Reform vouchers program before expanding it

Arizona students are fortunate to live in a state that has so many innovative education options.

I worked for the Goldwater Institute after the Empowerment Scholarship Accounts program was established and played a role in marketing expansions of the eligible population and some lobbying support, as well as meeting with families in other states seeking to create similar programs for their children. I believe in the potential of ESAs.

Proposition 305 has thrown this small program into the public spotlight, largely due to the efforts of Save Our Schools Arizona referring a universal ESA expansion bill to the ballot. While ESAs could be great for many Arizona kids, there are serious shortcomings within the program that have simple solutions and should be addressed before opening to all students.

Fraud. Any public program, especially one that provides financial benefits to individuals, should have robust and reliable anti-fraud procedures. This means strengthening and funding fraud-prevention measures and empowering an agency to recover funds received and/or used fraudulently. The

Republic uncovered a troubling amount of fraudulent and suspicious activity in an investigation into the ESA program, which should concern every taxpayer. We don’t want to see fraud or waste when it comes to other programs, such as food stamps or Medicaid, and ESAs should be no different.

Accountability. Every child is unique, and many, especially those with special needs, have different learning styles and capabilities. But we still have standardized curriculum and testing in our public schools, which serve the overwhelming majority of Arizona’s children. Requiring standardized curriculum within the ESA program would certainly erode its efficacy and shouldn’t be done. But all students receiving public funds for their education should be subject to some form of standardized testing that is disclosed to the

public. Testing would enable policymakers to improve the program and ESA advocates should welcome the chance to definitively identify the benefits of ESAs.

Discrimination. The only schools allowed by law for ESA students are private schools that do “not discriminate on the basis of race, color or national origin.” Protecting kids from discrimination should be at the foundation of any public program, which makes it incredibly concerning that there is no mechanism to ensure this part of the law is enforced since no data is collected on private school applicants and enrollees. All schools accepting ESA students should be required to report demographic data about all their applicants and students to the state so that instances of discrimination could be effectively investigated. A law with no means of enforcement is impotent and an insult to those it pretends to protect.

During my one-year tenure at the Goldwater Institute, I connected with people across Arizona and the United States to advocate for the ESA program. Even then, I raised these concerns and was generally told that we don’t want government intrusion into private schools, or that children in the ESA program are unique and therefore shouldn’t be subjected to standardized testing, and other dismissive reasons. I am sympathetic, but expanding ESAs to all students without fixing these problems is irresponsible and fails the very students we want to help.

Voters should reject the Proposition 305 ESA expansion and ask the Legislature to develop a better and uncapped program that protects Arizona’s children and taxpayers before opening it up to all students. If not, we’ve seen the power of citizen activism and the ballot lately. So maybe the voters will have to improve ESAs themselves in the next election.

Charles Siler is a former external-relations manager with the Goldwater Institute. He has also been media-relations director for the Foundation for Government Accountability and a PR specialist for the U.S. Army; he holds a economics degree from George Mason University. On Twitter, @charles_siler.