Arizona
Heritage Foundation celebrates National School Choice Week with documentary focused on Arizona communities
FIRST ON FOX: The Heritage Foundation is renewing its push for better educational opportunities in the United States with a mini-documentary celebrating school choice and the impact it has made on students.
The documentary, which was released in accordance with National School Choice Week, features comments from parents, educators and children about how school choice has had an effect on them and their communities in Arizona – one of the first states to champion school choice.
In 1997, Arizona became the first state to offer tax-credit scholarships, and in 2011 it became the first state to offer K–12 education savings accounts (ESAs).
Titled “Making the Grade,” the documentary profiles four faith-based schools in Arizona to see the difference that education choice policies make for the families they serve.
SCHOOL CHOICE ADVOCATE BLASTS NEA-BACKED NETWORK OVER TOOLKIT LABELING VOUCHER PROGRAMS AS RACIST
National School Choice Week (Getty Images)
“Our mission is to partner with families in nurturing their children for academic and spiritual growth,” said Amanda Bennett, the co-founder of Arcadia Christian School. “We have 120 students in our school – preschoolers all the way through sixth grade.”
“The unique thing about our school is that we’re a hybrid model, which means that we’re a blend between homeschool and at-school learning,” Bennett added.
Alex Thompson, a parent and teacher who was featured in the video, said she has taught online and at a public school in the past but that her experience teaching at Arcadia Christian School has been a “night and day difference.”
“I think the biggest difference is I’m able to give my students the time and energy they need because I only have 15 kids,” Thompson said.
Bennett said she believes the use of ESAs has “enabled” her school to “exist this year and thrive.”
The difference school choice has made for Highlands Latin School was also shown in the video.
“ESA has made it possible for us to be in this school,” said one Highlands Latin parent.
The impact of school choice can also be seen at Pusch Ridge Christian School in Tucson.
“The mission of the school is to teach kids to become like Christ through a classical Christian education within a covenantal community – we just do it in Spanish,” said Jonathon Basurto, the principal at Pusch Ridge Christian School.
“We feel that the public school was lacking in educating the children nowadays, and we wanted something better for our daughter,” said Maria Gomez and Daniel Trujillo, whose daughter attends Pusch Ridge. “Our daughter has flourished here. She loves coming to school. When she’s on vacation she misses being here.”
The Torah Day School of Phoenix has also benefited from unfettered school choice options for parents in the Grand Canyon State.
SCHOOL CHOICE GIVES PARENTS THE POWER TO BREAK TEACHERS UNIONS’ CHOKEHOLDS ON STUDENTS: COREY DEANGELIS
“Torah day school was founded in 2010. We started with seven kids. It was actually started in my house. Thanks to really the policies in Arizona, we’ve grown tremendously … we now have over 400 [students],” said Gaby Friedman, a founding board member for the school.
Lindsey Burke, the director of the Center for Education Policy at the Heritage Foundation, said the steps Arizona has taken in its mission to uphold the best educational standards for children could help other states who are looking to follow suit. (iStock)
“Most of the students who come to our school come from low-income families, so we have a lot of students who are able to receive the corporate tax credit scholarship from Arizona, and we also have children who are also receiving an ESA,” Friedman added. “We never wanted to turn a child away because their parents couldn’t pay anything. Thanks to the policies in Arizona, we have been able to maintain that open-door policy.”
Speaking to Fox News Digital about the mission to get school choice in every state, Lindsey Burke, the director of the Center for Education Policy at the Heritage Foundation, said the steps that Arizona has taken in its mission to uphold the best educational standards for children could help other states who are looking to follow suit.
CHICAGO TO MOVE AWAY FROM SCHOOL CHOICE, CENTER NEIGHBORHOOD SCHOOLS TO RECTIFY ‘STRUCTURAL RACISM’
Arizona’s decision to “adopt education savings accounts,” Burke said, shows that it recognizes “parents are their children’s first and primary educators.”
Referring to ESAs as the “iPhone of school choice,” Burke said parents and students can use an ESA to “not only pay for private school tuition but to also hire a private tutor or purchase textbooks, buy curricula and roll over unused funds year to year.”
“This is an amazing way to provide families access to their child’s share of the money that would have been spent on them in the public school,” she said. “In Arizona, you get 90% of what would have been spent on your child in the public school. It literally goes on to a debit card that you control, and then you can pay for all of those things I just mentioned. It’s an incredible way to think about the public financing of education.”
Burke said ESAs, or some form of them, are now being used in a total of 14 states.
Arizona, according to Burke, kept regulations “appropriately light” and allowed for more opportunities to flow in the state.
Burke said education savings accounts, or some form of them, are now being used in a total of 14 states. (Getty/skynesher)
SCHOOL CHOICE IS THE RIGHT ANSWER FOR A ‘FREE, DIVERSE, EQUAL, SOCIETY:’ NEAL MCCLUSKEY
Because of Arizona’s steadfast approach to giving students and parents in the state school choice options, the state ranks second behind Florida on the Heritage Foundation’s Education Freedom Report Card.
The report card, which features a ranking for each state, measures four categories – Education Choice, Teacher Freedom, Transparency, and Return on Investment – that encompass more than two dozen discrete factors.
Despite support for school choice from many different corners of America, some in Arizona, including the state’s Democrat Gov. Katie Hobbs, question the school voucher program’s value.
The voucher program – championed by Hobbs’ GOP predecessor, Gov. Doug Ducey – allows students to apply to use public money for private-school tuition and other education costs. It started in 2011 as a small program for disabled children but was repeatedly expanded over the next decade until all students became eligible in 2022. More than 73,000 students currently participate in the program. Critics say the expansion is a drain on the state’s coffers and is subsidizing private school tuition, but backers say the expansion lets parents choose the best school for their children.
Arizona Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs said she and her administration had seen a “steady stream of news coverage around unacceptable and sometimes downright outrageous use of taxpayer money” under the state’s school voucher program. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin/File)
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Earlier this month, Hobbs said that she and her administration had seen a “steady stream of news coverage around unacceptable and sometimes downright outrageous use of taxpayer money” under the voucher program – pointing to things like “water park admissions, ski passes, and luxury car-driving lessons.”
Hobbs has also proposed requiring Arizona students to attend public school for 100 days before becoming eligible for the voucher program. Doing away next year with school tuition organizations that funnel tax credits to students for private school tuition could be another money-saving measure to the tune of $185 million, Hobbs’ office estimated.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
PHOENIX — 89-year-old Robert Young is battling Arizona State University in court over the Louis Emerson home, one of the oldest remaining houses in the Phoenix Churchill area.
At the corner of 4th and Pierce streets sits a home that pre-dates Arizona statehood, and now sits at the center of a legal battle between its owner and Arizona State University.
ASU wants the land where the Louis Emerson home stands. The university is planning a medical and technology school nearby and says it wants to exercise its right of possession over the property.
But Young, who has owned the home since 1975, is not backing down.
“It’s not gonna happen. That’s what I thought then and that’s what I think today. I will not let it happen,” Young said.
Marshall Shore, known as the Hip Historian, says the home is one of the oldest remaining houses in the Phoenix Churchill area, built before Arizona was even a state.
“This house was here before statehood, before Arizona even thought of becoming a state; this house was here, and so it deserves to tell that story and continue on,” Shore said.
Shore says the home’s history is rooted in everyday life.
“It was an everyday man’s house. He was a butcher,” Shore said.
Young says he and his wife lived in the home for 8 years before renting it out. He calls it an architectural and historic treasure that is irreplaceable. He says the legal battle is taking a toll on both of them.
“It’s stressful. You don’t know from day to day if you’re gonna find the house on the corner,” Young said.
Young says the university offered him between $290,000 and nearly $1 million for the property. Maricopa County Superior Court records show the Arizona Board of Regents sued Young for the home earlier this month.
According to the Arizona Republic, ASU gave a written statement explaining that they made several offers to Young on his home. Their final offer was based on an appraisal, and it was not accepted.
Shore says the home does not need to come down and has a vision for how it could coexist with the planned medical school.
“I mean there’s nothing more sustainable than keeping a house where it is. Create a pocket park around it, so that way people can come and enjoy that little pocket park and make it really a gem in the community,” Shore said.
Shore says an online petition in support of preserving the home has gathered more than 10,000 signatures.
Young wants ASU and the public to understand what is truly at stake.
“It’s the way it’s placed on the corner, and it’s the fact that this corner itself is historic,” Young said.
Young is expected to appear in court on Sept. 4 to explain why the home should not be torn down.
Want more news in your community? Add ABC15 as a preferred source on Google below:
A look at where the Arizona Cardinals rank in new NFL power rankings based on level of interest.
We are in the dead of the offseason in the NFL, when we are simply waiting for training camps to start. It is a good time for more lists and rankings.
AZCentral Sports’ Bob McManaman put together NFL power rankings for all 32 teams, but based on interest level.
Where do the Arizona Cardinals fall?
As you can probably imagine, it is near the bottom. They find themselves in the tier of “watch at your own risk,” which includes the five lowest-ranked teams. The Cardinals come in at No. 30.
Who’s going to emerge as the starting quarterback and will it even matter? At some point, rookie Carson Beck is going to get his shot and by then, the season might already be heading toward a disaster. Stay tuned to learn how rookie Jeremiyah Love and the running backs will split time, how the defense hopes to rediscover itself and how first-year coach Mike LaFleur plans to get things off the ground.
For fans, there is fantasy intrigue for their pass catchers in Trey McBride, Marvin Harrison Jr. and Michael Wilson, and we want to know how big a season Love can be, but Jacoby Brissett is the least interesting starting quarterback in the league. He is neither young, nor accomplished nor has a track record of winning.
They have no flash defensively.
To say they are more interesting than the New York Jets and Cleveland Browns, the two lowest-ranked teams, is a stretch, although none of these three teams are remotely interesting.
The NFC West, outside of the Cardinals, has interesting teams. There are the defending champion Seattle Seahawks, the loaded LA Rams and then a San Francisco 49ers team that keeps up, even without as loaded a roster.
Training camp is coming soon!
Get more Cardinals and NFL coverage from Cards Wire’s Jess Root and others by listening to the latest on the Rise Up, See Red podcast. Subscribe on Spotify, YouTube or Apple podcasts.
OLYMPIA, Wash. — A missing and endangered child from Arizona was found at the homeless encampment known as “The Jungle” in Olympia, after investigators received information that the child may have been a victim of sex trafficking. U.S. marshals said.
The girl had been reported missing to the Mesa, Arizona, Police Department in May, the U.S. Marshals Service said.
On June 18, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children notified the agency that the child was potentially being sex trafficked in Washington state.
The encampment is in the greenbelt along Interstate 5 on both sides of the Sleater-Kinney Road exit in Olympia. (KOMO News)
A deputy U.S. marshal assigned to missing children investigations in the Western District of Washington developed a lead that brought authorities to the 3200 block of Martin Way East, a 20-acre homeless encampment known as “The Jungle.”
The agency described the area as having high rates of violence and community safety concerns. Back in 2023, a woman was found dead at the homeless encampment.
The city’s estimate of the number of people at the encampment generally ranges from about 100 to 250 people, with additional visitors sometimes coming to the site during the day. Overall, the number varies throughout the year, Olympia city officials said.
City staff visit the site several times each week, while service providers offer food, water, clothing, sanitation services, and other basic assistance.
On Thursday, U.S. marshals, assisted by the Washington State Department of Corrections, canvassed the encampment and found the missing child. The female juvenile was transferred to the Washington State Department of Children, Youth, and Families and the Olympia Police Department for treatment and victim assistance.
“Protecting our nation’s children is of the highest importance,” Acting U.S. Marshal Donrien Stephens said in a statement. He credited local, state, and community partners for helping safely recover a youth at elevated risk of human trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation.
A photo of an Olympia homeless camp, where a man was arrested by police after allegedly throwing “softball-sized rocks” at firefighters who were responding to an active fire. (KOMO News)
The U.S. Marshals Service said the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act of 2015 expanded its authority to help law enforcement recover endangered missing children, regardless of whether a fugitive or sex offender is involved, and led to the creation of its Missing Child Unit.
Since the law’s passage, the agency said it has contributed to locating or recovering 5,281 missing children.
The child’s exact age was not made public by U.S. marshals, just that she had been found safe.
The Marshals Service asked anyone with information about wanted fugitives to contact the nearest U.S. Marshals office or the agency’s Communications Center at 1-800-336-0102.
-
Connecticut11 minutes agoNew CT laws taking effect July 1: Absentee ballots, zoning, AI
-
Delaware16 minutes agoState Police Investigating Shooting in Newark – Delaware State Police – State of Delaware
-
Florida24 minutes ago10 places to watch the fireworks in South Florida for 4th of July 2026
-
Georgia26 minutes agoBottoms wants Georgia to meet its universal pre-K pledge | Chattanooga Times Free Press
-
Hawaii32 minutes agoWashington Football Pursuing Coveted 2028 Four-Star Hawaii Athlete
-
Idaho39 minutes ago
BYU-Idaho Launches BYUI Live! as New Name for Campus Entertainment
-
Illinois41 minutes ago‘A real farm crisis’: Illinois farm bankruptcies rise for 3rd straight year
-
Indiana47 minutes agoCarroll and Clinton fairs join food drive to help local food banks
