PHOENIX — Arizona’s education board opted not to vote on a proposed handbook for the state’s school voucher program – at least for now.
The Arizona State Board of Education heard Monday from a number of Empowerment Scholarship Account parents and students opposed to the draft handbook, which proposes spending caps on some items.
“I was actually shocked that there were so many changes that had not really been talked about,” Savannah Rogers, a parent of three ESA students, told ABC15.
The state Department of Education oversees the voucher program, which allows children who don’t attend public schools to use for their own education costs most of the state money that would have gone to their district.
The draft handbook proposes spending caps on some items, including physical-education equipment and musical instruments, and adds items to the program’s list of banned expenses. The changes come after ABC15 investigators reported on questionable expenses, including passes to ski resorts, trampoline parks and more.
“These are big changes, and they were not what the handbook committee actually told us that they had suggested,” Rogers said.
A panel of 10 ESA parents worked on the handbook, but the committee’s facilitator, Janelle Wood, said they never suggested hard spending caps. The $2,000 cap they proposed was meant to speed up the reimbursement process, which saw a big bottleneck last year.
"We said, ‘Let's make a request to Superintendent (Tom) Horne about putting at least $2,000 put a cap on it,” she told ABC15. “And that everything $2,000 and below, get them reimbursed, and do it based with the risk-based audit method.”
But the ESA program’s executive director, John Ward, told ABC15 earlier this month that spending caps were necessary.
“The fact that there is resistance to the limits we have placed on certain items is evidence that we are implementing reasonable controls and oversight of this program,” he said.
The proposed spending caps include:
- Physical-education equipment, which would have a three-year, $2,500 limit student.
- Smart boards, which would be limited to $3,000 total per account holder.
- Counter-top appliances and related accessories for home economics, such as baking equipment and sewing machines, which would be capped annually at $500 per student.
- Musical instruments, which would be limited to $4,000 limit every three years per student.
A number of parents who spoke at the board meeting said the proposed spending caps would harm students with disabilities.
But Ward told board members the limits would not apply to students with disabilities, adding that an expense would be approved if parents submit a letter from a specialist saying the expense is required for education.
Wood said the parents on the handbook committee did not see a final draft before the proposal was released. She also said the Arizona Department of Education made changes to what they suggested.
“Some of the wording that we had put in place may have been modified or removed,” she said, adding that sometimes relevant wording to a section was on a different page, causing confusion.
But she said she hopes the department makes changes that address parents’ concerns.
“I'm praying that by within the next month, we will get the corrections made, and those modifications made,” she said.
Critics of ESAs have called for reforms such as income caps, audits and manual approval of expenses in the fast-growing program.
The state is up to about $900 million in ESA awards a year, Ward said. According to the latest figures, more than 87,400 students participate in the ESA program, he told board members Monday. And the program’s growth, he said, shows no signs of slowing.
Board members must approve a new handbook by May 1, and the board next meets on April 19.
