Goldwater to Defend Education Freedom for Military Families

In its effort to protect educational freedom for Arizona military families, the Goldwater Institute filed a motion in Maricopa County Superior Court this week to intervene on behalf of two Air Force veterans whose Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) funds are threatened by an activist attack on the state’s landmark school choice program.

The families of Nick Kupper and Bobby Figueroa have benefited from the ESA program for years. Now, they are staring down the state’s largest teachers’ union and other activists who seek to dismantle the program and rip away their families’ educational opportunities.

The Arizona legislature recently referred HCR2048 to the November 2026 ballot, a proposed amendment to the Arizona Constitution that would permanently prohibit any measure from confiscating the scholarship funds of children of military families. This measure, the “Military Families Protection Act,” would invalidate any bill or ballot initiative that violates this directive.

Unfortunately, a coalition of activists with the Arizona Education Association and Save our Schools Arizona want to strip Arizona voters of the right to protect our military families and have launched a lawsuit to keep HCR2048 from appearing on the ballot. Why? Because they are backing a ballot measure they intentionally crafted to confiscate the scholarship funds of children like the Kuppers and Figueroas. The Military Families Protection Act would stop them in their tracks, so they’re trying to stop it in court.

Fortunately, the Arizona Constitution is clear: Arizona voters have the right to amend the state constitution, and the Military Families Protection Act would trump the activists’ efforts to cripple the scholarship opportunities currently afforded to Arizona military families and others.

Mr. Kupper’s and Mr. Figueroa’s families stand alongside 1,000 other ESA children whose parents have served our nation and who now face a direct attack from organizers pushing their anti-school choice ballot initiative. The Military Family Protection Act will provide these families the certainty they deserve, guaranteeing that Arizona will not renege on its promises by taking away funding and opportunity already pledged to them.

Arizona’s elected representatives have already spoken, giving passage to HCR2048 and sending it to voters for their ratification. Those same voters have the right to formally approve it. Goldwater will fight to ensure voters get that opportunity.

To read more about the Military Families Protection Act, click here. To read Goldwater’s motion to intervene, click here.