Results - Advocating for the ESA Law In Arizona
Parents advocate for school choice
*Update October 2022: The opposition to school choice submitted insufficient valid signatures in September 2022 and thus the law has gone into effect. See results on Arizona Secretary of State website here. Thank you to all parents who advocated for HB 2853!
Dear Parents of Our Lady of Sorrows Academy,
As many of you are aware, governor Ducey recently signed HB 2853 into law. This effectively opens the Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) to all children in the state of Arizona. The financial impact that the ESA will have on our families and our school cannot be understated. As a simple example, based on the 2022 ESA amount of $6966 per student per year, a family with 5 children would receive a total of $452,790 for the K-12 education of their children. In addition to direct tuition expenses, under the new law, ESA money may be used for school uniforms, transportation, computer hardware, school supplies, and even extracurricular activities. Money rolls over from year to year, and any left-over money may be used for post-secondary education, such as trade school, vocational school, or college.
This is truly a ground-breaking piece of legislation that far supasses any school choice law in effect in any other state. But, the law is UNDER ATTACK. A group called Save Our Schools (SOS) is attempting to collect 118,000 signatures before September 24 to block the law from going into effect. So what can we do to stop them from succeeding? Firstly, we need to pray. Secondly, don't sign anything from SOS and tell family, friends and coworkers not to sign anything from SOS. And last but not least, we need to TAKE ACTION. There is a well-organized effort underway (led/financed by the AZ Federation for Children and the Goldwater Institute) to meet at the SOS signing locations, to hold signs, and educate the public on what this law really means for our children. We have an opportunity to join forces with this effort and do our part to ensure that this incredible law goes into effect.
To volunteer, please call/text
Tanja Aguirre at 602-881-4722 or Mary Zapp at 623-396-9481.
HB 2853 Text: https://www.azleg.gov/legtext/55leg/2R/bills/HB2853P.pdf
ESA Overview Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hw_J5Mok1Gw
AZ Federation for Children website: https://az4children.org/esa/
AZ Department of Education website: https://www.azed.gov/esa
Thank you and God Bless,
Joe Zapp
