By Kiera Riley || Arizona Capitol Times January 20, 2023
A brigade of strollers and children toting magic marker-adorned posters descended upon the Capitol to protest Gov. Katie Hobbs’ proposed repeal of the universal Empowerment Scholarship Account program.
Hobbs announced her proposed budget with public education funding hinging on savings from repealing universal ESAs.
She signaled the program could see a hard cut-off, with no universal recipients being grandfathered in and funding remaining only for the students eligible under the previous version of the program.
But a swell of about 46,000 universal ESA recipients already staked their claim in state funding. And Republican lawmakers, who supported the initial creation of the program, quickly cemented their staunch opposition.
The crowd of families earlier this week chanted “ESA is here to stay.” And for what it’s worth, they are probably right.
Hobbs unveiled her budget proposal last week. Republican leaders deemed it dead on arrival.
Much of Hobbs’ proposed funding for public education, which she anticipates reaching $273.7 million, is stirred by an estimated $134 million in ongoing savings by cutting off the ESA program.
