Proposal qualifies all Arizona students for school vouchers

January 27, 2016

By: BOB CHRISTIE
Source: tucsonnewsnow.com

PHOENIX (AP) – An Arizona House proposal would remove limits on the state’s school voucher program and allow every public school student to use state cash to attend a private school.

The expansion proposal in House Bill 2482 is the latest in a series that began after the Republican-controlled Legislature created the Empowerment Scholarship Account program in 2011.

It initially applied only to students with disabilities and was sold as a way for parents to choose private programs that best suited their children. It has been expanded repeatedly since then.

Mesa Republican Rep. Justin Olson’s proposal would maintain a total enrollment limit, but that cap expires after 2019.

Olson says expanding the program increases opportunities for all Arizona children. Opponents say the expansion comes at the expense of public schools.