Arizona is cutting food stamps for the poor, while school voucher costs skyrocket amid questionable luxury purchases

PHOENIX, Arizona — A new study shows Arizona is leading the nation in removing people from food assistance programs.

Meanwhile, the state’s rapidly growing school voucher system, which has allowed parents to buy iPhones, big-screen TVs, and lingerie with little to no repercussion, continues to put pressure on the state budget.

Since July, more than 424,000 Arizonans have been removed from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as food stamps. The reductions follow a new federal law requiring states to tighten eligibility or face financial penalties. No state has cut its SNAP rolls faster than Arizona, according to a new study.

For people like Jenny Duncan, the impact has been immediate and painful.

Duncan, who lives in Whitman and is disabled, relied on SNAP benefits to help cover basic food costs. 

She received about $300 a month—the maximum amount for an individual —until she lost her benefits last winter.

“SNAP was actually really beneficial,” she said. “The only income that I have coming in is a small loan from a family member, and it’s barely enough to cover my bills.”

Without that assistance, she says she’s been forced to make difficult choices. 

“Without it, you’re eating a lot more potatoes,” Duncan said. “I’ve also had to put things on credit cards that are near max anyway.”

Duncan is one of nearly 47% of Arizonans who have lost SNAP benefits since July, including about 180,000 children, according to the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Meanwhile, 12News Investigates has uncovered that roughly 20 percent of parents using the state’s Empowerment Scholarship Account program misspent more than $10 million in tax dollars during much of last year. 

12News obtained public records showing that state Schools Chief Tom Horne’s office allowed parents to buy more than 84,000 items that were banned from December 2024 through around September 2025, when he ordered the automatic approval of all ESA purchases under $2,000 due to a backlog.

Parents went on a spending spree at taxpayers’ expense.

Records show they bought $1,500 gift cards, electric dirt bikes, and even sexually explicit items like condoms and lubricants. Horne has said his office will eventually claw back the misspending, but it has recovered about $1 million over the last 3-plus years.

Even after the Food Stamp reductions, more than half a million Arizonans remain on SNAP.

The cuts stem from new restrictions implemented under President Donald Trump’s sweeping federal legislation, which he called the Big Beautiful Bill. 

It provided significant tax cuts and major reductions in social programs, such as tightening SNAP eligibility rules nationwide.

Arizona, like all other states, must lower its SNAP error rate or face significant financial penalties.

Arizona’s rate is 8.8 percent — far lower than the percentage of ESA parents who have misused funds — but it must be brought to 6 percent under new federal guidelines. 

Otherwise, Arizona would have to cover $195.4 million for SNAP benefits in 2028.

The significant drop in SNAP participants has occurred under Gov. Katie Hobbs, a Democrat. 

However, she’s not happy about it.

“We’re seeing people lose their benefits because of a so-called crackdown on fraud,” Hobbs said, “Which is really nothing more than bureaucratic paperwork making it harder for people to get food that they need on their tables.”

At the same time, Hobbs again is raising concerns about ESAs, the school voucher system that allows families to use public funds for private education expenses and home schooling with minimal oversight. 

While SNAP primarily serves low-income residents, 12News found that ESA funds often are used by higher-income families.

Hobbs argues the voucher program should face the same level of oversight as SNAP.

“It is an entitlement as is SNAP,” she said. “We should be seeing the same kind of regulations on ESAs as we do with SNAP.”

The governor says the two programs are not directly connected, but she acknowledges that the rapid growth of ESAs is putting pressure on Arizona’s already tight budget—affecting decisions across the board.

While Hobbs has pushed for greater ESA oversight throughout her three-plus years as governor, the Republican-controlled Legislature has resisted changes—especially since the program was expanded in summer 2022 to include all students, regardless of family income.

Within the first year of expansion, about 62,000 students joined the program. That number climbed to nearly 75,000 the following year, then to more than 85,000. Today, more than 100,000 students are enrolled.

The cost has risen just as dramatically.

Before expansion, the program cost about $176 million annually, according to state records. It has since ballooned to $1 billion last year, with projections reaching $1.2 billion.

For Duncan, the contrast is hard to ignore.

“ESA is supposed to be helping kids,” she said. “But if we’re not feeding our kids, it’s kind of astonishing that they have put one thing over the other. You have to eat—you don’t need a tablet for school.”