WASHINGTON – Supporters of dueling ballot measures to either drastically scale back Arizona’s ballooning school voucher program or tweak it are intensifying efforts ahead of a July 3 petition deadline.
So are the defenders of Empowerment Scholarship Accounts, which cost state taxpayers more than $1 billion this year.
The ESA program has exploded to more than 100,000 students in the most recent school year. There were just 12,000 in 2022, when former Gov. Doug Ducey signed the law, expanding access to nearly every K-12 student and creating the nation’s first universal voucher program. Parents can get $7,000 per student to use for private and charter school tuition and homeschooling.
The Protect Education Act would end eligibility for families making over $150,000. Teachers unions are backing that one.
The rival initiative, called the Arizona Empowerment Scholarship Accounts Reform and Accountability Act, would retain universal eligibility while adding oversight to curb improper spending, which has tarnished the program.
That plan is backed by Fortify AZ, a newly formed political action committee supported by American Federation for Children, a pro-voucher group formerly chaired by Betsy DeVos, who was the Michigan Republican Party chair before serving as secretary of education during the first Trump administration.
Organizers must submit 255,949 signatures from registered voters to get the measures on the November ballot.
The Fortify AZ proposal would limit reimbursements through Classwallet, the online portal the Arizona Department of Education uses to issue ESA payments. Parents would only get repaid for pre-approved items.
That would bring the Arizona voucher program in line with those in other states, said Fortify AZ spokesperson Barrett Marson – and it would address widespread concerns that taxpayer funds have been used to buy diamond rings, resort stays and even lingerie.
In August 2025, 12News reported on an internal audit of reimbursements in 2024 showing that families had used ESA funds for those and other luxury items, including iPhones, kitchen appliances, plane tickets and personal trainers.
In December 2024, to clear a growing backlog of unprocessed claims, Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne allowed automatic approval of transactions under $2,000. Through the end of January 2026, nearly 2.3 million ESA transactions were processed automatically – totalling more than $654 million.
Horne offered assurances that claims could be audited and improper payments would be recovered. But the program has only been auditing 30% of transactions, chosen randomly rather than based on likelihood of impropriety.
A report issued April 23 by the Arizona Auditor General found that $102.1 million worth of pre-approved transactions were not subject to all risk-assessment procedures. Families spent ESA funds on Disneyland tickets, cruises and other improper items.
Despite the uproar stemming from revelations of improper purchases, Horne has kept automatic approval in place.
Olivia Fierro, communications manager for Protect Education, Accountability Now! – the PAC behind the teachers-backed initiative – called the Fortify AZ initiative a “decoy” intended to siphon support from an effort to truly reform Arizona ESAs.
Even so, she said, her side has collected hundreds of thousands of signatures.
“Arizonans are rushing to sign for and support the Protect Education Act – despite the millions of dollars we’ve had poured in against us by Betsy DeVos-backed organizations,” Fierro said.
American Federation for Children gave Fortify AZ $1.3 million in March, according to a campaign disclosure report filed April 15 with the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office. The PAC has reported no other donors.
Fox News reported in March that AFC is spending more than $15 million this year to defeat candidates nationwide who oppose school choice. “We’re going to be playing heavily” in Arizona, the group’s president, Tommy Schultz, told the network.
Protect Education, Accountability Now! raised $4.4 million through March 31, according to its April 15 filing. All but about $400,000 came from the National Education Association, a teachers union.
Ducey has been working to protect the program he created. A group he leads has bought more than $100,000 worth of online ads advocating for ESAs.
School choice advocate Jenny Clark – ousted from the state Board of Education in March 2025 by Ducey’s successor, Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs – has also been fighting the ballot initiatives. Clark set up a group called AZ Loves ESAs that has been running ads urging voters to steer clear of both petitions, a tactic Fierro and other ESA critics say it intended to sow confusion.
Ads from both Ducey and Clark’s groups link the ballot initiatives to unidentified out-of-state interest groups.
That’s an apparent reference to teachers unions, which have fought school voucher programs nationwide on grounds they sap funding from public schools, though it also applies to AFC and the pro-ESA campaign.
“Governor Ducey is proud that Arizona has sparked a national movement of universal school choice, with state after state replicating our state’s achievement,” said his former chief of staff Daniel Scarpinto. “Through this effort and others, he’s committed to educating Arizonans and Americans on the value of educational freedom and pushing back on the unions and hard partisans that want to trap kids in failing schools.”
One ad from Ducey’s group shows an Arizona mother describing the program as a “lifeline” for her family.
Another says, “Fraud is unacceptable anywhere. ESA misuse rates remain extremely low and cases are being identified and prosecuted.” The ad links to a report by the Common Sense Institute, a conservative group where Scarpinto serves as a strategic adviser. The report downplays concerns about mispending, asserting that news outlets relied on anecdotes and citing an Education Department study from March that identified only 0.3% of spending as “egregious.”
According to Meta’s Ad Library, which covers digital ads on Facebook and Instagram, nearly 70% of ad spending by the Ducey group, Institute for American Prosperity, targets women 35 and over, in particular those with children. Seven of the group’s 22 ads only target women. Some have been viewed over 1 million times.
Ducey is the only person listed on the group’s website under “leadership.” The website provides no contact information and only limited information on the group. An incorporation filing in Delaware shows it was created in March. The Meta ads began showing up in late May.
According to Google Ads Transparency Center, AZ Loves ESAs is paying for sponsored search results to direct anyone seeking information on Arizona ESAs to a pro-voucher “Decline to Sign” site. #DeclineToSign has been shared by high-profile figures including Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Gilbert, who is seeking the GOP nomination for Arizona governor in the July 21 primary, and Scottsdale-based actor Rob Schneider, who has more than 2 million followers on X.
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