Public Schools Closing as Arizona Parents Turn to Alternate Options Using the State’s Market Competition ESA Program

Public schools across Arizona are closing their doors as thousands of families pull their children out in favor of private schools, charter schools, and homeschooling. The exodus follows the state’s 2022 expansion of universal Educational Savings Accounts (ESAs), which gave all students access to taxpayer-funded school choice and accelerated the shift away from traditional public education.

The Common Sense Institute (CSI) found in January that Arizona’s public school enrollment peaked a few years ago and will lose 40,000 students by 2028. During the 2020-21 school year, public school enrollment declined by more than 50,000 students, while enrollment in charter schools increased by 12,000 and enrollment in traditional private schools increased by about 11,000 students. Homeschoolers are at 6 percent of the student population. A 2024 report from the Learning Policy Institute found that 52 percent of students using ESAs have never been enrolled in public education.

Despite the fleeing students, progressive educational interests filed a successful lawsuit demanding more money for the shrinking districts, which continue to spend money building new facilities.

While public school advocates blame the ESA program for taking money away from public schools, State Senate President Warren Petersen (R-Mesa) said this isn’t true. “We have dramatically increased funding over the last decade and are now at $14,857 total funding per student,” he told Arizona’s Family. “The statement being pushed that ESAs are taking money from district schools is false. The reason some districts are closing a handful of public schools represents a decline in the number of students attending these schools and a decline in enrollment.”

The Cave Creek Unified District, one of the most heavily Republican areas of the state, experienced a drop in enrollment of 25 percent over the last five years. Superintendent Bill Dolezal acknowledged, “We’re graduating 400 seniors and we’re only bringing in 200-220 kindergartners. There’s declining enrollment, which means declining funds.” Lone Mountain Elementary, and Desert Sun Academy closed last month.

Paradise Valley Unified School District, another heavily Republican area, closed three schools in July 2024 due to enrollment declines; Sunset Canyon Elementary, Desert Springs Prep Elementary, and Vista Verde Middle School.

The Roosevelt School District Governing Board voted to shut down five schools in the Phoenix-located district in August. The district now has almost a third fewer schools than it did just last spring, 13. School Board President Shelley Jackson admitted that the “declining birth rate” in the state, private schools, and charter schools were factors. The shuttered schools were Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary, C.J. Jorgensen Academy, John R. Davis Elementary, V.H. Lassen Academy, and Maxine O. Bush Elementary. Additionally, the district declined in January to renew a lease for Arizona State University Prep, closing the school.

Similarly, the Phoenix-based Isaac School District closed three schools down this summer; Moya Elementary, P.T. Coe Elementary, and Isaac Online Prep Academy. The Phoenix Elementary School District shuttered Heard Elementary and Dunbar Elementary this year.

Other school districts across the state are considering closing schools, including the Kyrene School District in Phoenix and Peoria Unified School District. Mesa Public Schools announced in January that 147 positions would be eliminated due to declining student enrollment of 1,800. Tempe Union High School District began eliminating dozens of jobs over the past year, after losing 2,000 students over the last decade. Chandler Unified School District is losing students and reducing staff.

According to an analysis by The Washington Post, only 75 percent of Arizona students attend public schools. Nearly 89,000 students use ESAs in Arizona, and a second school choice voucher program was used by nearly 62,000 students. Over 232,000 students attend charter schools. The Post found that the decline in public school students is being driven in part by the schools’ poor academic records. Schools in Phoenix have a large proportion of illegal immigrant children, who often come to the country partially grown up with little English speaking ability. About eight in 10 enrolled students in South Phoenix, where the Roosevelt School District is located, are Latino. The City of Phoenix has more Latinos than Caucasians.

The Trump administration attempted to cut certain types of federal Title I funding for K-12 schools if they did not halt their DEI programs this year, but judges struck down the orders.

The Parent Power Index from the Center for Education Reform (CER) ranked Arizona as the second-best state in the country this year for parental control over education, due to its ESAs. An analysis by the National Assessment of Educational Progress, better known as the Nation’s Report Card, found in 2022 that if Arizona 8th grade charter school students were a separate state, they would rank first nationally in math and second in reading, only behind New Jersey. Arizona has the second-highest charter school enrollment in the nation, at 20 percent of students. Arizona spends the third least amount of taxpayer funds on K-12 schools, yet still achieves average to high scores in most areas of education.

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Rachel Alexander is a reporter at The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Rachel on Twitter / X. Email tips to [email protected].

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