From Fox News: Tucson Unified School District (TUSD), based in Tucson, Arizona, is reportedly facing financial and enrollment struggles after universal school choice passed in the state in 2022.
A TUSD official told KGUN that approximately 4,000 students used vouchers to either go to private schools or homeschool.
The trend of parents overlooking TUSD cost the school district about $20 million. TUSD’s Chief Financial Officer, Ricky Hernandez, told the local outlet that TUSD is “preparing for continued declines in enrollment as a result” of vouchers.
In 2022, Arizona became the first state to offer universal school choice. The $800 million program provides around $7,000 per child to be used toward the family’s educational choice.
School vouchers negatively impact Tucson Unified School District’s enrollment, teacher pay, and budget, according to opponents.
“If those numbers aren’t there, then that certainly affects the number of teachers that we have, how we can compensate them,” Hernandez told KGUN.
Jason Bedrick, education policy analyst for the Heritage Foundation, said TUSD “has long had a reputation for poor quality, despite spending more per pupil than the state average.”
“Only 21 percent of TUSD students passed the state math exam last year, well below both the state average (32 percent) and district with similar demographics (26 percent). The passing rate for TUSD students is not much better in English (27 percent) and even worse in science (18 percent),” Bedrick said, citing state data.
Supporters of the voucher program depend on it to find good educational opportunities for their children.
“It’s about choice,” one parent of children using the program said. “No one wants to hurt the public school system specifically. We choose to other programs because TUSD does not meet our needs.”
Prominent reasons to shed public education include finding support for special educational needs, finding opportunities to weave religion into the lessons, and avoiding liberal programs/themes.
READ MORE AT Fox News.
