IN FOCUS - Aug. 21, 2026

It’s official - Arizona’s November ballot will include eight ballot measures.

And none of them deal with the state’s Empowerment Scholarship Accounts (ESA) program.

This week, Proposition 212 - the Protect Education Act - was found to have insufficient valid signatures to qualify for the ballot. The measure, backed by the Arizona Education Association and Save Our Schools Arizona, sought to enact new restrictions on the ESA program, including an income cap for participating families. Separately, a court found that Proposition145 violates the state’s single-subject requirement and deemed the measure unconstitutional, blocking it from the ballot. The measure was backed by ESA supporters and conservative groups, and its passage would have rendered moot any future ballot efforts attempting to cut funding to the ESA program.

With the ESA measures dead, these are the statewide ballot proposals that Arizona voters will see this fall:

• Prop 141 - Amends the Arizona Constitution to bar state and local governments from enacting any tax or fee based on vehicle miles traveled, and preemptively bans any replacements of the gas tax;

• Prop 142 - Amends the Arizona Constitution to bar any public institution from  having DEI policies within its hiring and other operational practices;

• Prop 144 - Amends the Arizona Constitution with a series of election reforms, including a voter ID requirement for ballots cast in-person or via mail;

• Prop 316 - Amends state law to cap municipal sales taxes on food, and requires voter approval for any new or increased food taxes;

• Prop 317 - Amends state law to designate drug cartels as terrorist organizations;

• Prop 318 - Amends state law to require that Arizona students play on sports teams or use bathrooms and locker rooms consistent with their biological sex;

• Prop 319 - Amends state law to prohibit local governments from using photo-enforcement of traffic laws. Any community with a pre-existing system would have to get approval of local voters to continue;

• Prop 320 - Amends state law to require that large school districts spend at least 60% of their operational monies on direct classroom instruction.