The Goldwater Institute proposed and spearheaded passage of Arizona’s first-in-the nation empowerment scholarships (“ESAs”) in 2010. ESAs allowed eligible children who were disabled to place 90% of their per-pupil funding into an account that could be used for private school tuition, tutoring, distance learning, community college classes or educational software.

ESAs allowed parents of children with disabilities to finally give their children the special instruction children with disabilities often need. Instruction which public schools often do not provide.

As if on cue, the Arizona School Boards Association and the Arizona Education Association brought a legal challenge against the ESAs.

On January 26, 2012, a Maricopa County Superior Court rejected the challenge by the unions and declared Arizona’s ESAs constitutional.

The battle to reform the education monopoly is far from over, but the court ruling goes a long way to assist Arizona families.

Luckily, proposals are already underway to expand Arizona’s ESAs.

HB 2626, sponsored by Rep. Debbie Lesko and Sens. Gould, Klein, Melvin, Murphy, and Yarborough, would extend the opportunity for a brighter future to the 94,000 students in Arizona’s lowest-performing schools. The bill also offers hope to Arizona’s intellectually gifted students, another underserved population, as well as to students in military families.

HB 2626 is a tremendous step toward providing all students the best opportunity to succeed.

In Arizona and across the nation, a child’s future is far too often determined by geographic boundaries. The wealthy already have the choice to move their children to performing schools, it is the poor and often minorities who are stuck in a public school system that is increasingly unresponsive to their needs. Arizona’s ESAs, along with HB 2626, goes a long way to helping children reach their true potential.

Remember, when school-choice wins, kids win.