Democrat politicians want to undermine school choice in Arizona; two moms are fighting back

Two Arizona moms are suing Arizona for placing burdensome restrictions on its school choice program.

The lawsuit, filed Monday, claims the Arizona Department of Education is violating state law by requiring all education savings account (ESA) purchases be explicitly required by a curriculum.

As a result, Velia Aguirre, who has three children with ESAs, and Rosemary McAtee, who has seven, were denied reimbursement for a variety of supplemental materials. 

Their purchases included: 

• A “Time Activity Set” to learn how to tell time; 

• Wooden puzzles; 

• Pencils, markers and erasers; 

• Educational placemats (featuring topics such as the U.S. presidents and constellations); 

• Books like I Spy A to Z: A Book of Picture Riddles, Math and Spelling Activities for Kids, First Grade Learning Activities, Where the Red Fern Grows, and Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? 

“The law is clear. ESA families have the right to use these educational materials without being forced to justify to the Attorney General or state bureaucrats why they’re buying pencils or picking individual books for their children.” said John Thorpe, staff attorney at the Goldwater Institute, which represents the plaintiffs. 

McAtee also blamed Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes for imposing unnecessary restrictions on the school choice program.  

“I feel like the AG clearly doesn’t have any interest in what an education looks like for a homeschool child,” McAtee said. “She just wants to shut down and eliminate this program. The government should actually be supporting ESA parents and children so they can get the education they deserve.” 

Aguirre added it was burdensome for parents to have to tie every supplemental purchase to a specific curriculum.  

“The government is changing the rules and putting impossible burdens on me,” she said. “No other teacher in the state has to provide curriculum for purchasing things for their classroom.” 

Unfortunately, Mayes isn’t the only member of Arizona leadership trying to undermine ESAs.  

Democrat Gov. Katie Hobbs has long opposed school choice, making outlandish accusations and trying to micromanage the program. 

However, Tom Horne, superintendent of public instruction, has been an ardent advocate for the program. Despite being named as a defendant in the lawsuit, he hopes it succeeds. 

“When this issue first arose in July, my concern was that the Attorney General could force Empowerment Scholarship Account holders to return funds if they did not comply with her office’s interpretation of the law,” Horne said in a press release.  

“This lawsuit will settle the issue in court and my sincere hope is that the arguments made by Goldwater will prevail.”