Low-income families in Arizona are utilizing the state’s universal school voucher program less than their wealthier counterparts, according to new analysis from ProPublica. Supporters of these voucher programs insist they allow families to access high-quality schools, regardless of ZIP codes and income levels. But a review of Arizona’s first-in-the-nation program doesn’t support these claims:
A ProPublica analysis of Arizona Department of Education data for Maricopa County, where Phoenix is located, reveals that the poorer the ZIP code, the less often vouchers are being used. The richer, the more. In one West Phoenix ZIP code where the median household income is $46,700 a year, for example, ProPublica estimates that only a single voucher is being used per 100 school-age children. There are about 12,000 kids in this ZIP code, with only 150 receiving vouchers. Conversely, in a Paradise Valley ZIP code with a median household income of $173,000, there are an estimated 28 vouchers being used per 100 school-age children.
While all Arizona families are eligible for the program, regardless of income, the voucher amounts don’t cover the full cost of tuition at private schools.
A typical voucher from Arizona’s ESA program is worth between $7,000 and $8,000 a year, while private schools in the Phoenix area often charge more than $10,000 annually in tuition and fees, ProPublica found. The price tag at Phoenix Country Day School, one of the best private schools around, ranges from $30,000 to $35,000 depending on the age of the student. (The Hechinger Report has also found that private schools often raise their tuition when parents have vouchers.)
Universal voucher proponents lean into a theory that the free market will spur the development of new private schools for low-income families to access. But the experience in the Grand Canyon State does not support this line of thinking:
But the question remains whether quality private schools, interested in making a profit, will have any reason to build new locations in South or West Phoenix, where most parents can’t pay tuition beyond their $7,000 voucher. So far, in these areas of the city, the free market has mostly just provided strip-mall, storefront private schools as well as what are called microschools, with little on their websites that working parents can use to judge their curricula, quality or cost.
Violent crime drops in New Orleans
New Orleans is leading a national decline in violent crime, according to new data from the FBI. The Times-Picayune | Baton Rouge Advocate’s Missy Wilkinson and John Simerman break down the numbers:
The FBI’s quarterly data reveals a 10% decrease in violent crime nationwide, and a 23% decrease in murder, according to [Jeff] Asher. New Orleans’ slide has been steeper than that: 39% for murders, and 46% for non-fatal shootings. It has also endured through the year. The city stood Friday at fewer than 100 murders for the year, compared to 265 for all of 2022. The pace now is similar to 2019, when New Orleans reached a nearly 50-year low with 121 murders at year’s end. “Any sort of competition with previous years is less important than the fact that we are seeing a substantial decline,” Asher said.
Spending millions to house more child offenders
Last spring, the Louisiana Legislature agreed to tap into a state savings account to pay for one-time construction projects, including $100 million to house youth offenders. The Louisiana Illuminator’s Julie O’Donoghue spoke with advocates for incarcerated youth who think this was the wrong approach:
The Louisiana Center for Children’s Rights, which provides attorneys to incarcerated youth, disagrees with the decision to add detention center beds. “We believe any money our legislature spends should be invested on the things that are proven to create community safety, disrupt the cycle of harm that incarceration perpetuates, and help youth feel supported and thrive in their homes, schools and communities, not additional detention centers,” Kristen Rome, the organization’s executive director, said in a written statement.
The new detention centers must agree to house children who have not been convicted of crimes alongside those that have been found guilty, a practice the state has not done in the past. O’Donoghue explains the drawback of this new policy:
[Former head of the Office of Juvenile Justice Mary Livers] said the young people who have been found guilty of a crime need intensive treatment that isn’t typically offered in regional detention centers, which typically hold youth who have just been arrested and haven’t gone through the court system yet. “The risk would be that kids would not get the treatment they were supposed to get in an OJJ facility,” Livers said in an interview.
Voter suppression drives failed Southern economic model
Most Southern states have measures of economic growth that are lower than the national average and poverty rates that are higher. The anti-worker policies that lead to these poor results are rooted in racism and economic exploitation. A new report from the Economic Policy Institute explains how voter suppression makes this model possible:
Black voter disenfranchisement remains a key feature of the racist and anti-worker Southern economic development model today. However, periods of progress toward Black political empowerment, such as during Reconstruction and the Civil Rights Movement—though met with fierce suppression—show that targeted policy action has the power to dismantle racist barriers to political participation and disrupt the cycle of political suppression and economic exploitation. While significant advances have been made over the last century, a resurgent backlash underscores the need to strengthen civil rights protections and ensure all Southern workers and their families can enjoy political and economic equality.
Number of the Day
$53 million – Amount of money that Louisiana has received through FEMA’s Individuals and Households Program between January 2015 and April 2024, more than any other state. (Source: Carnegie Disaster Dollar Database; Map: Alex Fitzpatrick via Axios)