GOP referral that would prevent school voucher regulations blocked from the ballot

The Arizona Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that Proposition 145, a Republican-backed ballot referral, violates the state Constitution's separate amendment rule and will not appear on the November ballot. The measure was pitched as shielding military families' voucher funds but contained a second provision voiding any future law or ballot measure, regardless of who it affected, that touched the $1 billion Empowerment Scholarship Account program.

Chief Justice Ann Scott Timmer, writing for six justices, found the two provisions weren't sufficiently related to be bundled into one proposal, since one added narrow protections for military families while the other nullified virtually any voucher reform, including citizen-initiated ones, after November 2026.

The same day, the court also kept Proposition 212, a public-education-backed measure that would have added income caps and misuse penalties to the voucher program, off the ballot for insufficient signatures — leaving voters no chance to weigh in on either measure this cycle.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.