- Oct 17, 2011
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Condoms, gift cards and wedding gifts: Arizona parents allegedly misspent $10 million in ESA funds
The Arizona Department of Education records obtained by 12News show misspending could be 20% of all purchases in the $1 billion voucher program.New public records obtained by 12News show thousands of parents used Empowerment Scholarship accounts to purchase at least $10.3 million on banned items -- including paying themselves, buying condoms, and other sexually explicit items -- in less than a year.
the Department of Education and Treasurer's Office, which co-manage the program, have slow-walked or refused to respond to public records requests on total ESA spending for nearly a year from 12News, leaving gaps in the public’s understanding of how widespread the issue may be.
[School Super] Horne insists that the statistic doesn’t mean 20% of parents committed fraud.
“Well, it’s not fraud. Most of it is just mistakes,” he said earlier this week.
But Jennifer Jennings, a Princeton University professor who studies school choice and reviewed the records, said she found 18,626 ESA account holders had at least one unallowable purchase.
"That suggests there is a systemic oversight problem, not just a few bad apples abusing the program," she said. "Arizona taxpayers deserve to know whether Arizona kids are getting the education they need, and these data demonstrate that the ESA program desperately needs guardrails."
Meanwhile, Horne's office has referred at least six cases to Attorney General Kris Mayes' office related to parents paying themselves.
This isn’t the first time ESA spending has drawn scrutiny.
Last summer, 12News reported that some parents used ESA funds for diamond rings, Kenmore appliances and lingerie.
Let's hope VP Vance gets to the bottom of this fraud.
