The head of the Arizona Department of Education pushed back on a press release issued by Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, who warned that students participating in the Empowerment Scholarship Accounts (ESA) program, Arizona’s growing school choice initiative, lose some rights and face unscrupulous vendors or scams after leaving the public school system.
A press release issued by Mayes’ office warned Arizonans that students entering the ESA program “give up rights,” especially from bills aimed at protecting children with disabilities and to access to their children’s educational records. Mayes (pictured above, left) said, “Families should not be denied admission or kicked out of private schools because of a child’s disabilities” and said she wants “families to know that if vendors or private schools” are abusing the program, “the Attorney General’s Office will investigate to the fullest extent of our authority.”
The Arizona Sun Times asked Mayes’ office if there is evidence of scams happening within the program or if reports of discrimination have been received from the roughly 10,000 ESA program participating students who self-identify as having some form of disability but did not receive a response before press time.
Arizona State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne, a Republican, issued a response to Mayes’ press release, noting that “special education students receive the same funding as they would attending public school” and asserting that his office has already taken actions to stop misuse of ESA funding.
“Under my Democrat predecessor as schools chief, the law was not strictly followed and ESA funds were used for non-educational purposes,” Horne (pictured above, right) acknowledged. He noted that one of his “first acts” upon being elected was to hire “an internal auditor” from the Arizona Auditor General to ensure “every ESA transaction is conducted according to the law and all funding is used appropriately.”
Horne suggested complaints regarding the school choice program largely stem from those unhappy with the new oversight and accountability.
“There have been significant protests against me from people who were used to the only system,” said Horne in the press release.
He added, “I am insisting that every law is strictly followed and that every penny of these funds is used for valid educational purposes.”
Horne recently defended the ESA program after The New York Times claimed it “often benefited wealthy families,” writing, “This story misses the mark and speaks to many of the myths perpetuated by opponents of ESAs.”
This story misses the mark and speaks to many of the myths perpetuated by opponents of ESAs. Read Steve Smith's recent piece about Arizona's ESA program here. https://t.co/d5QLHaYxSu https://t.co/2kJ3AEBXZe
— SPI Tom Horne (@RealTomHorne) July 25, 2023
Meanwhile, the Arizona Education Association celebrated Mayes’ press release on Twitter, warning the public that private schools and vendors “can discriminate based on sexual orientation and religion and don’t need to follow federal law on students with disabilities.”
Horne and Mayes recently butted heads on July 20, when the attorney general struck down Horne’s plan to end a 50/50 dual language model of instruction in which some Arizona students are taught in both English and a second language, mostly Spanish, by stripping funding from participating schools.
At the time, Horne wrote that Mayes ruled “in favor of the Democrat legislators who favor dual language” for “ideological reasons.” Horne promised that the matter “will obviously be resolved in courts” and acknowledged that funding would not be withheld in the interim.
Mayes previously came under fire from leadership in both houses of the Arizona Legislature in May when she claimed there are “no controls” and “no accountability” for the ESA program and said “both sides” of the political aisle should have worked to reign in spending.
“As legislators and other elected officials have long emphasized, Arizona was the first in the nation to implement universal school choice and has been a model for the rest of the country,” wrote the legislators. “Legal and political attacks against ESAs have failed time and time again. Parents have spoken and the Legislature has enacted ESAs into law. Your job, as an executive branch official, is to execute the law, not attack it.”
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Tom Pappert is a reporter for The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Tom on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Tom Horne” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0. Photo “Kris Mayes” by Kris Mayes.
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