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Report finds 34% of Arizona ESA transactions reviewed had issues

By and
Published  May 13, 2026 6:42am MST
Education
FOX 10 Phoenix
Problems with ESA program: Report finds serious flaws

Problems with ESA program: Report finds serious flaws

A new report from the Arizona Auditor General's Office finds serious problems with the handling of Empowerment Scholarship Account funds. FOX 10's Danielle Miller explains.

The Brief

    • A new Auditor General report reveals potential mishandling of millions of dollars within Arizona’s Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) program.
    • The audit found 34% of reviewed transactions were unallowable or lacked documentation after Superintendent Tom Horne ordered expedited approvals.
    • Citizens are currently collecting signatures for a fall ballot measure to implement income requirements and increased accountability for the voucher program.

PHOENIX - A new report from the Auditor General’s Office finds serious problems with the handling of Empowerment Scholarship Account funds. The report finds that the program potentially mishandled millions of dollars from the state’s school voucher program.

What we know:

In the report, the auditor looked at 63 transactions and found 25 of them had issues. That would mean 34% of all transactions were an unallowable expense or had missing documentation. Back in 2024, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne ordered staff to approve all ESA purchase requests under $2,000, leading to millions of transactions being approved without proper review. Within the report, the auditor said the Department of Education disagreed with its finding.

At this time, signatures are being collected to get a measure on the ballot in the fall to hold the program accountable and make an income requirement for any family who gets a voucher.

What's next:

And the Empowerment Scholarship Account funds will certainly be a major topic as the candidates running for superintendent debate. The Democratic candidates will go tonight at 6 p.m. The Republicans will debate tomorrow at 6 p.m. We will be streaming it live on our FOX 10 Phoenix YouTube channel.

The Source: Information for this story was gathered from a report from the Arizona Auditor General's Office.

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