PHOENIX — Governor Katie Hobbs’ $17.8 billion budget proposal has some public education advocates disappointed. Some say they feel Governor Hobbs’ promises fell short.
The organization Save Our Schools Arizona and other organizations want Hobbs and lawmakers to pass a budget that reflects a rollback on the universal Empowerment Scholarship Account program.
As of Tuesday, May 9, more than 55,000 Arizona students are enrolled in the ESA program. That’s up from the 11,000 students before it expanded universally under former Governor Doug Ducey.
Hobbs publicly announced before that she’d work to roll back the universal expansion, however, her new proposed budget does not reflect that.
“I think it's really shocking for teachers, parents, people all over the state who are expecting Governor Hobbs to come out with a budget that would have significantly rolled back this program for economic reasons, to support public schools,” said Beth Lewis, the director of Save Our Schools Arizona.
In a divided government, concessions had to be made somewhere. In a press conference Monday, Hobbs agreed that the universal ESA program is a drain on the public education system, but for her, she says eliminating them isn’t as simple.
“We put that in our executive budget as the goal, knowing we'd be in a place we're going to have to negotiate. That's what we're doing,” said Hobbs.
However, Lewis wants more to be done.
“I think giving up on negotiations now is going to be perceived as very weak and it trains the brains for negotiations for the next few years and it does not set up a pro-public education situation for our state,” she said.
As for other parts of the tentative budget, Governor Ducey’s results-based funding will go away. That’s where schools that performed well got more money.
In its place, Hobbs' proposed budget would give public schools a one time funding of $300 million, but it can’t be used for teacher pay.
“It's a good policy that she's putting in place with this budget but it’s nowhere near what is needed for public education. It's a drop in the ocean,” Lewis said.
For Gilbert mom Shannon Behnke, she has one kid in public school and another in a private school using ESA funds. Behnke said her daughter, who is under the ESA program, is going to a school that specializes in learning disabilities and feels she’s been learning better.
She hopes the ESA universal program is here to stay.
“I hope she doesn't cap it. I can't imagine saying to one child: ‘No, I'm sorry. You can't get what you need educationally, but other children can.’ I just think we should make it open for everyone. Allow everyone to get what they need,” Behnke said.
ABC15 also reached out to the Arizona Department of Education, however, they did not want to comment, saying the department is “awaiting the finalized budget along with the rest of the state.”
