ESA fraud charges being referred to metro Phoenix prosecutors for potential charges
The Arizona Department of Education has been referring ESA fraud cases to the Maricopa County Attorney's Office as well as the Arizona Attorney General's Office.
Watch: Tom Horne talks the latest on ESA program | 11 mins
PHOENIX – The Arizona Department of Education has been referring ESA fraud cases to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office as well as the Arizona Attorney General’s Office.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne accused Attorney General Kris Mayes of not prosecuting alleged fraud within the Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) school voucher program, which allows families to use public education tax dollars for private school or homeschooling expenses.
“We started with the attorney general, and she was saying no to things that we thought were outrageously criminal and should’ve been prosecuted. So, we started sending them to the county attorney. Now we’re sending them to both,” Horne told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s The Mike Broomhead Show on Friday.
Horne noted that the list of items ESA users are permitted to purchase differs from what school districts can buy.
Woman accused of forgery in Maricopa County ESA fraud case
Maricopa County prosecutors filed their first ESA case in late December 2025. Sara Brown was charged with forgery for allegedly sending a false medical verification letter to the Arizona Department of Education in an effort to increase her payouts. Students with a recorded medical disability can receive over $10,000 more than a typical ESA recipient.
Previous ESA-related prosecutions include a case where users submitted false birth certificates for fake children and a money laundering case.
Horne said $1.2 million in misused ESA funds have already been recovered by his office from accounts that had been misusing the money.
Funding for this journalism is made possible by the Arizona Local News Foundation.
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Comments
4 Comments
I hate the ESA program. Arizona voted it down and Ducey went against the will of the people to pass it anyway. It’s the best chance at destroying the public schools, so only the wealthy can get a good education. As a taxpayer, I don’t know why I should be paying for private schools especially those that are religious based.
But, there is another side to the story.
Mayes has stated she will prosecute those cases she finds have enough evidence to justify the charges.
I say get them all and shut down the fraudulent scam. Only kids with special needs should have this program as intended
YES, far left. Listen to some of their whackos like gaydos. They want it cancel due to minimal fraud. They do NOT want children educated, they want them indoctrinated.
Only a loony leftist would claim ktar is "centrist." Just because you nutjobs want to undermine families hardly makes it "centrist."
It'll be interesting to see how all this plays out when tech crashes and all those revenue streams go down as well.
Not to mention all the dollars that were sunk in providing for millions of randos- roads, schools, hospitals, etc which dollars will never be recouped.
Right now AZ is spending like a rock star at the start of their career rather than the reality of the end.
The Dust Bowl moniker is waiting and it won't be long now.