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Yes, Arizona’s new universal voucher system is the law of the land.

And under the latest iteration of the oft-expanded program, parents of any of the 1.1 million public-school students in the state may instead use the expanded “empowerment scholarship accounts� to divert the money public schools spend on their children to private schools of their choosing.

But with that right comes some risk, state Attorney General Kris Mayes, a foe of the voucher program, told parents this week.

In a statement Monday, Mayes, a Democrat, warned parents that pulling their children out of public schools to take advantage of the program could leave them vulnerable to bias and discrimination. She said various state and federal laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation and gender identity may not apply in private and parochial schools. That, she pointed out, could leave parents without legal recourse.

She also mentioned federal laws that guarantee students with disabilities a free and appropriate education, and laws that guarantee parents access to their children’s educational records, do not apply to private-school students.

“It’s important for Arizona families to be aware of the rights they give up when they leave the public school system,� Mayes said.

Republican backers of the voucher system, most notably state schools boss Tom Horne, immediately and unsurprisingly pushed back.

Horne called Mayes’ warning “nonsense,� and, even while admitting that private schools do not have to admit students with special needs, said that once such students are admitted, the schools are making the commitment to serve their needs. And he added that “parents are the judges of whether a school is doing an appropriate job� and that parents would always be free to move their children to different private schools.

For students without special needs, the situation may be even less clear-cut.

While acknowledging that protections based on a protected class other than disability may be covered, Mayes spokesperson Richie Taylor said parochial schools and other religious organizations may be exempt from such laws.

Horne said the voucher law as written was a “legislative decision,� including a provision that schools accepting vouchers do not have to change their creeds, practices, admissions policies or curricula.

“My job is to implement what the Legislature did,� he said.

To begin with, we heartily support Mayes in her overall opposition to the universal voucher law.

Last week, Gov. Katie Hobbs estimated the law’s cost at $943 million in state education funding during the current school year. That’s $319 million more than was projected in the state budget. This massive boondoggle is officially out of control.

We are reminded of famed anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist (a longtime proponent of vouchers), who famously said, “I don’t want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub.�

Whether that libertarian, if not downright anarchic, goal is the primary goal of the voucher program’s proponents or is merely seen as a desirable side effect, the impact is certain: The state’s ability to deliver quality education to its children will be deeply harmed by this program. As politicians recklessly expand this program to garner votes, Arizona’s schoolchildren will pay the price.

It will make our state a poorer place, less able to train the workforce we’ll need in the future. And it will inevitably limit outcomes and lower ceilings for public school children.

It’s no shock that proponents of vouchers don’t like the flaws of this runaway system to be pointed out to parents. But that doesn’t make the warning any less accurate or any less needed. And Horne’s “I’m just following the Legislature’s orders� is a weak justification.

We believe Mayes was right to raise the alarm about potential negative effects for the children of parents who elect to use the voucher system. And if her words make parents think twice before withdrawing their children from a public education system that desperately needs our collective support, all the better.