Southwest
One state’s budget dispels big lie about school choice
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For years, opponents of school choice have been predicting that Arizona’s Empowerment Scholarship Accounts policy would “bankrupt” the state. Instead, as the state’s education budget surplus demonstrates, school choice has reduced costs.
This won’t surprise Arizonans who have become accustomed to the empty scaremongering from Chicken Littles claiming that school choice would make the sky fall. But then again, they aren’t the target audience for this pernicious propaganda. Conservative lawmakers in other states are.
Over the past three years, Republican lawmakers in a dozen states have made all or nearly all K–12 students eligible for school choice. More red states, most notably Texas, appear ready to join them. To halt this progress, opponents of school choice have settled on a message intended to give conservatives pause: that school choice supposedly is a budget buster.
SCHOOL CHOICE BEING CELEBRATED IN FLORIDA AS TEACHERS UNIONS OPPOSE POLICY
“The universal school voucher program is unsustainable,” Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, claimed last summer, arguing that the program needed to be curtailed lest it “bankrupt our state.” Her proposed budget would have rolled back ESA eligibility, kicking out nearly 50,000 students.
The battle over school choice is taking a dramatic turn because Arizona shows it’s more affordable than scaremongers claimed. (iStock)
School choice opponents in other states have echoed Hobbs’s scaremongering. Texas Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, chair of the Texas House Democrats, claimed this year that Arizona’s ESA supposedly created a “nearly $1B[illion] problem of skyrocketing costs.”
Kentucky Lt. Governor Jacqueline Coleman recently warned voters considering a school choice ballot proposition, Amendment 2, that ESAs supposedly blew a “massive hole” in Arizona’s state budget. School choice advocates have heard legislators in several states express skittishness about the potential fiscal effects of expanding school choice.
Fortunately, Arizona’s Republican-controlled legislature knows better. The typical ESA student receives about $7,500 annually from Arizona taxpayers, compared to the more than $12,000 per pupil that Arizonans give public schools through their state and local taxes alone.
Even looking only at state dollars, the ESA program typically costs taxpayers hundreds — if not thousands — of dollars less per child than the public school system. As students shift from public schools to ESAs, the state saves money.
In the first two years since ESAs went universal under then-Gov. Doug Ducey, Arizona enjoyed a massive overall state budget surplus one year, and a net savings in its state education funding formula (which includes ESAs) compared to what it budgeted the second. After lengthy budget negotiations this year, the ESA program’s universal eligibility emerged unscathed.
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ProPublica and the Grand Canyon Institute claimed that the ESAs were the main culprit for the $1.4 billion deficit Arizona faced this past year. However, not only has this deficit been eliminated, but the latest education budget figures tell a very different story.
According to Arizona’s nonpartisan Joint Legislative Budget Committee, the ESA program cost $92 million more than had been forecasted this past year. However, the surge in enrollment to more than 72,000 ESA students coincided with a reduction in public school enrollment that has reduced costs by $93 million below forecasts.
By the end of the 2023-24 school year, 62 percent of new ESA students had switched from a public school in the prior year. When factoring in shifts in student enrollment among the public district, public charter and ESA sectors, the JLBC estimated last month a net savings of more than $350,000 relative to the enacted budget for fiscal year 2024.
Fortunately, Arizona’s Republican-controlled legislature knows better. The typical ESA student receives about $7,500 annually from Arizona taxpayers, compared to the more than $12,000 per pupil that Arizonans give public schools through their state and local taxes alone.
Moreover, these are conservative estimates. As the Goldwater Institute observed, the JLBC analysis reviewed only the basic state aid formula, and “did not address millions in additional ESA savings from all other sources” of state, local and federal funding.
On August 26, the Arizona Department of Education released its revised budget figures for the fiscal year, showing a surplus of $4.3 million.
The sky isn’t falling. Any budget woes Arizona faced this year were despite — not because of — the state’s school choice policy. Lawmakers considering school choice policies in other states would do well to ignore the Chicken Littles.
Corey DeAngelis is a senior fellow at the American Federation for Children and a visiting fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. He is the author of “The Parent Revolution: Rescuing Your Kids from the Radicals Ruining Our Schools“
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Events and protests were held in downtown Los Angeles Saturday on the one-year anniversary of one of the largest immigration enforcement actions in California.
One June 6, 2025, federal agents stormed the L.A. Fashion District, arresting and detaining dozens of workers.
The enforcement action served as a catalyst, igniting a wave of subsequent raids across Southern California. In response, city leaders affirmed their “unwavering commitment to the immigrant communities” in Los Angeles, as events were held throughout the city to remember those who were deported and those whose immigration cases remain unresolved.
Protesters advocating for immigrant communities gathered outside a federal detention center in downtown Saturday, waving flags and signs. One woman was arrested during a clash with police.
The initial raid in the L.A. Garment District swept up workers, including the father of one woman who described the experience as “one of the most traumatic experiences” of their lives. This operation was among the first deportation actions that resulted in families being separated and triggered days of civil unrest.
At a commemoration event, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass and the Executive Director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of L.A. stood together, vowing to protect immigrant communities living in fear.
“We all felt attacked, and I think what’s so critical today, is to know and remember and acknowledge that this is still going on every day,” Bass said.
While the Department of Homeland Security maintains that its enforcement operations target criminals, families of those detained argue that immigration enforcement terrorizes hardworking people. These families contend that many immigrants pay taxes and contribute to society, even if they are not U.S. citizens.
Immigration attorneys report that thousands of individuals are still trying to locate their loved ones. They also highlighted that hundreds of people swept up in immigration raids last year remain detained in facilities, facing medical neglect, inhumane conditions and the denial of basic due process protections.
Watch the full report from KTLA’s Sara Welch in the video at the top of this story.
All facts in this report were gathered by journalists employed by KTLA. Artificial intelligence tools were used to reformat information into a news article for our website. This report was edited and fact-checked by KTLA staff before being published.
Los Angeles, Ca
Pasadena motorist knocked unconscious in unprovoked assault after other driver flashes high beams at him
A motorist was rendered unconscious after what authorities are calling an unprovoked attack that occurred after another driver flashed their high beams at him, authorities say.
According to the Pasadena Police Department, the victim, a 63-year-old man, was driving northbound on Raymond Avenue near Washington Boulevard when a vehicle traveling in the opposite direction flashed him around 1 a.m. Saturday.
“The victim reported that he was driving northbound on Raymond Avenue from Washington Boulevard when he observed a vehicle traveling southbound flashing its high beams at him,” a Pasadena Police Department spokesperson confirmed to KTLA. “The victim stated he stopped his vehicle and exited. He was then assaulted by an unknown suspect. The assault was unprovoked.”
The attack left the man unconscious and with a three-inch deep laceration to his head, police added. Upon regaining consciousness, the man transported himself to Huntington Hospital, and it was around 1:20 a.m. when police responded there to a report of an assault with a deadly weapon and began their investigation.
Upon arriving at the hospital, the victim told police that, due to his injuries, he was not able to provide a description of a suspect, vehicle or the weapon used, nor was he able to tell police the exact location where the assault occurred, although it was confirmed to be somewhere near Raymond Avenue and Washington Boulevard. La Pintoresca Park is located near that intersection.
No further details were immediately available.
Anyone with any information on the incident is asked to contact the Pasadena Police Department right away.
Sofia Pop Perez contributed to this report.
A woman was struck and killed by a driver while crossing the street on Pacific Coast Highway in Long Beach.
On June 3, the female pedestrian was using the crosswalk at Pacific Coast Highway and Pacific Avenue around 4:50 a.m.
She had walked against a red light and was hit by a 19-year-old driver in a Chevy sedan, Long Beach police said.
Despite lifesaving efforts, the woman was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver remained at the scene and is cooperating with the investigation.
“At this time, impaired driving, distracted driving and excessive speed are not believed to be a factor in this collision,” police said.
The woman’s name is being withheld pending identification by the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner.
Anyone who witnessed the crash or has information on the incident is asked to call Detective Joseph Johnson at 562-570-7355.
Anonymous tips can be provided to L.A. Regional Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or online at lacrimestoppers.org.
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