The fight over Universal Empowerment Scholarship Accounts continues as the new legislative session concludes its first week, and Governor Katie Hobbs releases her proposed budget Friday.
Last year, Hobbs had a number of ESA reform proposals, but a majority of them were shot down by the Republican majority. This session, according to her budget, the only ESA reform she had proposed is to put an income cap on the program as those against universal ESA say it’s unaccounted for, especially after ABC15 investigators reported on some of the items the Arizona Department of Education approved for families.
Currently, there are no restrictions on the program and the Arizona Department of Education says there are no requirements for families to report their salaries.
Jenny Clark, ESA mom and CEO of Love Your School, doesn’t believe there should be any new rules surrounding the universal program, saying it is accountable and transparent. ESA families have to submit receipts for their purchases as well as curriculum for items such as books and rulers after the Attorney General’s Office order last summer.
“I think any amount of waste, fraud or abuse in any government program is not acceptable. We should probably start where the waste, fraud and abuse is the biggest and it's certainly not in Arizona's ESA program,” Clark said.
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There have been some alleged instances of fraud in the program, however, Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tom Horne, said they’re doing what they can to minimize it, believing they’ve put enough guardrails to help curb fraud.
In Hobbs’ proposal, she wants families making more than $200,000 to not have access to the ESA program. The scale then moves down to families’ income between $160,000 to $200,000 can get 25% of ESA money. From $130,000 to $160,000, they’d get 50% of ESA money. Income between $130,000 to $160,000 would be able to get 75% and then any families making less than $100,000 would get 100% of ESA funds.
“We have guardrails around every other government program that gives money to people and this should be no different,” Hobbs said.
The proposal said this change would save about $150 million. However, Hobbs’ proposal did not specify the size of the family. The income cap would not affect families with students who have disabilities.
Republican State Representative Matt Gress, who chairs the House Education Committee sent ABC15 a statement:
“The State of Arizona has a fundamental responsibility to invest in the education of every student regardless of whether they attend a district or charter school or use an ESA. A universal basic education means all students, regardless of their family’s wealth, deserve equal access to the learning environment of their choice.”
