School voucher sticker shock: Sold to Arizona taxpayers for $33M with an $800M cost

By Dr. Paula Kellerer
Reader Contributor

Do you remember staying home from school as a kid when you were sick? Maybe you watched The Price is Right. It was always interesting to hear the actual retail price revealed, and to compare the actual cost of a new car or a shiny display of cleaning products.

Dr. Paula Kellerer. File photo.

I’m reminded of that exciting reveal when the topic of school vouchers arises. In Arizona, an education savings account program (a.k.a. vouchers) was sold to taxpayers at a cost of $33 million. Actual retail price: $800 million, and rising. That’s a 323% increase in two years. 

As of September 2024, 69% of Arizona’s voucher enrollees were already attending private schools. Parents who could afford to pay tuition are now reimbursed by taxpayers from across the Grand Canyon State. A closer look at the program shows the vast majority of voucher dollars are going to the wealthiest neighborhoods. Two research studies found that well-to-do suburbs in the Phoenix metro area gobble up a disproportionate amount of the voucher program’s funding, leaving rural parts of Arizona footing the bill.

Arizona vouchers have created a new spending stream. Because most of the participating students were already attending private schools, the dollars haven’t followed them out of public school and into private school, as voucher proponents suggest. It’s a new subsidy for already wealthy families paid for by the Arizona taxpayers. 

There are differences between the Gem State and the Grand Canyon State. Arizona is looking at a huge budget deficit — $1.4 billion — to contend with and, in Idaho, we’ve passed four tax cuts in four years. While that’s great for Idahoans, it’s not necessarily a good strategy for long-term funding. Most of our tax cuts came out of a budget surplus bolstered by federal dollars during the pandemic. 

Rural schools in Idaho are already struggling with aging buildings and hiring and retaining teachers in places with scarce housing resources. Vouchers would add another line item to education expenses — one that the state is already struggling to pay for properly (we rank No. 49 in per student spending).  

If voucher programs are meant to create competition in the system, I have to ask: Who wants losers in education? Public school contestants may have to shuffle off The Price is Right stage while their private school competition wins yet another trip to Hawaii. To me, that price is wrong. 

Dr. Paula Kellerer is the president and CEO of Idaho Business for Education. Before joining IBE, Kellerer was superintendent of the Nampa School District from 2017 to 2022.