Attempt to block private school voucher expansion fails

(KYMA, KECY/ AP News) - The massive expansion of Arizona's private school voucher system will likely go into effect after public school advocates failed to gather enough signatures to block the law.

A conservative and libertarian public policy think tank in Phoenix said the group Save Our Schools Arizona submitted just over 88,000 signatures - which they say is significantly short of the requisite signatures needed to overturn the reform.

These latest developments appear to be a major victory for “school choice” advocates in Arizona and across the nation who argue that parents should be able to use public tax dollars to send their children to schools that best serve their needs.

The new law would have taken effect last Saturday, but was temporarily halted as save our schools filed its signatures. If enough signatures had been gathered, the law would have stayed blocked until the next general election in 2024.