Welfare for Wealthy Free Loaders: ESA Voucher Vultures Hoarding $360 Million The Could be Educating Our Kids

Even before the Ducey Republican Coalition expanded the Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) Private School Voucher Program to every Arizonan, there were reports of families looking for loopholes in the system to bilk the state for as much public tax money they could get their hands on.

Since then, the Welfare for Wealthy and Free Loader program has repeatedly generated controversy with reports that primarily rich families of children who have never set foot in a public school making up the majority of the scholarship applicants and questionable expenses like dune buggies, lego sets, personal trainers, and ski trips courtesy of the public dollar.

In June 2024, it was reported that ESA families were hoarding $175 million in their voucher accounts.

At the time of that reporting, it was noted that 79 families from the top one percent bracket had balances in their children’s accounts of $100,000 or more.

This was happening at a time when Title One Public Schools were getting notices of up to twenty percent budget cuts and the state had to tap into the Federal Opioid settlement to help balance the fiscal budget.

Fast forward to September 2024 and that $175 million figure has ballooned to $360 million.

In reporting by the Grand Canyon Institute, families have been hogging Empowerment Scholarship Funds year after year without having to return the unspent monies back to the taxpayer’s agents at the state.

According to the Institute, these funds can eventually be used to pay for rich family’s children to attend highly expensive private universities.

Talk about robbing from the poor and middle class to give to the rich and undeserving.

The Institute has made the following recommendations to stop this abuse of the system and the fleecing of hard-earned middle and working-class taxpayers money:

• Audit all independent evaluations submitted to request eligibility for special needs children in the universal program to verify if the criteria used are sufficiently consistent with the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
• End the carry-over of ESA funds from year to year and sweep existing carry-over balances. This would return $115 million swept from opioid settlement dollars and the rest to the General Fund.
  Audit educational expenditures approved to date relative to the educational needs of the child to be conducted by the Auditor General.
• Require that ESA awards are contingent on education plans that thoroughly document how funds will be used to meet the educational needs of the child.
• Require parents to re-apply each year with an educational plan for the child along with documentation of results and an evaluation from the prior educational plan and changes being made (in the absence of any testing requirement).

Suffice it to say, there are no Republicans in Arizona State Government rushing to embrace these recommendations.

Arizona Democratic Pro-Public Education Leaders have voiced their displeasure at the current welfare for the wealthy voucher program.

House Democratic Whip Nancy Gutierrez commented:

“The findings published by the Grand Canyon Institute are troubling but not surprising. I have been asking for more oversight of the ESA Voucher program since I was voted into office. The thought of having $360 million dollars in unspent funds when our state was faced with a more than a billion-dollar deficit, and money was stripped from public education, is maddening. Just last week I requested an audit of the Arizona Department of Education over federal grant money that was not applied for on time resulting in a $29 million dollar loss for our public schools. That request was denied on a party-line vote in the Joint Legislative Audit Committee. The Republicans are hostile to public schools and are not interested in oversight or accountability of the ESA voucher program. We must take control of this runaway spending now. We can begin this process with an audit of all expenditures, not allow carry over balances to accumulate and requiring voucher families to re-apply every year as the article states. We must do something and demand accountability.”

Maricopa County Schools Superintendent Nominee Dr. Laura Metcalfe stated:

The holding of $360 million in school vouchers should not be allowed. The ESA program needs accountability and transparency. The money from any voucher should be spent within 90 days of receipt and be taxed as income at a minimum of 30%. The withholdings from ESA school vouchers should be a dedicated budget line item to fund raises for teachers in the state.”

Legislative District 16 State Senate Candidate Stacey Seaman relayed:

“I didn’t think there was a way that the situation with the ESA vouchers could get worse. Not only has there been abuse and misuse, but this news that there is over $300 million in unspent money that could be going to schools is salt in the wound. This budget for this program should be run just like the budget for any other organization: with oversight on spending and deadlines to spend.”

Arizona voters should not allow this welfare-for-the-wealthy program to continue.

In November, vote for the candidates that will invest in the educational institution 90 percent of the Grand Canyon State’s children attend: Arizona’s public schools.