Arizona voters will not decide two proposed changes to the state’s Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) program this November. Proposition 212 and Proposition 145, two ESA-related measures that had been headed toward the November 3 ballot, will not appear before voters following separate legal challenges.
For families who use ESAs, including many families of children with disabilities, the key takeaway is straightforward: neither proposal will change the ESA program, and the program continues under current law.
What Happened to Proposition 212?
Proposition 212, known as the Protect Education Act, was a citizen initiative proposing several changes to Arizona’s ESA program.
Supporters submitted more than 421,000 petition signatures in July. A legal challenge followed involving the validity of petition signatures and petition circulators.
On August 18, the Arizona Supreme Court issued a decision addressing how signatures should be counted and which could be disqualified. The court sent the case back to the trial court to apply its ruling and determine whether the initiative had the required 255,949 valid signatures. Under the calculation resulting from the court’s decision, the initiative did not have enough valid signatures to qualify for the November ballot.
Read more about the Proposition 212 case from the Arizona Supreme Court.
What Would Proposition 212 Have Changed?
Proposition 212 proposed changes to ESA eligibility, spending and oversight.
Beginning with the 2027-28 school year, it generally would have limited ESA eligibility to children from families with annual incomes of $150,000 or less, with the amount adjusted over time.
Importantly for families of children with disabilities, that income limit would not have applied to children who would have been eligible for an ESA before Arizona expanded the program universally in 2022. This includes children with disabilities who qualified under the earlier eligibility criteria.
The proposal also included changes related to allowable expenses, academic accountability, background checks and unused ESA funds. Generally, remaining ESA funds would have been transferred out of accounts annually. For students with disabilities, remaining funds would have been transferred every two years.
The Arizona Legislative Council’s analysis of Proposition 212 provides additional details about the proposed changes.
What Happened to Proposition 145?
Proposition 145 was a separate ESA-related constitutional amendment referred to voters by the Arizona Legislature.
The measure included provisions related to state scholarship funds for children of military families. It also included a provision that could have invalidated Proposition 212 if voters approved both measures.
A legal challenge argued that Proposition 145 combined separate constitutional changes into a single ballot question.
On August 18, the Arizona Supreme Court unanimously affirmed a lower court ruling that Proposition 145 violated the Arizona Constitution’s requirement that separate constitutional amendments be submitted to voters separately. The court ordered that the measure not be placed on the November ballot.
Read the Arizona Supreme Court’s announcement about Proposition 145.
What Does This Mean for Families?
With neither Proposition 212 nor Proposition 145 appearing on the November ballot, Arizona’s existing ESA program remains unchanged as a result of these proposals.
Families seeking current information about ESA eligibility, allowable expenses and other program requirements can visit the Arizona Department of Education’s Empowerment Scholarship Account Program.
Official information about Arizona’s 2026 statewide ballot measures is available from the Arizona Secretary of State.
