Far-Right Private Schools Cash In on AZ Vouchers
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This week, longtime Arizona reporter Dillon Rosenblatt pulled together shocking data on how ESA vouchers are being spent on far-right private schools. We are excerpting here, but you can access the full report here.
🙄 If only someone would’ve warned them: As the report states, “When Arizona lawmakers opened the [ESA voucher program universally] to every child in 2022, critics warned that the $7,000 per-student vouchers would funnel public money into private religious and politically connected schools.” |
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“And here’s the irony: the same movement crying “indoctrination” in public schools and pushing book bans is now cashing millions in public money to run explicitly Christian, politically aligned academies… Arizona parents may think they’re choosing a school. In reality, they’re also subsidizing a political project.” |
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🏫 Millions for extremist indoctrination: Now, new records show two schools with far-right extremist roots — Dream City Christian and Tipping Point Academy — are cashing in big time from the unaccountable, unregulated voucher program designed to privatize public schools. Dream City Christian School in Glendale (affiliated with Dream City Church, famous for its pro-Trump Freedom Night rallies, and Turning Point USA) has more than doubled its voucher income — from about $941,000 in 2023 to $1.5 million in 2024 and now already clearing $2 million in 2025. With high school tuition at over $14,500, vouchers cover some costs but price out lower-income families. It’s worth noting that Turning Point USA announced the opening of the school just weeks after then Gov. Ducey forced through universal voucher expansion in 2022 to “combat woke curriculum” and disallow "radical LGBT agendas" and "anti-American ideas such as the 1619 Project.” The school’s faculty and students must sign on to an anti-LGBTQ Statement of Faith which declares there are only two genders and marriage is between a man and a woman.
According to the report, Tipping Point Academy in Scottsdale also launched as the state legislature universally expanded universal vouchers, and has snowballed its ESA voucher revenue from nearly $200,000 in 2023 to almost $500,000 this year. The school’s owner says the goal is to open 100 campuses over the next decade. The school is run by the Great State Alliance, whose mission is for “like minded conservatives” to use “faith, family, and freedom” to “restore businesses, schools, and churches in our communities.” The school uses a curriculum called The Noah Plan, which weaves the Bible into every subject.
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🧊 Tip of the iceberg: These are just two examples of schools among hundreds, if not thousands, of similar operations that are siphoning hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars into unaccredited, unregulated private schools that can teach whatever they wish without any oversight as part of the state’s universal voucher program. As the report notes, “For families, voucher[s] may look like scholarships. For schools, they function as guaranteed public funding with minimal oversight… state officials rarely audit voucher purchases, and broad definitions of ‘educational expenses’ allow for everything from private tuition to luxury items.”
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Use our easy email tool to send a message to AZ members of Congress and the US Dept. of Education 👉 bit.ly/NoCivicsTakeover |
👉Use our one-click email and call tools to tell Arizona’s members of Congress to STOP K-12 education cuts TODAY! |
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Many Arizona school districts have critical elections on the ballot in 2025 — and we need you to get involved to spread the word to vote YES! Across Arizona, 35 different school districts are going out for special bond, override, and budget increase measures to ensure local funding for schools so that students and educators can have the resources they need to be successful and safe.
In many areas, these special elections are “mail only,” meaning your ballot will come in the mail, and you should return your ballot by Oct. 28 to make sure it counts! We encourage you to Vote YES on all school funding measures! Arizona students and educators are counting on you. |
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💥📚 From Page to Power: A Justice-Focused Book Club by Save Our Schools Arizona Network! Join us virtually on Sundays, October 19 & November 16 from 4-5 pm to discuss “The Privateers:: How Billionaires Created A Culture War and Sold School Vouchers” by Josh Cowen! No pressure to finish the book — just come for the conversation. Let’s read, reflect, and build power for Arizona’s public schools! Sign up to get the Zoom info!
🎉 EXCITING news 🎉 The author, Dr. Josh Cowen, will attend the Oct. 19th meeting to launch the book club discussion — sign up ASAP as space will be limited! |
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