Bitterly divided House panel OKs big school voucher bill
BOB CHRISTIE, Associated Press
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PHOENIX (AP) — A bitterly divided Arizona House committee voted Wednesday to advance a massive expansion of the state’s school voucher program just over two years after voters overwhelmingly rejected universal school vouchers.
Republicans called the measure already passed by the full Senate a lifeline for 600,000 low-income students who would become entitled to state funding for private school tuition. Minority Democrats argued it would siphon money from already-underfunded public schools and go against the will of voters who rejected the larger expansion in 2018.
Testimony was equally split, with members of a grassroots group who succeeded in putting the 2017 expansion law on the ballot saying the proposal was a special interest giveaway at the expense of public schools and backers noting that public school closures caused by the pandemic made it even more important to give parents options.