Since the Ducey Gubernatorial era that saw the expansion of the Empowerment Scholarship Program to universal access, there have been repeated reports by credible news organizations of widespread waste, fraud, and abuse in the system.
Of course the original promise by the advocates of this expansion, that poor families could use the scholarship program to pay for tuition at the private school of their choice was the biggest fraud of all.
Most reports, when they are made public by the Arizona Department of Education have shown what opponents of this program have always known. Empowerment Scholarship Accounts are nothing more than welfare for wealthy families where plutocrats are bilking the tax dollars of the middle and working class to either pay tuition to for their child’s private school that they could afford on their own, purchase items that have questionable and doubtful educational value, and are hoarding hundreds of millions of dollars in their accounts without spending them in the probable hopes no one will bother to pull the funds back.
More evidence of the waste, fraud, and abuse in the Empowerment Scholarship-Private School Voucher Program serviced last week with the revelation that seven account holders purchased $13,000 worth of Amazon Gift Cards under a loophole in the system provided by Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne that allowed automatic reimbursements for requests of $75.00 or less.
Note this is not direct purchases of educational materials through Amazon. These are gift cards with no way to trace what they are being used for.
While the accounts or these seven holders have been frozen, Horne is blaming the lack of funds for being unable to have the staff to adequately scrutinize all reimbursement requests.
However, as 12 News reports, Horne did have the money to market vouchers on media outlets.
Commenting on the latest example of mismanagement at the Empowerment Scholarship Program, Arizona House Assistant Democratic Leader Nancy Gutierrez wrote:
“I do not believe that using our state tax money for Amazon gift cards has any educational value and is an extreme use of ESA vouchers. Our public schools are dealing with a budget cut this year and the loss of federal grant monies because they weren’t being tracked correctly at the ADE.”
“In order to be reimbursed, families should be required to submit educational justification for the expense. This is exactly why I asked for the ESA system to be audited. I ask for this audit again. Clearly our tax payer dollars are not being adequately tracked and this must stop.”
Republicans claim that they want to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse in government.
They should put their money where their mouths are and start with their Frankenstein Monster of a Private School Voucher Program.
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Its time for Hobbs to play hardball on the budget, in the sunshine, for once. Cap charter schools, no more new ones. Since we cant abolish vouchers, budget cap them, and require accountibility. The corpse that is Horne cant do it. And no more money for marketing that mess. Hobbs should say no budget without these things. And not one word about “accountibility” from the legislative majority for real public schools.