{"id":1662662,"date":"2022-09-28T14:20:51","date_gmt":"2022-09-28T18:20:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1662662"},"modified":"2022-09-28T14:22:31","modified_gmt":"2022-09-28T18:22:31","slug":"arizona-teachers-unions-attempt-to-nix-school-choice-expansion-appears-to-fail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/arizona-teachers-unions-attempt-to-nix-school-choice-expansion-appears-to-fail\/","title":{"rendered":"Arizona Teachers Unions\u2019 Attempt To Nix School Choice Expansion Appears To Fail"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Farizona-teachers-unions-attempt-to-nix-school-choice-expansion-appears-to-fail%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1662662&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>An attempt by Arizona\u2019s teachers unions to block the state\u2019s massive school choice expansion appears to have failed.<\/p>\n<p>Save Our Schools Arizona, an anti-school choice group backed by teachers unions, is trying to get a ballot referendum for the state\u2019s new expanded school choice program, but the group appears to have fallen dramatically short of the required signatures.<\/p>\n<p>On Friday, Save Our Schools claimed that it had collected 141,714 signatures, well above the 118,823 valid signatures required to trigger a ballot referendum of Arizona\u2019s school choice expansion, the Arizona Mirror <a href=\"https:\/\/www.azmirror.com\/blog\/campaign-to-stop-az-universal-school-vouchers-expected-to-fall-short-on-signatures\/\">reported<\/a>. The signature <a href=\"https:\/\/azsos.gov\/elections\/ballot-measures\/initiative-referendum-recall\/referendum\">threshold<\/a> is equal to 5% of all votes cast in Arizona\u2019s last gubernatorial election.<\/p>\n<p>However, according to the Arizona Secretary of State\u2019s Office, the group filed a total of 8,175 petition sheets, the AZ Mirror noted. Based on that number, according to the outlet, they would have had to fill nearly every line of every sheet with signatures to meet the threshold. To meet the number of signatures they claimed to have, they would have had to have an overflow of signatures on every sheet.<\/p>\n<p>Many of the sheets were nowhere near full, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DeAngelisCorey\/status\/1574487168067715072\">according<\/a> to school choice advocate Corey DeAngelis.<\/p>\n<p>Two pro-school choice think tanks,\u00a0the Goldwater Institute and Center for Arizona Policy, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/news\/arizona-teachers-union-push-to-overturn-school-choice-expansion-appears-to-flop\/\">calculated<\/a>\u00a0that only about 89,000 signatures were filed.<\/p>\n<p>On Monday, the executive director of Save Our Schools Arizona admitted that the group had probably failed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think we will end up short, yes,\u201d Beth Lewis <a href=\"https:\/\/www.azmirror.com\/blog\/campaign-to-stop-az-universal-school-vouchers-expected-to-fall-short-on-signatures\/\">said<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The final results are slated to be made public in October after the\u00a0Secretary of State\u2019s Office reviews the signatures.<\/p>\n<p>Arizona <a href=\"https:\/\/azgovernor.gov\/governor\/news\/2022\/07\/governor-ducey-signs-most-expansive-school-choice-legislation-recent-memory\">expanded<\/a>\u00a0its school voucher program over the summer. Governor Doug Ducey (R-AZ) signed a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/apps.azleg.gov\/BillStatus\/BillOverview\/77976\">bill<\/a> in July allowing every Arizona student to get a taxpayer-funded\u00a0Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) to pay for their education at a private school, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.azed.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/2022\/08\/H.B.%202853%20FAQ.pdf\">about<\/a>\u00a0$6,500 per child for grades 1-12.<\/p>\n<p>In the first two weeks after the online portal for new ESA applications opened, the state <a href=\"https:\/\/www.azmirror.com\/2022\/09\/01\/private-school-students-flock-to-expanded-school-voucher-program\/\">received<\/a> around 6,800 new applications for school vouchers. More than a million K-12 public school students are eligible for an ESA account under the expansion, up from 11,000 students previously, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.goldwaterinstitute.org\/arizona-teachers-unions-apparently-fail-to-overturn-universal-school-choice-reform\/\">according<\/a> to the Goldwater Institute, which fights for school choice and parents\u2019 rights.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe preliminary results make it clear: Arizona families have rejected special interests\u2019 attempts to take away their ability to choose the education that best meets their child\u2019s unique needs,\u201d said Victor Riches, president and CEO of the Goldwater Institute.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFamilies deserve the right to choose the best education option for their children, regardless of zip code, and now, they\u2019ll once again be able to exercise that right by applying for ESAs,\u201d Riches continued.<\/p>\n<p>On Monday, Arizona House Republican Majority Leader Ben Toma, who sponsored the school choice bill, also responded to the anti-school choice group\u2019s apparent failure.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cChalk up another major victory for Arizona families wanting the freedom to choose the education that best meets their child\u2019s needs,\u201d Toma said in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.azleg.gov\/press\/house\/55LEG\/2R\/220028TOMA.pdf\">statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSchool choice is increasingly popular with\u00a0Arizona parents, especially those whose children are stuck in a failing school, so I find it\u00a0baffling that anyone would try so hard to take that choice away from parents. It\u2019s good that\u00a0they have apparently failed,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Katie Hobbs, the Democratic nominee for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/topic\/arizona\">Arizona<\/a> governor, is running on an explicitly anti-school choice platform. Earlier this month, she\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/private-school-grad-katie-hobbs-releases-anti-school-choice-plan\">released<\/a> her education plan, which includes rolling back the voucher expansion.<\/p>\n<p>Support for school choice has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.federationforchildren.org\/national-school-choice-poll-shows-67-of-voters-support-school-choice-2019\/\">increased<\/a> since before the pandemic as frustrated parents confronted school boards over a litany of issues including COVID restrictions and curriculum materials they deemed inappropriate.<\/p>\n<p>Other states are also working to expand school choice. Last month, a\u00a0school choice group in Michigan\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/michigan-school-choice-group-clears-major-hurdle-in-circumventing-whitmers-veto\">cleared<\/a> one of two major hurdles it needs to circumvent Governor Gretchen Whitmer\u2019s\u00a0(D-MI) veto of a school choice measure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An attempt by Arizona\u2019s teachers unions to block the state\u2019s massive school choice expansion appears to have failed. Save Our Schools Arizona, an anti-school choice group backed by teachers unions, is trying to get a ballot referendum for the state\u2019s new expanded school choice program, but the group appears to have fallen dramatically short of &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1662666,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1662662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1662662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1662662"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1662662\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1662666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1662662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1662662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1662662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}