Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs’s office released a July 21, 2023 study confirming that if the Arizona Department of Education’s (A.D.E.) questionable May 2023 enrollment projections for voucher scholarship accounts are accurate and the Fiscal Year 2024 State Budget may face a close to $320 million shortfall.
This happened only hours before:
- The Empowerment Scholarship Account Division of the Arizona Department of Education (A.D.E.) said it will permit families to claim visits at waterparks as reimbursement for physical education activities.
- Attorney General Kris Mayes issued an advisory on procedures to follow if parents have problems with the private school they have applied their scholarship toward.
- The “abrupt” resignation of the Empowerment Scholarship Account Division’s two main administrators,
What does the July 21, 2023 study state?
In the memo to House and Senate Democrats from Will Gaona, the Governor’s Deputy Chief of Staff, several key findings on the projected voucher expansion were determined:
- “New estimates indicate the ESA voucher program may cost taxpayers up to $943,795,600 annually, resulting in a potential $319,795,600 General Fund shortfall in FY 2024.
- The ESA voucher program increases costs to the General Fund. More than 50% of ESA voucher funding represents a newly incurred cost to the State due to new applicants that were previously enrolled in private school, homeschooling, or were attending non-state aid schools prior to transferring.
- ADE has failed to respond to the Governor’s Office requests for additional information and background on their methodology and breakdown of current enrollment numbers.
- Spending on ESA vouchers could account for 53.25% of all new K-12 education spending in the FY 2024 budget going towards only 8% of Arizona students.”
Please click here to review the entire document.
The controversial E.S.A. expansion program has earned condemnation from the beginning for, in addition to allowing questionable expenses, being a hidden tax cut to the richest in the state who are using the scholarships as a way to not pay out-of-pocket tuition to the private school their child is already attending.
That is probably why the Governor’s team at the end of the memo advanced several solutions to stem the growth of this program and address the lack of transparency from the private schools and the ADE. These solutions include:
- “Setting academic testing requirements for schools that accept ESA funding by requiring that students take an annual academic assessment such as the statewide assessment.
- Creating audit authority for schools that accept ESA funding by establishing an audit team in the Office of the Auditor General to identify and prevent fraud, conduct audits and monitor qualified schools to determine the percentage of Arizona empowerment scholarship account monies that are spent in the classroom by the qualified school.
- Fingerprinting parity by requiring ESA vendors to meet the same fingerprinting requirements as certified and non-certified educators who work in public schools.
- Requiring universal voucher applicants to attend a public school by requiring students to attend a public school prior to being eligible to enroll in the ESA voucher program.”
If Republicans really feel that voucher expansion is a way to help children leave poorly performing public schools, they should not object to any of these measures that ensure proof that these schools are academically superior, assurances that these institutions are fiscally responsible, hire qualified and safe staff members, and give the scholarship opportunities to families who really need it.
After the release of the memo, Governor Hobbs posted on social media:
Reaction and Nonreaction from Superintendent Tom Horne’s office.
After the release of the Governor’s memo, Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne’s released a statement from the ADE, stating:
“The Arizona Department of Education submitted a report to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee (JLBC) on May 30thoutlining our estimates for the number of students that will participate in the ESA program by the end of the 2024 Fiscal Year. On May 31st, John Ward and I held a news conference where all aspects of these estimates, including the methodology, were thoroughly discussed and scrutinized by members of the news media. This contradicts the contention that ADE was anything less than transparent in this process.
The projections we released are, ironically, almost exactly the same as those in the governor’s memo. There is a difference of only .008 percent between their numbers and ours. Questioning our methodology and our commitment to integrity in this process is unfair and unnecessary.
ADE is managing the Empowerment Scholarship Account program in accordance with the law. Under my Democrat predecessor, the law was not strictly followed, and ESA funds were used for non-educational purposes. One of my first acts, when I took office, was to hire John Ward from the Arizona Auditor General as the internal auditor for the Department of Education. He is now the director of the ESA program, and he is as committed as I am to making sure the law is strictly enforced and every penny is spent on valid educational purposes.”
However, when Blog for Arizona reached out to ADE and asked what new information the department had sent to the JBLC after their late May, initial projections, the response was the inclusion of the same material and JBLC documents from the initial reports.
When a follow-up query was sent to the ADE asking for newer information, there was no response.
Furthermore, Blog for Arizona received no response, when asked, for the second time, how Mr. Horne’s contention of “making sure every penny is spent on valid educational purposes,” reconciled with the recent report that the ESA division is allowing reimbursements for waterpark visits as legitimate P.E. educational expenses.
UPDATE: Doug Nick, the Communications Director for the Arizona Department of Education sent this response shortly after this article was published regarding the waterpark issues.
“One of our call center reps erroneously told a parent that such an expense is valid. When the parent submitted the paperwork for reimbursement, it was denied since it is not an authorized expense.”
Democratic and Public Education Activist Reaction to the Governor Team’s Memo.
In a letter released by the Arizona House Democrats, Whip and Legislative District (LD) 18 Representative Nancy Gutierrez wrote:
“This analysis confirms our worst fears: The unlimited voucher program is out of control and unsustainable. There’s no limit on how much can be spent, and it is on pace to cost nearly $1 billion when its original price tag was $33 million. That will put our budget shortfall at $320 million next year. Also, Superintendent Horne and voucher advocates are wrong when they say vouchers will save the state money. The majority of recipients had not attended a public school before receiving a subsidy for private school or homeschooling so that’s a new cost. And those who did switch are funded at the charter school funding level, which is higher than our per-student investment in district public schools so no savings there, either. This program has no academic standards, no transparency, no accountability, no oversight, and it’s driving our state budget into a ditch. There are no easy answers on the horizon, but our Republican colleagues who approved this program must come to the table to help keep it under control before it puts every other priority in the state budget at risk.”
Marisol Garcia, the President of the Arizona Education Association (A.E.A.) relayed in a statement:
“Arizona’s voucher program has become a billion-dollar boondoggle.
Rampant mismanagement, massive opportunities for fraud and abuse, completely out-of-control costs — at this point, Arizona is a cautionary tale for the whole country.
Our legislature needs to take action now before this program bankrupts our state entirely.”
Beth Lewis, the Director of Save Our Schools Arizona offered:
“We are grateful to the Governor’s office and the OSPB for working towards accountability for this off-the-rails program. However, if the legislature does not work to roll back this entitlement program, Arizona’s public schools and our state economy are in serious jeopardy.”