NW Valley Times

The Arizona State Senate Majority Leader said that Gov. Katie Hobbs’ (D-Ariz.) “rhetoric” regarding the governor’s recent proposal to place an income cap on the state’s Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) program creates “tag lines and misinformation.”

”School Choice is Parental Authority for EVERY Arizonan,” State Sen. Janae Shamp (R-Surprise) posted on X.

Her post was in response to an X post by the governor that said, “let’s stop subsidizing the riches 1% while protecting taxpayer dollars by reigning in the current ESA entitlement program.”

Hobbs‘ proposed 2025 budget, released last week, includes an income cap of $200,000 for families using the state’s Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) program.

83,032 students in Arizona received an ESA as of November 18, 2024, according to the Arizona Department of Education.  

Arizona's Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) program allows parents to use public funds allocated for their child's education to pay for approved educational expenses. These expenses include private school tuition, homeschooling costs, online learning programs, tutoring, and other education-related services and materials.

The ESA program is available to Arizona students who meet specific eligibility requirements, such as students with disabilities, those attending failing schools, children of active-duty military members, and other qualifying categories. The program is managed by the Arizona Department of Education.

Funds for the ESA program are deposited into accounts managed by parents, who are required to use them for pre-approved educational purposes. The amount allocated to each student is based on a percentage of the funding the state would have provided for that student in a public school setting.

Hobbs’ proposal to do away with ESA’s for families making more than $200,000 would have a major impact on families in the Phoenix area. 

In Phoenix, Mesa, Chandler, and Scottsdale, it takes an annual household salary of $238,500 for a family of four “to sustain comfortable living standards,” reported AZCentral.com in March 2023. In Gilbert and Glendale, that salary is a bit higher, at $239,400. 

Under Hobbs’ proposal, families making that much would not be allowed to participate in Arizona’s ESA program.

Shamp was elected by her peers to serve as Senate Majority Leader following the November 2024 elections in which Republicans increased their State Senate majority to 17 seats. The Democrats hold just 13 seats. 

A former perioperative nurse and nurse manager in the medical field, Shamp was first elected to represent Arizona’s 29th Legislative District in Nov. 2022. A resident of Surprise, she graduated from Arizona State University cum laude in Molecular Biosciences and Biotechnology. She also graduated from Grand Canyon University magna cum laude in Nursing.