In an article in The Daily Signal, Jason Bedrick and Matthew Ladner expose how opponents of educational freedom are scapegoating Arizona’s Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) program for the failures of underperforming districts. The real culprit? Families fleeing dysfunction. Bedrick and Ladner report on their claim:
“School choice deniers like Save Our Schools Arizona wasted no time blaming the state’s universal Empowerment Scholarship Account program, claiming that the closures were ‘due to major budget deficits caused by chronic lack of funding from the state legislature and universal ESA vouchers.'”
The facts, however, make it simple to refute this narrative. Roosevelt Elementary School District, which recently announced the closure of five schools, spends nearly $22,000 per pupil, well above the state average of $15,400. The district has seen a 29% increase in spending since 2019, even as enrollment dropped by 16%. The problem isn’t funding; it’s that 59% of students living in the Roosevelt district have chosen to attend school elsewhere, and 91% of those are in other public schools, not ESA programs. The authors further reveal:
“Parents left reviews on the Great Schools profiles complaining of rampant bullying, observing that the ‘teachers have no sense of authority and just pawn off the misbehaving children to each other.’ Parents complained of a lack of adequate supervision or discipline.”
The academic performance of the district continues to paint a dire picture. Math proficiency sits at just 13%, less than half the state’s 32% rate. Reading results show a similar gap, with only one in five Roosevelt students meeting standards compared to two in five statewide. Parents aren’t abandoning ship because of ESAs; they’re fleeing a district that has failed to provide basic safety and education.
Read the full story here.