Begay secures Empowerment Scholarships for students

The Arizona legislature passed Sen. Carlyle Begay’s SB 1332, a bill to make all students living on Native American Reservations eligible for the state’s “Empowerment Scholarship Account” program. The bill will allow approximately 55,000 students to use their share of state school funding on educational services that best meet their needs.

The bill, which passed with bipartisan support, is aimed at giving Native American students the opportunity to attend schools, or customize their education through online learning, that will help boost student learning and graduation rates.

Because school choice is mostly a myth for those living in rural and inner-city zip codes, supporters hope the bill will shift the debate away from public versus private, to one about the reality of our students’ lives. Begay, who taught in the underserved community of South Tucson, brought the bill forward because “students across Arizona who are falling into the cracks. We cannot assume the circumstances and environment of every child in the state, especially those children in Arizona’s tribal communities.”

Begay is hoping to end the “political game of us versus them, or public versus school choice.” Begay notes that in his district, LD7, there is literally no such thing as school choice. “The reality is that our kids here in Arizona do not align with any political party, rather they align themselves with learning, growing, creativity, family and community,” said Begay. “The availability of School Choice programs such as Empowerment Scholarship Accounts give the power to the parents so that they can choose the education that best fits their child.”

“SB1332 essentially is giving students living within Arizona’s tribal communities the option to allow Arizona parents fit the education around their child and not force-fit the child into the education. On the reservation, we don’t have the luxury of fighting over public versus private education,” continued Begay. “We are in an on-going crisis when it comes to educating our kids and we welcome any option when it comes to educating our kids.”

“I don’t expect ESAs to be the whole solution to education on tribal lands but myself and other tribal leaders do believe programs like this can spark change and that’s a start toward building a better future for our Native American families,” concluded Begat. ‘ We have to start somewhere and empowering parents would be a great first step.”

“Congratulations to Senator Begay on this monumental achievement for native American students,” said Jonathan Butcher, the Goldwater Institute’s education policy director. “Native American students should have access to a great education, just like every other student in Arizona. It’s past time they are given the opportunity to attend a school that will best meet their needs.”

Arizona’s Empowerment Scholarship Account program has been in place for four school years. It provides students with a portion of their state school funding in a bank account that can be used on a variety of educational products and services, including tutoring, educational therapies, and private school tuition. The Goldwater Institute developed the concept and worked with lawmakers and several other organizations to craft the program.

The program has been limited to students with special needs, students in failing schools, adopted children, and students in active-duty military families. Approximately 1,250 families are using the accounts this year. Arizona and Florida are the only states with these programs in place now, but Mississippi lawmakers just passed a similar bill a few days ago.

“Every child deserves an education that meets his or her needs. And parents need to be empowered to choose what’s best for their children. With an Empowerment Scholarship Account, parents can have a flexible approach to their child’s learning. And that will give every child the chance to reach his or her full potential. We are thrilled to see this important program become available to all students on reservations,” said Butcher.