{"id":1942,"date":"2026-06-18T09:33:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T09:33:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=1942"},"modified":"2026-06-18T09:33:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T09:33:12","slug":"group-dropping-esa-reform-voter-petition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=1942","title":{"rendered":"Group dropping ESA reform voter petition"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<p>A group called Fortify Arizona is dropping its Empowerment Scholarship Accounts reform voter petition, according to a spokesperson.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=1940\">WATCH: US-Iran ceasefire deal could bring gas price relief to Valley drivers and Gilbert small businesses<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Political action committee Fortify AZ filed a petition in March trying to rival an existing petition put out by the\u00a0Arizona Education Association (AEA) and Save Our Schools\u2019 (SOS) over ESA reform. However, Fortify AZ spokesperson Barrett Marson confirmed with ABC15 on Tuesday that they are no longer pursing the voter initiative.<\/p>\n<p>Fortify\u2019s proposed initiative included ESA reforms, though, less than what the other petition asked for. AEA and SOS\u2019 petition, called the Protect Education Act, called for an income cap, whereas Fortify AZ\u2019s did not. Fortify\u2019s petition was also backed by national pro-school choice advocacy organization American Federation for Children.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFortify will work to ensure the teachers\u2019 union initiative does not become law,\u201d Marson said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>He added that they decided to drop the petition after a deal with the union fell apart over the weekend, and that they do support the Republican lawmakers&#8217; new proposed ballot measure. That ballot measure, if passed by voters in November, would amend the state constitution to prohibit the state from taking scholarship money back from children of military families.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe reality is that there\u2019s absolutely no justification for confiscating the scholarship funds from children of military service members who have faithfully served this nation,\u201d said state Sen. Jake Hoffman, one of the two Republicans who voted against the ESA reform deal on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>The measure also includes a provision that would block any passed voter initiatives to reform the ESA program.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=1938\">Arizona couple survives car crash; 91-year-old woman recovering after \u2018internal decapitation\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<p>On Saturday, Democrat lawmakers said the proposed constitutional amendment is not about military families.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I believe it\u2019s a political ploy to stop the Protect Education Act,\u201d state Rep. Aaron M\u00e1rquez, an Army Reserve veteran, said on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>The Protect Education initiative needs nearly 256,000 certified signatures to qualify for the ballot. The deadline for filing those signatures is in early July.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen we launched the Protect Education Campaign in March, our goal was to implement the common-sense reforms voters demand and students deserve. We have invested millions of dollars toward that goal because it is a fight for the future of our students.That fight continues, and we will win it,\u201d AEA said in statement, in part, on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>Tommy Schultz, the CEO of the American Federation for Children, released the statement below.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe supported Fortify Arizona\u2019s efforts as they were the best opportunity to save school choice in Arizona by offering real reforms to voters and protecting the program for its 100,000-plus students; as House Republican leadership staff noted in press Monday, absent our support making it possible for Fortify to gather 250,000 signatures, a deal to save school choice would have never been possible. After a small number of individuals acted to sabotage this chance for the school choice-gutting petition to be pulled and commonsense reforms enacted, we are evaluating our best next steps to ensure the union-backed petition does not rip school choice away from thousands of Arizona students overnight and fundamentally break the program for the rest.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=1936\">Rex Heuermann is sentenced to life in prison for New York\u2019s Gilgo Beach serial killings<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A group called Fortify Arizona is dropping its Empowerment Scholarship Accounts reform voter petition, according to a spokesperson.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1941,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - 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