AZ public schools jeopardized by diverting funds to private ones

Erica McFadden
May 31, 2013

A recent Merrill/Morrison Poll conducted with 488 Arizona adults found that 97 percent of voters view a top-quality public education as important to Arizona’s future, yet 74 percent said the state Legislature underfunds public education and seven in 10 oppose shifting funds from public schools to parochial, private and charter schools.

By using public education funds to support non-public schools, thus reducing the total budget for public education, critics fear that students without strong family support to advocate for them, limited financial resources and/or other barriers to learning will be left behind in an increasingly underfunded public school system.

While private schools, touted by proponents to be of better quality than public schools, are not held to any measurable standards, they are increasingly receiving increased public dollars originally earmarked for the public education system.

So, the message is clear, right? Voters simply don’t want public school funding diverted to private, parochial and charter schools. Yet, the Governor and the legislature have done just the opposite – creating a system that allows an increased number of public school dollars to be funneled into private schools.

Governor Jan Brewer recently signed House Bill 2622 into law, putting Arizona’s already precarious public education system at further risk and moving Arizona toward increased privatization of education with no measurable standards, no accountability measures and no transparency of public money expenditures. In effect, this law allows funding to be diverted from the public education budget by giving parents state public education dollars called Empowerment Savings Accounts, or ESAs - funding previously dedicated to their children’s’ public education to pay for private schools, home schooling tutoring and other educational expenses outside the public school system. And, since financial need is not a factor, the affluent can benefit at the expense of an already-underfunded state education system.

While parents are required to produce receipts quarterly as part of the state’s ESA monitoring requirements, there are no reporting requirements for the 25-35 private schools benefiting directly from this program. Arizona Department of Education (ADE) data show that the majority of expenditures for the first quarter of the ESA program was spent on private school tuition and that a total of $1.5 million was diverted from the public education system last year. That amount is only the beginning of the siphoning off of public education funds for private education purposes, once the new law takes effect.

The number of applications for the 2012-13 school year has already almost doubled compared to 2011-12 and that number will grow even larger with the new law. Program eligibility has been expanded from the 150 students with disabilities who were enrolled last year to now include students attending poorly performing public/charter schools, children of active military parents, foster children and children who are wards of the state. But for parents/guardians from low-income households, ESAs will not be enough to finance a private school education. The amount students receive (an average of $8,000/year per student) may not cover some elite private school tuitions and fees. The ESA, however, may be viewed as an immediate discount for those parents with financial means. 

As a result, over time expectations are that this legislation will increasingly grow and change private education at the expense of public education. Aiden Fleming, legislative liaison for the Arizona Department of Education, noted Pennsylvania’s private school market responded to similar legislation by opening more private schools and setting tuition rates at the level of state disbursement amounts so more students could attend. 

There is a serious problem with ESAs diverting public funds from one of the worst-funded public education systems in the country. This problem is exacerbated by the lack of standards, regulations and accountability measures in the private education system: 

• While public schools are obligated to accept every child, private schools are not, and may be very selective in the process, leaving those considered “underperformers” in an underfunded public school system. 
• While public schools are required to educate “all” children, including students with disabilities, many private schools do not have to accept students with disabilities. In effect, they can be “counseled out” or asked to look elsewhere to meet their education needs. Therefore, students with disabilities are not availed of the same, or equal, educational opportunities as others. 
• Public schools must adhere to standardization in accountability and transparency in reporting, including employing only certified teachers, following state - approved curricula, and required student testing to measure education effectiveness - standards not required from private schools. Private school teachers need not be certified, and there are no curriculum requirements, reporting requirements or required tests/assessments. In fact, it is very difficult to obtain data showing private school student performance. Private schools are accountable only to their boards, funders and parents, who may or may not impose high expectations.

If the state continues to fund private school education through ESAs, private schools should be required to meet the same standards met by public schools – and be transparent to the public that is supporting them.   

But ultimately, legislators need to listen to what Arizonans want. As one of the most poorly funded education systems in the country, Arizona’s public schools simply cannot afford to divert state public education funds into private schools.