The Goldwater Institute has won a victory over the union-backed initiative targeting Arizona’s Empowerment Scholarship Account program. The anti-school choice initiative failed due to the teachers’ union’s failure to gather enough valid signatures to get it on the 2026 General election ballot.
Based on the trial court’s ruling in Clark v. Fontes and the signature validity rates reported by Arizona’s county recorders, the teachers’ union-backed initiative to dismantle Arizona’s Empowerment Scholarship Account program does not have enough valid signatures to qualify for the November ballot. Roughly 245,000 signatures survived review of the 421,451submitted — more than 10,000 short of the 255,949 the law requires.
Arizona law sends ballot-qualification disputes to the Arizona Supreme Court on an expedited timeline, and appeals are expected within days — before ballots are printed.
“The teacher unions came after Arizona parents and lost,” said Arizona House Speaker Steve Montenegro. “They set out to gut Arizona’s ESA program and take school choice away from families who depend on it. Instead, Arizona voters will not face that threat on the ballot this November. That is a major victory for parents, students, and educational freedom.”
“But no one should mistake this defeat for the end of the fight,” warned Montenegro. “School choice opponents have spent years trying to roll back educational freedom in Arizona, and they will keep trying. Arizona House Republicans will keep standing with parents. We will defend ESAs, protect school choice, and make sure parents, not unions, bureaucrats, or politicians, remain in charge of their children’s education.”
The Goldwater Institute’s challenge was supported by various school-choice advocacy groups in their review of petitions and identification of invalid signatures.
According to the Free Enterprise Club, “many of the disqualified signatures were duplicates or were collected by legally ineligible circulators with serious criminal histories.”
“This is a major victory for Arizona parents, students, and the integrity of our elections,” said Free Enterprise Club President Scot Mussi. “The unions spent millions trying to dismantle school choice and still failed to collect enough lawful, valid signatures. Arizona’s election laws apply to everyone.”
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