Anti-voucher referendum poised to make ballot

PHOENIX — Opponents of Arizona’s sweeping new school voucher law took a big step toward blocking it until voters can weigh in next year, after state officials determined that 97 percent of the 111,000 signatures collected by a grassroots group passed an initial certification.

That means county recorders who will review a 5 percent sampling of the signatures over the next three weeks could reject 30 percent and the voter referendum would still make the ballot.

The measure is temporarily on hold until the signature certification process concludes. The law extends eligibility to all 1.2 million Arizona students by 2022, but it caps enrollment at about 30,000.

Voucher backers say they give parents more choice, while opponents argue they siphon money from cash-starved public schools.

If the law is blocked until the November 2018 election, it would be a major defeat for Republican Gov. Doug Ducey, the Legislature’s Republican majority and Trump administration Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.

Ducey championed the expansion, while DeVos is a big proponent of private school vouchers and formerly led the school choice group American Federation for Children, which lobbied for the law in this year’s legislative session.

Certification is considered fairly likely, even by state Elections Director Eric Spencer, who certified more than 108,000 of the signatures. He said backers “should be pretty confident that at least 70 percent of the people that signed this are actually registered voters.”