Unions on edge as Arizona lawmakers weigh major expansion of education overhaul

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/03/13/all-eyes-on-arizona-lawmakers-looking-to-expand-controversial-education-program/

Unions on edge as Arizona lawmakers weigh major expansion of education overhaul

Lawmakers in Arizona could decide this week if they are going to increase the state’s Empowerment Scholarship Account program to 28,000 students in the next five years, with the goal of eventually having 1 million students being able to make the decision about how and where they receive their education. The Empowerment Scholarship Account is different than the traditional school voucher. The Empowerment Scholarship Account program transfers money the state would normally pay for a child to attend public school to a bank account. The students that qualify for this program are given a debit card and have the choice to use the money on educational expenses from books to home-schooling. Arizona is the first state in the country to implement a program like this. Arizona has implemented this program for 761 special needs students. Currently six other states are trying to implement the same type of program. Several bills in the Arizona legislation would provide this program to low-income children, which would take a considerable amount of money from the state’s education fund. This amount would be potentially $374 million a year. Students that are participating in this program receive at least $2,900 a year and depending on their need this amount can rise to $31,000. Students are given a certain amount of money to use for their high school education and if these students have money left over they are able to use it for higher education. If they don’t pursue higher education the money will be sent back to the state.

Clint Bolick, vice president for litigation at the Goldwater Institute stated that “The idea was to create a school-choice system for the 21^st century” and that “Our public schools are based on a 19^th century model.” Bolick believes that this type of education promotes the different types of school systems to compete for students. Arizona’s Democratic Senate Minority Leader Anna Tovar stated that this set up an unfair competition between schools that were poor and private institutions. She also stated that she thinks the Empowerment Scholarship Account will be discriminating public education.

The Empowerment Scholarship Account plan was first approved in 2011. Several states are waiting to see how this works for Arizona, with the intent of implementing the program in their state if Arizona is successful.

I think this program is interesting because it will allow students to make the choice about their education. I believe that students that are truly determined to have an education would be able to make good decisions about the type of education they would pursue. I believe that students that aren't in control of their education would not be able to use the money wisely to get the appropriate education. Students at high school age most of the time aren't prepared to make the type of decisions about their education that these students would have to make with the money that they would be given. I am interested to see how this program works for Arizona.