Governor Hobbs and Superintendent Horne clash over ESA reimbursement change

PHOENIX (AZFamille) — Governor Katie Hobbs takes Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne to fault his recent decision regarding a change in school voucher reimbursement while Horne fired back, saying Hobbs approved it.

Horne said earlier this month that Arizona Department of Education would help clear a backlog of 89,000 reimbursements for the Empowerment Scholarship Account Program by automatically approving purchases under $2,000 without the requests being reviewed.

As many as 85,000 approvals could be obtained without applications being reviewed, Hobbs said.

In a letter to Horne, Hobbs blasted the decision, calling it irresponsible and said up to $170 million of taxpayer money would be spent without proper oversight.

“Letting this spending go unchecked creates an environment ripe for fraud, waste and abuse of public funds,” Hobbs said in a statement.

She also criticized the fact that the ADE already automatically approved all purchases under the ESA program for less than $85, saying this led to a drastic increase in the number of people purchasing Amazon gift cards.

Horne fired back in a written statement released Thursday afternoon, saying the audit approach was included in the budget signed by Gov. Hobbs earlier this year.

“The method we are implementing, known as risk-based auditing, is specifically called for in the budget law that the governor signed last session. Maybe she should start reading what she signs,” Horne said.

He also said she created the problem by signing a bill allowing private school tuition to be paid through the reimbursement method rather than through a third-party provider.

“This has played a major role in increasing turnaround times and refunds from 30 days a year ago to over 100 days now,” Horne said.

Last month, two people from out of state have been charged for allegedly using “ghost children” to defraud the ESA program out of $110,000.

The ESA program is designed to allow Arizona parents to use a portion of public education dollars to send their students to private or charter schools. ESA vouchers can also be used for homeschooled children.

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