Paying for Private Education: Who Benefits in Arizona

Arizona has represented the epicenter of school choice in the United States. The state has had open enrollment for district schools for 30 years, charter schools for more than 25 years, a private school tax credit program for nearly as long, and was the first state in the country in 2011 to enact direct parent-appropriations through targeted Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) vouchers. Arizona then became the first state to expand its ESA voucher program to be universal. The latter action has been particularly controversial since voters rejected a capped expansion of the ESA program in 2018 and legislators turned around and then made it universal in the 2022 legislative session. In all, Arizona provides more than $1 billion annually in subsidies to private education, both to private schools and variations on homeschooling, all coming from the state’s general fund directly or indirectly due to tax credits.