decline to sign

On Friday, the teachers’ union-aligned group, Save Our Schools (SOS), submitted signatures to temporarily halt the expansion of Arizona’s school choice program known as Empowerment Scholarship Accounts (ESA).

The group hopes to send Arizona’s ESA expansion, which was passed by lawmakers during the 2022 Legislative Session, to the ballot.

The pro-school choice group, American Federation for Children, says signature submittal is the “next step” in the unions’ “campaign to yank away choices from Arizona families.”

The law, which had been set to go into effect on Saturday, is now on hold as state and county officials review the signatures.

According to Corey DeAngelis, of the American Federation for Children and other, it is unlikely SOS has enough signatures to qualify for the ballot. DeAngelis explained in a tweet:

School choice opponents turned in 141,714 signatures in Arizona today

They need 118,823 valid signatures to refer the school choice expansion to the ballot

They need a validity rate of over 83.8%

Ballotpedia analyzed these initiatives and found an average validity rate of 75%.

Over 10,000 families have already applied for this program under the expansion. Families who have enrolled their children are now left in limbo, while they wait to learn if enough signatures are validated to secure a spot on the 2024 ballot. That signature validation process is not expected to be completed until after the November 2022 General Election. If school choice opponents fall short of the signature requirement, the law will become effective and those families will be able to proceed with their plans.

“It is disappointing that Save Our Schools is once again trying so hard to take away educational freedom from over 1.1 million K-12 families in Arizona,” said Steve Smith, Arizona State Director of the American Federation for Children. “The legislation they are attempting to overturn was lawfully passed by the State Legislature and signed by Governor Ducey as a response to the demand of Arizona citizens asking for more education options, especially in the wake of the severe learning loss after the pandemic. Save Our Schools does not have the right to deny the countless families who desperately need these scholarships for their children, and AFC will continue to fight for them.”

But parents and proponents of school choice are fighting back in the meantime. Christine Accurso, of Decline To Sign, tweeted:

“Save Our Schools AZ reports they have 141,714 signatures. Time for Phase 2! We are totally ready for the challenge!

The Decline To Sign campaign aimed to prevent SOS petitioners from deceiving the public about the nature of ESAs.

The Arizona Free Enterprise Club hailed Accurso’s group’s effort for meeting “Save Our Schools at every turn to help every petition signer understand the truth about what they are signing. They stood on street corners in 110-degree weather. They alerted business owners when their private property was being used by Save Our Schools without permission to collect signatures. And they mobilized to have a presence anywhere Save Our Schools showed up—all in the name of protecting school choice.”

Now, as noted by Accurso, Phase 2 begins, which will bring together the various school choice groups to comb through the 141,714 to challenge signatures that do not meet statutory requirements.





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