PHOENIX, AZ — The Arizona Supreme Court yesterday invalidated nearly 70,000 signatures submitted for Proposition 212, all but guaranteeing the union-backed measure will not appear on the November ballot. The court cited duplicate signatures, circulators with criminal histories, and failures to comply with state law.
Had it qualified and passed, Prop 212 would have stripped tens of thousands of students of access to Arizona’s Empowerment Scholarship Account program, which currently serves more than 103,000 students and is open to every family in the state.
Americans for Prosperity-Arizona (AFP-AZ) State Director Stephen Shadegg issued the following statement:
“Arizona families won this one twice, and they won it the hard way. They won it in 2022 when they made Arizona the first state in the country to open education choice to every student, and they won it again today when the Supreme Court held the opponents of that law to the same rules everyone else follows.
“Save Our Schools and their allies have now tried twice this year to put a family’s education options on the ballot, and twice they have come up short. That is not bad luck. Arizonans are not signing on to a campaign whose entire purpose is to take an option away from the parents down the street.”
By the Numbers
- Prop 212 is the second ballot measure this year targeting Arizona’s ESA program that has failed to qualify.
- It is also the second time Save Our Schools Arizona and its allies have failed to collect enough valid signatures for an ESA-related measure.
- ESAs serve more than 103,000 Arizona students and are available to all families statewide.
- The program delivers more than $100 million in cost savings to Arizona taxpayers.
About Empowerment Scholarship Accounts
ESAs let families direct their child’s public education dollars toward the learning environment that works best for that child, including private school tuition, homeschool curriculum, tutoring, educational supplies, online learning, and other approved expenses. Arizona became the first state to make the program universally available in 2022.