Thanks to reporting by 12News, we’re finally getting a clearer picture of which schools are raking in the voucher money.
For those of you who haven’t followed the voucher program closely, a word to the wise: It has been a colossal pain to get information about the program, especially after the Legislature opened it up to every student in the state in 2022.
Sure, state officials bend over backwards to give parents information about how to use the program, as they should. But if you’re a run-of-the-mill taxpayer (or news reporter) who wants to know how your $1.15 billion is being spent, well, you’re out of luck.
Fortunately, Craig Harris at 12News took it upon himself to open up that black box. He and his colleagues have battled with state officials for several years now (and borne the brunt of the outrage from the pro-voucher crowd).
As part of that transparency battle, 12News successfully sued the Arizona Department of Education to get records on 2 million transactions in the Empowerment Scholarship Account (AKA, voucher) program.
The 12News reporters then shared a list of 190 private schools in Arizona that are raking in the voucher money, which is how we’re able to shed some light on how the game is playing out in Southern Arizona.
As we went through the list, one thing became glaringly apparent: Christian schools are dominating the voucher game.
Just look at the Southern Arizona schools that brought in the most voucher money since 2022:
Salpointe Catholic High School: $15.2 million
Pusch Ridge Christian Academy: $8.8 million
Yuma Lutheran School: $7.9 million
Desert Christian School: $7.1 million
Yuma Catholic High School: $6.3 million
Saints Peter and Paul Catholic School: $5.9 million
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton School: $5.9 million
Lourdes Catholic School: $5.4 million
Southwestern Christian School: $5.3 million
Calvary Chapel Christian School: $5.2 million (they also have campuses outside Southern Arizona)
Every single one is affiliated with a Christian denomination.
It’s the same pattern throughout the state. Christian schools got the lion’s share of the voucher money, while only two secular private schools brought in enough voucher money to crack the top 50.
Just going by the names of the schools, we counted 52 “Christian” schools, 37 “Catholic” schools, 15 “Lutheran” schools, four “Baptist” schools and three “Adventist” schools, plus a smattering of “parish,” “Bible” and “chapel” schools.
Arizona has a lot of religious schools, so it makes sense that they’re doing well in the voucher game. But we wouldn’t be surprised if the flow of money to Christian schools spurred some litigation, or at least some sustained bellyaching, about the separation of church and state.
That concern has an interesting backstory: In 2006, Arizona created its first school voucher program, but courts shot it down in 2009 because the money went directly to private, religious schools, which violated the Arizona Constitution’s “Aid Clause.”
Two years later, lawmakers came up with the initial version of Arizona’s ESA program, which gets around that by giving the money to parents, who can then give it to private, religious schools.
Anyway, the reporting from 12News made us curious, so we pulled some more stats and poked around the Arizona Department of Education’s most recent report on the voucher program.
Other numbers to think about
How many Southern Arizona schools got a lot of voucher money?
We found 40 schools in Southern Arizona on the list compiled by 12News.
How much voucher money did they get?
The total for the Southern Arizona schools was about $150 million since 2022, including $73 million that went to the top 10 schools.
How many students in Southern Arizona use vouchers?
We went through the totals for the ZIP codes listed in the Arizona Department of Education report and came up with about 17,000 students in Southern Arizona.
How many students in Arizona used to attend public schools and now use vouchers at private schools?
Just under 43,000 students. They came from 619 charter schools and school districts, including nearly 900 students who used to attend Tucson Unified School District schools (TUSD’s enrollment is about 37,000 right now).
Which public school district lost the most students?
Mesa Unified wears that unfortunate crown. About 1,850 students attended district schools before entering the voucher program.
Which charter school lost the most students?
That would be Edkey, Inc. — Sequoia Choice Schools (it’s quite a mouthful, we know), which lost nearly 2,300 students.
Dialing up the data center debate: Protesters came out on Thursday to oppose a potential data center in Sahuarita, the Tucson Sentinel’s Paul Ingram and Nicolas Rivera report. They say they’re just getting warmed up, after residents complained repeatedly at public meetings about the data center, which would be built near schools and a hospital. Over in Silicon Valley, Dario Amodei, the head of one of the biggest AI companies in the world, wrote an essay saying it’s time to “slow the pace” of AI development and calling for more regulation.
Attention parents: If you’re worried your kid’s public school is on the chopping block, the Arizona Daily Star’s Sierra Blaser went through Tucson Unified School District data and came up with a list of nine schools that are most at risk of being closed. District officials are dealing with a drop in enrollment they attribute to a declining birth rate and more students using school vouchers.
A rising tide lifts all boats: Arizona workers are going to get a pay bump as state officials recalculate the minimum wage to deal with inflation, which they’re required to do every year under a 2006 voter-approved law, per Capitol scribe Howie Fischer. Starting Jan. 1, the statewide minimum wage is going to be $15.65. The pay bump will be a little bigger in Flagstaff and Tucson, which also adjust the local minimum wage every year. The minimum wage in Tucson will be an even $16 and Flagstaff residents will get $19 an hour.
Ummm, we just did the math and we are dangerously close to paying ourselves minimum wage.
Finally settling up: The long battle between Pima County and Trump administration is finally over, with the federal government agreeing to reimburse the final batch of the $12.7 million the county spent on shelter services for hundreds of thousands of legally processed asylum seekers during the Biden administration. The funding, despite a formal contract with FEMA, has been under review for more than a year with the Trump administration arguing they had a duty to make sure the shelters were not "engaged in or facilitating illegal activities."
Fighting TEP: In an update to last week’s story on Proposition 421, there are two groups openly opposing it — the Tucson Chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America and Public Power for Tucson. Both groups argue the City of Tucson’s 25-year franchise agreement with Tucson Electric Power is a bad deal for the Old Pueblo. The groups have been canvassing Tucson neighborhoods, asking locals to reject the ballot measure.
Did JoAnna Mendoza forget who was president?
She didn’t mention President Donald Trump at all during last week's debate with Congressman Juan Ciscomani.
Maybe she's listening to the Dem consultants who think they know everything?
That's Tucson Sentinel columnist Blake Morlock's theory. He seemed utterly flummoxed that Mendoza would shy away from hanging Trump's unpopularity around Ciscomani's neck.
“Yeah, that’s the Democrats, alright. Their strategists act like the real genius is in punting on first down and goal from the one. See, in their heads, scoring touchdowns is exactly what their base voters want them to do. And so that's exactly what the Dem consultants won’t do.”