A prominent leader in the fight against school choice in Arizona says that Arizonans should be providing for illegal immigrants’ education.
Beth Lewis, director of Save Our Schools Arizona, posted on X that her children’s classmates have expressed concerns of deportation due to the reelection of Donald Trump, per her children.
“My kids tell me that other kids are telling them they’re going to be deported now, or as soon as Trump takes office,” said Lewis. “This dread for middle schoolers. Who can endorse this?”
Arizona House Speaker Travis Grantham questioned Lewis’ priorities.
“So our district schools are educating illegal alien children who are citizens of another country and you’re worried about what citizens who pay taxes do with their kids when it comes to school choice?” said Grantham. “Who is paying to educate noncitizens in our public schools? Is this good use of our education funding?”
A cornerstone of Lewis’ Save Our Schools movement concerns the inadequacy of funding for public schools, and blaming student outcomes on those funding levels.
50th in funding/resources
— Beth Lewis, SOSAZ 🆘 🏜🎓 (@AZBethLewis) October 3, 2024
Lewis, who is an atheist and not a Christian, retorted that Arizonans must follow the Bible. Lewis quoted a Bible verse in which Jesus taught that children ought to be raised up as His followers.
“Children are not ‘illegal’ or ‘alien.’ They are children. We do not ask about citizenship, we educate and feed them. Ya know, like Jesus would have done,” said Lewis.
You’re missing scripture.
⁰Luke 18:16-17⁰”Jesus called the children to him and said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.”— Beth Lewis, SOSAZ 🆘 🏜🎓 (@AZBethLewis) November 9, 2024
Lewis has come out repeatedly against Christians, especially Christian schools that abide by the Bible and impart Biblical teachings.
“It’s never been about ‘choice’ — it’s always been about privatizing public education and building extremist religious academies,” said Lewis.
Now that they have #vouchers to force in Christian Nationalist indoctrination schools, they drop charters like a hot 🥔
It’s never been about “choice”— it’s always been about privatizing public education and building extremist religious academies. WE SEE YOU 🙅🏻♀️ #NoProject2025 https://t.co/SgTwSneNXa
— Beth Lewis, SOSAZ 🆘 🏜🎓 (@AZBethLewis) July 10, 2024
She has pushed for the state to crack down on Christian schools over their beliefs. This summer, Lewis asked Governor Katie Hobbs to take action against a Christian academy that believes homosexual relationships and transgenderism to be immoral.
“Vouchers fuel taxpayer-funded discrimination — and must be reformed NOW,” said Lewis.
😡 NEW #voucher-funded religious school in Phoenix is openly anti-LGBTQ. Vouchers fuel taxpayer-funded discrimination — and must be reformed NOW @GovernorHobbs pic.twitter.com/ZaHEopNzyj
— Beth Lewis, SOSAZ 🆘 🏜🎓 (@AZBethLewis) June 1, 2024
Arizona does not provide families with vouchers, which are school choice funds that may only be used for private schooling. Arizona’s school choice system functions using education savings accounts, which allow families to pay for various educational services given a certain allotment.
While Lewis opposes Christian teachings, she has advocated for allowing transgender ideology to dictate school policy concerning bathrooms and sports.
Lewis led the unsuccessful ballot initiative effort in 2022 to undo Arizona’s universal school choice system. The ballot initiative actually never made it to the ballot. Lewis claimed to have turned in more than enough signatures to qualify for the ballot — over 50,000 short than what they claimed.
Even Governor Hobbs (secretary of state at the time) in all her support of ending school choice in Arizona couldn’t salvage the ballot initiative, though she did initially attempt to hold out on invalidating the initiative by claiming her office would need the full 20 days as prescribed by law to verify the signatures, despite grassroots activists completing the count in well under a week.
