family, pro-religious freedom stance to one that is hostile toward religious liberty, has few, if any, restrictions on abortion, denies that there are two sexes, and drastically reduces educational freedom for families.
Arizona has become ground zero in the Left’s campaign to force its anti-family, anti-life, anti-liberty agenda on the entire nation.
Their goal? To make Arizona a state in which:
- Young women athletes are forced to compete with biological boys who think they are girls.
- Government cracks down on educational freedom ranging from loss of scholarship opportunities to loss of rights for homeschool families.
- Sexual and gender “identity laws” force businesspeople to violate their own religious principles … or else be driven out of business.
We cannot let this happen!
This is a battle for the future and for our families. It’s a fight you and I cannot afford to lose. For if we do, our children and grandchildren will grow up in a state whose moral and legal climate is informed by Hollywood values and anti-religious prejudice.
WHAT WE ARE FIGHTING FOR
Now’s the time to take advantage of the opportunities we do have and to stave off the threats we face. In 2022, we successfully advocated for new measures that included:
- Granting every child in Arizona access to Empowerment Scholarship Accounts (ESA), setting the national standard for educational choice and parental rights
- Ensuring parents have access to instructional materials on key topics before they are introduced to students
- Stopping biological males from being able to participate in girls’ sports
- Granting parents the right to all medical and educational records of their children while also requiring parental consent before any survey is given to their child.
- Protecting children from the harmful physical and emotional consequences of gender reassignment surgery\
In 2023, we must capitalize on our razor-thin advantages in the state House to advance a more pro-life and family-friendly Arizona. The Arizona Senate has 16 pro-life senators to 14 pro-abortion senators. The Arizona House is at 31 to 29. This year, it’s been a daily fight to advocate for pro-life measures.
Now, in 2023, we are fighting to:
- Stop the new governor and her administration from defunding the new ESA program and ripping new opportunities away from the 50,000 families who have signed up for the program.
- Protect our gains against radical gender ideology—including the right of women and girls to their privacy in locker rooms and bathrooms, as well as a level playing field free from boys who think they are girls.
- And more…
We have no room for error—no room for complacency.
HOW TO SUPPORT US
Working together through Center for Arizona Policy, you and I can preserve and extend our gains and keep Arizona a bastion of pro-family, pro-life policy..
We can only achieve these victories if we have the support of good people like you. Without sufficient resources, family-friendly forces will be thrown back on the defensive against the well-funded and fanatically anti-family Left.
Center for Arizona Policy isn’t funded by out-of-state billionaires. We rely upon principled Arizonans like you for support.
Will you join us?
Your tax-deductible contribution today of $25, $50, $100, $250, or even $1,000 will defend our families, our freedoms, and the future of Arizona.
So please—imagine an Arizona where Tina never chose abortion because she and her husband know the truth and have access to the resources they lack.
. . . Imagine an Arizona where Tina’s house is filled with the pitter-patter of two more feet because Tina and her husband chose life for their child . . . an Arizona where that tiny child’s precious life is protected by our laws.
You can help make this Arizona a reality. Together we can advance the protection of all life in our state.
Will you make Arizona a state where all life is considered sacred and protected by joining Center for Arizona Policy with a tax-deductible gift of $25, $50, $100, $250, $1,000, or even more?
Our Mission
Center for Arizona Policy (CAP) is a nonprofit advocacy group whose mission is to promote and defend the foundational values of life, marriage and family, and religious freedom.