House panel OKs voucher expansion tied to new school cash

(KYMA, KECY/ AP News) - Republicans in the Arizona House have pushed ahead with their new plan for a universal expansion of the state’s private school voucher program.

This something that they have tied to new funding for schools in an effort to prevent a voter referendum.

Majority Republicans see the effort as the culmination of more than a decade of work to expand parents’ ability to bypass traditional district schools and standalone charter schools and allow parents to use public money to pay tuition at religious or other private schools.

But public school advocates slammed the proposal, arguing that Arizona voters overwhelmingly rejected a similar expansion just four years ago and that the state’s public schools remain woefully underfunded despite new spending approved by the legislature and Governor Doug Ducey in recent years.