Arizona GOP demands teacher pay raises be tied to preserving school choice

Arizona Republicans are trying something that’s worked in other states: tying teacher pay raises to protecting school choice.

Conservatives nationwide are implementing smart strategies to pass and maintain school choice programs.

Recent examples include Tennessee, which added one-time bonuses for public school teachers to its successful school choice bill – but only if local school boards passed a resolution endorsing school choice – and Texas, where Gov. Greg Abbott proposed record public school funding alongside a $1 billion school choice measure that passed last month. 

The Grand Canyon State, which has one of the nation’s largest and most accessible school choice programs, has faced attempts to shrink or eliminate it since Democrat Gov. Katie Hobbs took office. But now Republicans, who control the state House and Senate, are fighting back. 

Rep. Matt Gress, a Phoenix Republican who chairs the House Education Committee, said he wants a proposal to increase teacher pay by $4,000 across the board to include a state constitutional amendment guaranteeing the right to private school choice. 

The strategic move would link something Democrats want – more teacher pay – to a priority for conservatives: preserving school choice. 

“You’ve seen repeated assaults, particularly by Gov. Hobbs, in trying to eradicate one of the school choice options that we have,” Gress said of Empowerment Scholarship Accounts, the state’s main choice program, The Independent reported. “She is not going to give up until she has ripped out school choice by root and branch. And I think that worries a lot of Arizona families.” 

The state’s education savings account (ESA) program has grown rapidly since then-Gov. Doug Ducey expanded it to universal status in 2022, with participation rising from 11,000 then to more than 87,000 this year. More than 1,700 new students have signed up for next year, according to The Independent. 

The ESAs were approved in 2011, initially for students with disabilities, and were later expanded to include foster care children, students on Indian reservations and those in low-performing schools. The program now provides $7,500 grants to all students, with higher amounts available for students with special needs – a feature common in many school choice programs. 

Hobbs attempted to repeal the universal expansion after taking office in 2023, but the Legislature blocked her effort. She now seeks to “reform” the program by reducing scholarship amounts for families earning more than $100,000 and eliminating them entirely for families making $200,000 or more. 

Gress said Republicans won’t go along with that. 

“She may portray her policies as not getting rid of them, but the effective operational practice of her policy would be gutting the ESA program,” he said. “We don’t charge tuition to wealthy families who attend a district or a charter school. I believe that if you are of student age in the state of Arizona, you deserve to have state investment in your education.” 

School choice programs in many states have faced legal challenges and political efforts to overturn or scale them back. Even in places such as Arizona, where participation is high, Democrats have continued their attempts. 

So far, Illinois is the only state to end its school choice program, which had benefitted low-income students in failing schools. Bills to reestablish it have been introduced but have gained little traction in the Democrat-controlled state. 

South Carolina’s Supreme Court blocked that state’s program in September, but lawmakers are close to reinstating it through new legislation. Private funds have preserved scholarships for about 800 students who were already enrolled when the court’s decision was handed down. 

Robert Enlow, president of EdChoice, said tying educational freedom to measures such as teacher pay raises hasn’t occurred in every state.  

“I haven’t seen as much of it as I thought I would,” he told The Lion in an interview. “Arizona’s talking about it as a ballot measure. Texas had two separate bills – school choice and public school funding – but in the hearings they talked about it. But Idaho, Wyoming, South Carolina and New Hampshire aren’t talking about it. 

He added that the tactic could work in red states such as Mississippi, which failed to pass school choice this year, and Georgia, which passed a plan it could later expand, but not necessarily in blue states. 

“I think every state’s going to have a specific context, so I don’t think it’s going to naturally follow that just because Texas and Arkansas did it, every state’s going to do it,” he said. 

In Arizona, the money for the teacher raises would come from the state’s land trust, which requires a constitutional amendment to access.  

Voters approved such funding in 2015 – albeit by a narrow margin – providing nearly $3.5 billion to public schools over the last decade. But the funds are expiring, raising pressure to pass an amendment. 

Hobbs called the GOP’s effort to include school choice in the amendment “a complete and total nonstarter,” but Republicans might hold the trump card. 

They don’t need the governor’s approval if their legislative majorities approve the amendment language, which would then go directly to voters. 

A two-part measure could appeal to public school supporters and the tens of thousands of families who benefit from school choice and want to keep the program, which is “overwhelmingly popular,” Gress said. 

“This has changed the game for a lot of these families who just didn’t feel like the existing education options were satisfying the needs of their children,” he said. “So I think you’re going to see a lot of support for not only raising teacher pay but preserving education freedom in the state.”