State lawmakers on Wednesday passed legislation that will allow the state’s Medicaid agency to access federal dollars that figure into the payments that reimburse health care providers across the state for delivering service to program enrollees. 

HB 2432, sponsored by Rep. David Livingston, R-Peoria, extends the required expenditure authority to the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, or AHCCCS, for the remainder of fiscal year 2023, which ends June 30. 

The bill passed the House of Representatives by a wide margin in February but languished in the state Senate.  

The Senate instead in March tacked a partial expenditure authority provision onto another bill, HB 2624 by Rep. Leo Biasiucci, R-Lake Havasu City, that dealt with Medicaid eligibility determinations.  

The amendment only granted AHCCCS the expenditure authority for $1.6 billion in federal funds – enough to cover one month – causing concern in the health care community and broader business community that payments to providers would be delayed if additional expenditure authority wasn’t granted by a late April deadline, forcing providers and the private sector health plans the state contracts with to bear the financial burden in the meantime.  

After a weeklong delay, the Senate took up the original bill Wednesday, passing it 26-3 and sending it to Gov. Katie Hobbs for her signature.  

Following the bill’s passage, Hobbs , “I am glad to see Republicans and Democrats come together to pass HB2432, a critical bill that will keep millions of Arizonans insured. The health and safety of Arizonans is not a partisan issue, and I hope we can continue to work together to deliver for our state.” 

Arizona Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół»­ of Commerce & Industry President and CEO Danny Seiden said he was pleased a deal was reached, but that he worries about risks to the stability of the public policy environment. 

“We’re pleased both parties came together to pass this bill that is of major importance not only to the health care sector but to the entire state economy,” Seiden said. “I did hear concern from the business community about how disruptive a failure to pass this procedural bill in a timely manner could be, so I want to thank Senate President Warren Petersen, House Speaker Ben Toma, and Gov. Hobbs for coming together to reach an agreement. The state has major challenges ahead of it that will require bipartisan cooperation to maintain its competitiveness, so I’m hopeful these leaders will continue to work hard for Arizona.

Legislators include expenditure authority language in the annual state budget, but they must sometimes pass a supplemental bill when the authority in the adopted budget is insufficient. 

Budget forecasters’ ability to project AHCCCS budget needs in the fiscal year 2023 budget language was complicated by additional federal reimbursements that flowed to states during the pandemic and by the federal requirement that state Medicaid agencies not disenroll anyone during the public health emergency. Subsequent federal legislation granted states the ability to reassess enrollees’ eligibility beginning April 1, the same date the pandemic era enhanced federal reimbursement rates began to be reduced. The enhanced reimbursement rate will fully phase out at the end of 2023. The public health emergency ends May 11.

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State and national business groups are urging passage of H.R. 1, the Lower Energy Cost Act, legislation identified by Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy as House Republicans’ number 1 priority for the 118^th Congress. 

McCarthy the legislation will “restore American energy leadership” by eliminating “onerous taxes and regulation on American energy producers so we can lead the world in providing clean, affordable energy.” 

McCarthy says the bill will also make it easier to build new energy products in this country by streamlining permitting and regulatory costs that typically delay infrastructure projects like pipelines, roads and dams. 

“We can streamline permitting and still protect the environment,” McCarthy said. 

Environmental Impact Statements, which are intensive environmental reviews, can be time intensive and expensive. A 2020 White House found that the average EIS was 575 pages. 

In addition to permitting reforms, the bill also addresses oil drilling on federal land, natural gas extraction, the ability for the U.S. to export liquified natural gas, and removes barriers to mining projects, among other provisions. 

The bill is earning plaudits from advocates for job creation, including the National Association of Manufacturers. 

“H.R. 1, the Lower Energy Costs Act, strengthens manufacturing competitiveness by increasing energy security and modernizing permitting in the U.S.,” NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons said in a tweet. 

Grace Appelbe, executive director of the Arizona Manufacturers Council, which is the state affiliate of NAM, said she and her members agree with Timmons. 

“This bill is essential if we’re going to put downward pressure on energy prices, a major input to the manufacturing process and a cost driver,” Appelbe said. “Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół»­anufacturers believe strongly that environmental stewardship and economic expansion are not mutually exclusive. We can cut red tape and regulatory costs in a responsible way.” 

Arizona Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół»­ of Commerce & Industry President and CEO Danny Seiden recently met with McCarthy and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., about the two leaders’ policy agenda for the new Congress, and energy reform figured prominently. 

“Speaker McCarthy and Leader Scalise deserve tremendous credit for designating a bill to roll back regulations around domestic energy production as their top priority,” Seiden said. “The Arizona business community is excited about the potential for new infrastructure projects and energy cost savings that H.R. 1 would make possible. This bill will enhance the country’s international competitiveness.” 

The U.S. Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół»­ of Commerce is equally supportive of the legislation. 

“This bill would advance important policies to improve the permitting process, ensure strong domestic energy production, protect energy exports and increase production and processing of our own critical minerals,” said Marty Durbin, president of the U.S. Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół»­ Global Energy Institute. 

The House could vote on the bill as soon as next week. Additional negotiations will be required for the bill to pass the Senate, however, as the bill is unlikely to be able to clear the 60-vote threshold necessary to avoid a filibuster. 

While Republicans are expected to support the bill, Senate Democrats like Jon Tester, Mont., and Joe Manchin, W.Va., could also support several provisions of the legislation. Both senators are likely to face tough reelection campaigns next year.

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The head of Arizona’s leading business advocacy group says of the environmental challenges facing the state that it’s not water that causes him the greatest concern, but overly aggressive federal air quality regulations. 

Appearing on Sunday’s Politics Unplugged, Arizona Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół»­ of Commerce & Industry President and CEO Danny Seiden said Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół»­anages its water resources well and that the state is still positioned for continued economic growth. 

Seiden said the rhetoric around the state’s water security requires some “myth busting” and that Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół»­ust “defeat the false narrative that we don’t have water and that we don’t have the options for these companies that are coming here.” 

Those options, Seiden says, are part of a broader water augmentation strategy begun in the previous administration. 

“There’s an augmentation strategy, whether it’s desalination or working with tribal relationships, so we continue to find those (water) supplies.” 

Seiden says his organization reminds policymakers that corporate and industrial water users are responsible stewards and are often leaders in finding new water solutions. 

“And I think that we don’t do enough to explain that industrial – manufacturer use – is about 7% total. And there are great companies, great corporate citizens – our manufacturers like Intel, like TSMC, they have wastewater plans, they have reclamation plans,” Seiden said. “In fact, over 95% of our wastewater in central Arizona is reclaimed and reused. We’re very good at this.” 

Gov. Katie Hobbs told National Public Radio last month that the previous administration took too rosy a view of the state’s water situation and that, “If we don’t take action now, we won’t have enough water.” 

Seiden is less pessimistic and says his group looks forward to partnering with the Hobbs administration. 

“I think acknowledging the problem but acknowledging that we have solutions out there – that we do have options, that’s what we’re hoping to get the page turned to,” he said. “Let’s talk about our options and how we can work together. And I think she’ll be a great partner in that.” 

On air quality, however, Seiden is concerned. He says the federal government has been overly stringent with states that have so-called “nonattainment” areas that are not within the Environmental Protection Agency’s acceptable air quality levels. 

“If EPA continues to increase burdensome regulations and not provide solutions, all development, all growth could be halted, not just in Arizona,” Seiden said. He says the Arizona Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół»­ is working within a coalition of state-level business groups facing similar federally imposed constraints on growth to take their case to the highest levels of Congress, arguing that the EPA has not been sufficiently receptive to states working together to come up with solutions. 

“Why not give us the options to fix these things?” he said. 

Seiden says the EPA should be more accommodating to states that are thinking creatively to come up with offsets, strategies that result in air quality improvements in one area to compensate for emissions increase in another.

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The Fiscal Year 2024 budget request released by President Joe Biden last week contains tax code changes that would weaken the country’s business competitiveness, according to leading industry advocacy groups.

“There is no escaping the fact that the tax increases in President Biden’s new budget proposal would reverse the recent significant growth we’ve achieved in American manufacturing jobs and investment, National Association of Manufacturers President and CEO Jay Timmons . “After the 2017 tax reform made rates more competitive, manufacturers kept their promises to raise wages and invest in their communities. In fact, 2018 was the best year for manufacturing job creation in the previous 21 years. And in the past two years, as we rebuilt from the pandemic, we’ve created more jobs in the sector than at any point since the Reagan administration. So it comes as a surprise that President Biden, who has vocally championed manufacturing growth in pushing successfully for infrastructure investment and the CHIPS and Science Act, wants to pursue policies that would undo our progress.”

According to the Tax Foundation, the White House budget calls for nearly $4.7 trillion in new taxes targeted at businesses and high-income individuals, including a higher corporate income tax rate. The president’s budget calls for a corporate rate of 25%, a 7 percentage point jump from the current rate. 

Unclear in the new budget is the administration position on how it would handle the 2025 expiration of tax reforms contained in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Budget materials released by the White House simply said the administration would work with Congress to arrive at a “tax system that rewards work, not wealth.”

“The administration’s proposed budget is a recipe for economic and fiscal disaster. Nearly $2 trillion in spending increases would result in an economy where one out of every four dollars is government spending. An unprecedented $5 trillion in tax increases would hit businesses of all sizes and lead to lower wages for working Americans,” U.S. Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół»­ of Commerce Executive Vice President Neil Bradley said. 

In addition to the call for an increase in the corporate income tax rate, the budget also calls for a top income tax rate of 39.6%. Under the 2017 law, the top rate is 37%. The president also wants to tax capital gains at the same rate as regular income for individuals with more than $1 million in income. 

The budget also calls for more drugs to be subject to government price controls, something Arizona Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół»­ of Commerce & Industry President and CEO Danny Seiden said his group would oppose.

“The Arizona Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół»­ was the state’s most vocal proponent of the job-creating tax reforms included in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, and we were the most vocal opponent of the doomed Build Back Better plan,” Seiden said. “This proposed budget would dramatically roll back the progress made under the TCJA while attempting once again to push through the worst components of Build Back Better. Not only will this plan not survive congressional scrutiny, it could also prove to be a political liability for the White House.” 

A tax increase on individual income would be bad news for small businesses, which pay taxes at the individual rate, not the lower corporate rate.

The National Federation of Independent Business panned the proposal.

“The small business economy is still recovering, and business outlook is near historic lows. The expanding list of tax increases included in the FY 2024 proposed budget would crush Main Street’s ability to grow and create jobs,” said Brad Close, president of the National Federation of Independent Business.

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House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., heard from Texas and Arizona business community leaders recently about the threat to economic growth posed by government overreach and regulation. 

A joint delegation of the Texas Association of Business and the Arizona Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół»­ of Commerce & Industry met with the two pro-business congressional leaders in Washington last week, discussing issues like overly stringent EPA rules, how the federal government stymies the development of new energy sources, and the debt ceiling. 

“The American business community is incredibly fortunate that Kevin McCarthy and Steve Scalise are leading the House,” TAB President and CEO Glenn Hamer said. “Job creators couldn’t ask for two better leaders to promote a free-market agenda that supports innovation, competition, and growth.” 

Arizona Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół»­ President and CEO Danny Seiden said the two congressional leaders have a firm grasp on how an overreaching federal government can negatively affect economic development, citing the example of onerous EPA air quality regulations that could thwart the ability of manufacturers to expand in Arizona. 

“Overly aggressive EPA regulations put our states’ ability attract and grow jobs at serious risk,” Seiden said. “Speaker McCarthy and Leader Scalise know that states like Arizona and Texas are driving this economy, thanks in large part to the work we’ve done to create pro-business regulatory environments that have made it easier and more attractive for manufacturers and job creators to grow and thrive. Issuing stricter standards would hurt the economy and potentially discourage future investments, including in the types of clean energy projects needed to address climate change. We appreciated the opportunity to visit with two leaders who clearly understand that meddlesome federal bureaucracy can snuff out jobs.” 

Hamer said the meeting with McCarthy and Scalise was a perfect complement to TAB meetings with several members of the Texas delegation, including Rep. Roger Williams, Rep. Michael McCaul, and Rep. Kay Granger, who chair the House Small Business, Foreign Affairs, and Appropriations committees, respectively. 

“Four members of the Texas congressional delegation chair committees, which is great news for the Texas business community,” Hamer said. “The Texas delegation is working hard to pursue policies that drive economic growth. Texas members of Congress are working shoulder-to-shoulder with Speaker McCarthy and Leader Scalise to put the brakes on an administration that too often would tie up our job creators in red tape.” 

Hamer and Seiden said the two groups stressed in the dozens of meetings they had on Capitol Hill what Texas and Arizona are doing to attract jobs, including from the semiconductor industry. Hamer and Seiden said the implementation of the CHIPS and Science Act, which is designed to spur domestic semiconductor production, is poised to be a shot of adrenaline for their state and national economies. 

“Our two states are already winning huge investments in the semiconductor space. If I had to bet on two states whose future in semiconductor manufacturing is the brightest, I’d bet on Texas and Arizona,” Hamer said. 

Seiden agreed, saying the feedback he’s gotten from chipmakers has been very positive. 

“Speaker McCarthy and Leader Scalise are well aware of what states like Arizona and Texas are doing to attract advanced manufacturers with good-paying jobs,” he said. “We look forward to working with them to help advance these sorts of policies at a national level to grow jobs and strengthen our country’s international competitiveness.”

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Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół»­s of commerce representing states with two of the country’s strongest economies teamed up last week to take their policy agenda to Capitol Hill. 

Arizona Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół»­ of Commerce & Industry staff and leaders from the Texas Association of Business (TAB) met with members of Congress to discuss policy priorities for the new Congress and to ensure the interests of each state’s job creators are represented on Capitol Hill. 

Arizona Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół»­ President and CEO Danny Seiden and Vice President of Government Affairs Courtney Coolidge joined a delegation led by TAB CEO Glenn Hamer and Chairman Massey Villareal for the trip, which included meetings with more than a dozen members of Congress, including U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Majority Leader Steve Scalise, to discuss key priorities of the associations and the states’ broader business communities. 

Among the highlights of the visit, the team met with new Arizona Rep. Juan Ciscomani, R, and Texas Rep. Tony Gonzales, R, for an in-depth conversation about pressing issues impacting border states like Arizona and Texas, including border security, immigration reform, binational trade and commerce, and more. 

Specifically, the group discussed the need to address the border crisis in a way that ensures the safety and security of communities while promoting the efficient facilitation of legal commerce with each state’s No. 1 international trade partner. The congressmen expressed their commitment to find commonsense and bipartisan solutions to these issues, and to work with state business leaders and associations as partners in these efforts. 

That commitment was echoed in a separate meeting with Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I, Texas Sen. John Cornyn, R, and North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis, R, who shared their plans to work together with Arizona and Texas businesses to pass meaningful policies to secure the border and reform the country’s immigration system. 

In addressing the associations, Sen. Sinema emphasized the growing humanitarian, security and economic problems associated with an unsecured border. She noted that when the border gets overwhelmed and operations at the ports of entry are disrupted, it creates a ripple effect with wide-ranging impacts to everything from crop production, to trade and commerce and more. 

“Arizona’s land ports of entry handle over 30 percent of Arizona’s imports and exports, so when Arizona-Mexico ports are shut down or unable to operate efficiently, that threatens billions of dollars in cross-border commerce a year,” Sen. Sinema said. 

The senator also expressed disappointment in the politicized and partisan approach to immigration coming out of Washington, D.C., reiterating the need to find common ground solutions. 

“That’s why I rejected the partisan echo chamber and at the end of last year partnered with my good friend, Senator Thom Tillis, on a bipartisan proposal to help solve some of the real problems our border communities and immigration system continue to face.” 

She noted, which fell short of passage in the previous Congress, would have focused on needed investments in Border Patrol agents and Custom and Border Protection field operations officers; updated equipment and technology; increased measures to stop the flow of fentanyl and other dangerous drugs; improvements to the asylum system; and fixes to a loophole in our current visa system that would strengthen the country’s talent pipeline. Addressing that, Sinema argued, “will increase our country’s competitiveness and ensure America has the workforce it needs to power our economy and compete on the world stage.” 

Seiden said the Washington visit demonstrated the value in taking a regional approach to working with Congress. 

“We appreciated the opportunity to speak with members of Congress about some of the most pressing issues facing our state, including border security, cross-border trade, workforce and more. In Arizona and Texas, we know that these issues go hand-in-hand, and it’s encouraging to know we have leaders in Washington working in a bipartisan manner to find meaningful and long-term solutions,” Seiden said. “Arizona’s business community stands ready to work with Sen. Sinema, Rep. Ciscomani, and our elected leaders and partners in Texas and other border states to address these shared priorities.” 

Hamer agreed, saying the two states working together on Capitol Hill is a smart approach. 

“Texas and Arizona have two of the country’s most dynamic, vibrant economies. Together we have compelling and proven policy solutions to share with Congress,” he said. “With leaders like Sen. Cornyn and Rep. Gonzales and their colleagues in Arizona, the business community has partners in Washington who are ready and willing to pursue job-creating legislation.”

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A worker’s right to choose whether to join a labor union is in doubt, as progressive Democrats in the Legislature have introduced multiple bills aimed at repealing Arizona’s right-to-work status.

SCR 1030, sponsored by state Sen. Juan Mendez, D-Tempe, and a companion bill in the state House of Representatives, HCR 2008, sponsored by Rep. Athena Salman, D-Tempe, would send to the 2024 statewide ballot a measure asking voters whether to rescind Arizona’s more-than-75-year-old status as a right-to-work state.

Arizona and 26 other states have right-to-work laws, which give workers the choice of whether to join a labor union. States without right-to-work laws could require employees to pay union dues and fees as a requirement for employment.

If voters were to approve Mendez and Salman’s proposal, business community advocates say the state’s competitive standing would be dramatically undermined.

“Arizona’s status as a right-to-work state has been a major contributor to our standing as one of the country’s top performing economies,” said Courtney Coolidge, the Arizona Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół»­ of Commerce & Industry vice president of government relations. “Rescinding our right-to-work laws would be a blow to job creation and competitiveness.”

The ballot referrals and additional legislation, also sponsored by Mendez and Salman and cosponsored by fellow progressives, are just the latest attempts at state and national levels to erode workers’ choice whether to join a labor union.

Congressional Democrats in the previous Congress strongly backed the PRO Act, legislation containing a litany of labor union-backed priorities, including not only the rescission of state-level right-to-work laws, but also provisions that would make it harder for a worker to be classified as an independent contractor, and that would allow so-called “secondary boycotts,” picket-line protests against companies that do business with another company where a labor union is attempting to organize.

Arizona U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D, and Sen. Mark Kelly, D, were both critical in preventing the PRO Act from advancing.

While the business community attempts to defend Arizona’s employment laws, labor activists in Michigan have gained the upper hand.

Now with Democratic majorities in the state House and Senate and with a democratic governor, Michigan’s Legislature is poised to repeal that state’s right-to-work law that was adopted in 2012. Michigan’s law was established by the Legislature and can be repealed by legislative action, where Arizona’s right-to-work status is enshrined in the state constitution and could only be overturned by voters.

The Michigan Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół»­ of Commerce opposes a repeal, saying it would hurt the state’s economic development efforts. Wendy Block, the Michigan Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół»­â€™s vice president of business advocacy, The Detroit Free Press that “other states will try to pounce on the opportunity that they could have to lure jobs and new economic development projects away from Michigan and into their states,” if the Legislature were to overturn the decade-old law.

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With strong support from the state’s business community, the Arizona Corporation Commission on Tuesday voted 4-1 to adopt the recommendations of an administrative law judge in a rate case for Southwest Gas. 

In testimony before the Commission, Arizona Manufacturers Council Executive Director Grace Appelbe called the judge’s recommended order, “a responsible one that will not only keep customer rates affordable but will also help encourage future economic growth and meet the demands of a growing state.” 

The Arizona Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół»­ of Commerce & Industry entered into the record a recent opinion column by Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół»­ President and CEO Danny Seiden that urged commissioners to adopt the judge’s recommendation and to reject the arguments by environmental activists. 

“The importance of natural gas to the Arizona economy is a fact that Southwest Gas’ critics either ignore or deny,” Seiden wrote. “There’s a predictable narrative that comes from out-of-state activist groups that are more interested in advancing an agenda untethered from the realities of today’s economy than they are in ensuring affordable energy rates for Arizona consumers.” 

The Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół»­ also joined economic development groups Greater Phoenix Economic Council, Pinal Partnership, Sun Corridor, Inc., East Valley Partnership, and Greater Yuma Economic Development Corporation in supporting the judge’s recommendations. 

The Southwest Energy Efficiency Project, known by its acronym SWEEP, led opposition to the Southwest Gas case, saying expanded electrification offers consumers cheaper alternatives and that the company already has modern infrastructure that requires few upgrades. 

But JosĂ© Perez of Hispanics In Energy pushed back against SWEEPS arguments, saying the group’s proposals would lead to higher energy rates. 

“If adopted by the Arizona Corporation Commission, these policies would impose new costs on families, hurt jobs and foreclose on American ingenuity,” Perez wrote to commissioners, and he cited statistics that households that use natural gas for cooking, space and water heating and clothes drying save on average $1,041 per year compared to homes using electricity for those applications. 

Perez said Arizona businesses’ ability to access natural gas is important to the state’s economic development. 

“Celebrations like the one led by President Biden at TSMC just last month would not be possible if corporations could not secure necessary energy infrastructure,” he said. 

Appelbe agreed, saying, “The adoption of SWEEP’s proposals would blunt future growth and create uncertainty. Arizona’s economy depends on a diverse energy portfolio – including natural gas – to prosper, whether it’s advanced manufacturing, health care, tourism, or agribusiness.” 

Commissioner Nick Myers, who was elected to his first term in November, also said natural gas is an essential part of the Arizona economy. 

“We can’t hinder not just our economic growth but our electric grids and water grids — everything is dependent on natural gas,” Myers said. 

Two state senators, Sine Kerr, R-Buckeye, and Gail Griffin, R-Hereford, raised concerns over the effect SWEEP’s proposals would have on energy reliability.

“We only have to look to California to see firsthand the damaging effects that bad energy policy can have on a state,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter to commissioners. “Anti-natural gas policies that have originated in California, from phasing out natural gas power plants to eliminating new natural gas hookups, have only put greater demand on the state’s electric grid leading to higher electricity prices and a less reliable system. As a result, consumers have been faced with rolling blackouts and requests to avoid charging vehicles and using electric appliances to protect the strained grid.”

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Arizona Autism Charter Schools, the only public charter schools for students with autism in Arizona and the first charter in the West dedicated to serving neuro-divergent learners, has been named America’s most innovative and effective educational organization winning the $1 million, education’s largest and most prestigious award.

The prize recognizes’s efforts to expand its unique individualized learning programs, which are rated exemplary by Arizona, and supports the creation of a national accelerator for Autism-focused charter schools, which will enable similar schools to be established in every state.

“We are so honored to receive the $1 million YASS prize among many high-quality and inspirational programs from across the nation,” said AZACS founder and executive director, Diana Diaz-Harrison. “This funding will allow us to expand our reach and help more children on the autism spectrum across Arizona and the United States. As an Autism Mom, I don’t want my kid to be seen as disabled. I want him to be seen as a doer, intelligent and productive. These charter schools we are starting across America will help our children be neuro-diverse, be who they are and be fulfilled, productive citizens.”

The Yass Prize for Sustainable, Transformational, Outstanding and Permissionless Education, administered by the Center for Education Reform, is awarded to the education provider whose innovative program provides students the most effective, transformational, and lasting educational experience possible-with a clear, barrier-free path to success.

Nearly 2,700 organizations from 48 states – including public, private and charter schools, education technology companies, micro-schools, and a variety of nonprofit organizations – entered the competition for this year’s prize.

“We were thrilled to find these education changemakers and are grateful to be able to reward their extraordinary creativity, tenacity, and achievements, and to help them build for the future. We should be giving every educator in the nation the freedom the Yass Prize winners have to tailor education to the needs of children and give every parent the opportunity to choose specialized learning environments like these,” said Janine Yass, who with husband Jeff founded the Yass Prize.

AZACS, which opened in 2014, is a Title 1 school, with approximately 76% of students qualifying for free and reduced-price lunch and more than half of the students identifying as Hispanic. AZACS also offers a fully accredited online school serving children with autism and other special needs across the state.

Recently, AZACS launched the Post-Secondary Innovation & Entrepreneurial Career Education (PIECE) Academy. The Academy is in response to high demand for career-based programs designed to get neuro-diverse people into the workforce to fill the multitude of quality tech-based jobs that are currently open and projected to grow in the coming years.

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Arizona charter-school students continue their strong academic performance, according to the Nation’s Report Card, officially known as the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). 

Arizona 8^th grade charter students performed especially well. In fact, if these charter attendees were grouped together as their own state, it would rank number 1 nationally in math and number 2 in reading. In both subject areas, Arizona 8^th graders scored approximately one full grade level better than their district peers.

“State and federal testing has repeatedly demonstrated that Arizona charter schools and students consistently outperform their district counterparts, despite receiving nearly $2,000 less in per-pupil funding,” said Dr. Matthew Ladner, director of the Arizona Center for Student Opportunity. “The past few years have been difficult for all schools, but we applaud Arizona charter schools for continuing to raise the bar for student achievement in our state.” 

The NAEP exam is usually administered every other year to a random sample of 4^th and 8^th grade students in each state, but was suspended during the pandemic. Nationally, NAEP results indicate a significant loss in academic progress during the past few years – particularly in mathematics. In Arizona, NAEP scores for 4^th grade mathematics and reading declined among both district and charter students. Overall, Arizona 4^th and 8^th graders attending district and charter schools performed at.

“Arizona charter schools helped lead our state’s academic recovery following the Great Recession,” Ladner said. “The challenges Arizona students now face are arguably even bigger now, but I am confident in the creativity, innovation and expertise of the charter sector to once again lead the way.” 

Arizona has approximately 560 public charter schools educating more than 230,000 students.

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