A ballot proposal’s income cap could put thousands of Arizona students at risk of being removed from the state’s school choice program, according to a new report.
Common Sense Institute Arizona released a report showing that if voters approve the Protect Education Act, the ballot initiative’s $150,000 income cap would remove 20,300 current students from the Empowerment Scholarship Account program. ESA provides funding for students to attend alternatives to their public neighborhood school.
The report highlighted that another 400,000 school-aged children could be excluded from the program based on their household income.
Glenn Farley, CSI’s director of policy and research, told The Center Square that this amounts to around 33% of all children in Arizona.
The ballot initiative’s proposed $150,000 income cap will be adjusted yearly at 2%.
The income cap “grows every year with inflation, but incomes on average grow faster than inflation,” Farley said, adding that over time “more families become subject to the cap.”
