Arizona teachers union's anti‑school‑choice ballot drive employs felons

The Arizona Education Association and the Save Our Schools (SOS) coalition submitted roughly 415,000–420,000 signatures for the “Protect Education Act,” a ballot initiative that would end universal eligibility for the state’s Empowerment Scholarship Accounts (ESA) school‑choice program.

The petition drive relied heavily on paid circulators—over 80% of the signatures were collected by paid workers, many of whom have criminal convictions for serious offenses such as sexual abuse of a minor, kidnapping, human trafficking and murder. One identified circulator, Jesse Redhorse Jr., is a registered sex offender who gathered about 650 signatures.

Funding for the effort came from the National Education Association, which contributed nearly $7 million. The Goldwater Institute, representing school‑choice advocates, has filed a legal challenge alleging that more than half of the signatures are invalid due to duplicate entries, non‑voter signatures, improper paperwork and other defects. If the challenge succeeds, the initiative could fall far below the 255,949‑signature threshold required to qualify for the ballot, potentially preserving the ESA program that currently serves over 100,000 K‑12 students.