A long process, which included weeks of negotiations, came to an end on Saturday when Gov. Katie Hobbs signed a bipartisan budget package. Hobbs passed the budget two weeks ahead of the June 30 deadline, preventing a state government shutdown.
Notably, the package doesn’t include any guardrails on the more than $1B universal school voucher program. This program came under fire following reports of parents using voucher money to purchase household appliances and lingerie.
After a deal between Republicans and the Arizona Education Association over school voucher reforms broke down, GOP members in both state chambers forced through a ballot referral that could nullify a voter initiative designed to rein in Arizona’s Empowerment Scholarship Account program.
While the ballot referral pledges to protect ESA funds for military families, it also contains a clause invalidating the Protect Education initiative if both measures are approved by voters in November.
Howie Fischer, chief correspondent at Capitol Media Services, joined “Arizona Horizon” to discuss the ways this package affects Arizonans.
Fischer detailed the process of the deal between Republicans and the Arizona Education Association breaking down.
“They’re well on their way, if not already past the 259,000 signatures that they need. I think this scared the heck out of House Speaker Steve Montenegro. So he said, ‘Let’s make a deal. I’ll tell you what. I will put into law, without going to the ballot, some of what you want in terms of the list of things that you can’t buy, some additional money, and then maybe a $25,000 cap on what you can carry forward.’ Well, the Arizona Education Association said, ‘Sure.’ Only thing is, they didn’t bother to notify Save Our Schools. They didn’t notify the Democrats, their allies, and the whole thing fell apart,” Fischer said.
Fischer also described the measure Republicans added which he describes as a “poison pill.”
“Republicans came back and said, ‘Okay, we’re not just going to fight you, yes or no on your initiative.
We’re going to put a poison pill on here.’ And so they put a measure on the ballot. This House concurrent resolution that says if anything passes after November 1st that in any way infringes on the money that is given to the children of military families, they’re one of the categories under vouchers; if anything passes at all that affects them, the entire initiative blows up. And like I say, it’s a total poison pill,” Fischer said.
