Arizona governor, superintendent pass blame of fraudulent ESA purchases

PHOENIX – Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs and state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne are at odds over non-educational purchases made with Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) money, blaming each other for the reported fraud.

This comes after state Attorney General Kris Mayes accused Horne of enabling the misuse of ESA funds with a policy that approves any purchase under $2,000.

In a recent high-profile case, two people from out of state pleaded guilty to defrauding the publicly funded school voucher program of more than $110,000.

Hobbs, Horne trade accusations over ESA misuse

Hobbs told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Outspoken with Bruce and Gaydos on Tuesday the problem is the approval process.

“The way to have avoided those misspent funds is to not have implemented the policy he implemented where he stopped approving purchases under $2,000. So, this is kind of a deal of his own making,” she said.

Horne, a Republican, joined KTAR News’ The Mike Broomhead Show on Wednesday to explain the purchase approvals. He said the policy being attacked by the Democratic attorney general and governor was state regulated.

“The Legislature passed and the governor signed a bill that said we were instructed to use risk-based auditing,” he said. “Risk-based auditing means for purchases under $2,000, we pay them right away to avoid the two-month delay and then we audit. Now, what neither of them mentioned is we have collected or are in the process of collecting over $600,000 of improper purchases.”

Horne said families found to be abusing their ESA accounts will be terminated from the voucher program.

He also called Mayes’ claims “garbage,” saying her allegations were meant to “discredit the program.” He said the blame for ESA fraud should fall on Hobbs for failing to approve additional auditing staff for the department.

“The [Arizona} House had in its budget to give us an additional 12 people so that we could keep up with the audits before we paid any money out. And she told the House that if they didn’t take that out, she would veto the budget,” Horne said.

Funding for this journalism is made possible by the Arizona Local News Foundation.

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