On Friday, the teachers’ union-aligned group, Save Our Schools (SOS), submitted signatures to temporarily halt the expansion of Arizona’s school choice program known as Empowerment Scholarship Accounts (ESA).
The group hopes to send Arizona’s ESA expansion, which was passed by lawmakers during the 2022 Legislative Session, to the ballot.
The law, which had been set to go into effect on Saturday, is now on hold as state and county officials review the signatures.
On Sunday, one pro-school choice advocate, Kevin Gemeroy, a Scottsdale resident who describes himself as a “COVID policy refugee,” tweeted about Beth Lewis, one of the leaders of SOS, and her well-documented history of playing fast-and-loose with facts:
There’s been a pattern of lies coming straight from @azbethlewis over the past 3 months. Her claim of nearly 142,000 signatures was just the latest. After a weekend of hard work at the Secretary of State’s office, the petition count is final and it’s only 8175 total.
Through public disclosure requests, we’ve sampled the petitions which average 10.2 signatures each, not the 13.9 claimed by @arizona_sos. Our estimate of their actual signature count is roughly 83,000, or less than 60% of what they claimed.
Even if their 13.9 signatures per petition was correct, they’d have only 113,633 signatures. 5k less than required to put HB2853 to the ballot. Arizona voters truly have spoken, and they’ve rejected the disinformation peddled by @arizona_sos over the past 3 months.
There’s been a pattern of lies coming straight from @azbethlewis over the past 3 months. Her claim of nearly 142,000 signatures was just the latest. After a weekend of hard work at the Secretary of State’s office, the petition count is final and it’s only 8175 total. 1/
— Kevin Gemeroy (@kgemeroy) September 26, 2022
This was the final lie – which they put in writing for the Secretary of State’s office: pic.twitter.com/tl5zgN9UNj
— Kevin Gemeroy (@kgemeroy) September 26, 2022
Gemeroy’s account has been confirmed so the matter could be resolved in favor of pro-choice families and ESA expansion in short order.
Over 10,000 families have already applied for this program under the expansion. Families who have enrolled their children are now left in limbo, while they wait to learn if enough signatures are validated to secure a spot on the 2024 ballot. That signature validation process is not expected to be completed until after the November 2022 General Election. If school choice opponents fall short of the signature requirement, the law will become effective and those families will be able to proceed with their plans.
“It is disappointing that Save Our Schools tried so hard to take away educational freedom from over 1.1 million K-12 families in Arizona,” said Steve Smith, Arizona State Director of the American Federation for Children. “The legislation they are attempting to overturn was lawfully passed by the State Legislature and signed by Governor Ducey as a response to the demand of Arizona citizens asking for more education options, especially in the wake of the severe learning loss after the pandemic. Save Our Schools does not have the right to deny the countless families who desperately need these scholarships for their children, and AFC will continue to fight for them.”
But parents and proponents of school choice were ready to fight back if needed. Christine Accurso, of Decline To Sign, tweeted:
“Save Our Schools AZ reports they have 141,714 signatures. Time for Phase 2! We are totally ready for the challenge!
Save Our Schools AZ reports they have 141,714 signatures. Time for Phase 2! We are totally ready for the challenge! pic.twitter.com/X10xgXGVGh
— Christine Accurso (@ArizonaCatholic) September 23, 2022
The Decline To Sign campaign aimed to prevent SOS petitioners from deceiving the public about the nature of ESAs.
The Arizona Free Enterprise Club hailed Accurso’s group’s effort for meeting “Save Our Schools at every turn to help every petition signer understand the truth about what they are signing. They stood on street corners in 110-degree weather. They alerted business owners when their private property was being used by Save Our Schools without permission to collect signatures. And they mobilized to have a presence anywhere Save Our Schools showed up—all in the name of protecting school choice.”
“This is just another example of why we need to reign in the abuse of ballot initiatives and referenda by the radical left,” said Arizona State Representative-elect Alex Kolodin. “Fortunately voters will have the chance to do that by passing prop 132.”
Editor’s Note: This article was updated to include Mr. Gemeroy’s claims at 9:47 p.m. on 9/25/2022.