Congresswoman Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ) is taking on a new federal private school voucher program, introducing legislation this week to repeal it before it can take root nationwide. Having watched her home state struggle with a similar program for years, she says she knows exactly where this road leads.
Grijalva joined several House Democrats on Thursday to introduce the Keep Public Dollars in Public Schools Act, a bill that would repeal a private school voucher tax credit recently tucked into federal law. Additionally, Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) introduced a matching version in the Senate earlier this year.
The tax credit allows individual taxpayers to donate up to $1,700 annually to organizations that fund private school tuition, diverting funds from public education in the process.
Congressional budget analysts estimate the projected loss from traditional education funding at more than $4 billion, though Grijalva believes that number could climb much higher over time.
Her biggest piece of evidence? Arizona itself.
What Audits Have Shown
The state launched a universal voucher program, also known as Arizona’s Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA), that now costs taxpayers over $1 billion a year, and the problems have been hard to ignore. Two people were convicted of inventing dozens of fake students to steal more than $110,000 in voucher money.
“Republicans love to talk about waste, fraud, and abuse when it comes to programs that actually help working families, like SNAP, but when it comes to private voucher schemes, suddenly they're looking the other way,” Grijalva argued.
State audits turned up voucher dollars spent on theme park trips and luxury purchases. For Grijalva, it all adds up to a clear warning sign.
"The federal government should not replicate this failed program on a national scale," she said.
Beyond the fraud concerns, Grijalva and her supporters raised a fairness question. Public schools are legally required to follow federal civil rights protections and disability laws. Private schools are not. Yet public schools are where roughly 90 percent of American students actually go to learn every day.
Arizona already ranks near the bottom of the country in per-student education funding. Grijalva argued that funneling even more public dollars toward private institutions would only make that problem worse, not just in Arizona, but everywhere.
The bill now heads to Congress for further consideration.
