State Board approves parent handbook for kids with ESAs

PHOENIX — There will be no hard limits—in writing—on school voucher purchases.

That decision was made on Monday when the State Board of Education approved a parent handbook for kids who receive Arizona Empowerment Scholarships. 

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State Schools Chief Tom Horne had proposed various spending limits, such as $4,000 per student every three years for instruments, $3,000 per student for smartboards, and $2,000 per student every two years for personal computers and laptops.

Homeschool parents, however, pushed back and enlisted help from influential Republican lawmakers.

They pressured Horne, who faces a primary challenge from Treasurer Kimberly Yee next year, to remove the caps—and they won.

“We have listened to parents. We have negotiated with legislators who have made modifications, and the board adopted the handbook that we proposed by a vote of 8-1,” Horne told 12News after the vote.

A typical ESA voucher—fully funded by tax dollars—is $7,000 to $8,000 per child. The amount can exceed $40,000 for children with special needs.

12News previously reported how some parents were submitting claims for golf simulators, pianos, and a $16,000 cello.

Horne told 12News the $16,000 cello still wouldn’t be approved because his staff will use spending caps as guidelines on purchases that appear to be unreasonable or excessive.

“It’s still not Katy, bar the door,” he said. “There still has to be some limitations.”

At the statehouse, Republicans have vowed to make no changes to ESAs despite the rising cost to taxpayers.

Vouchers will cost the state at least $1 billion this upcoming school year. 

The cost was $176 million in fiscal year 2022, just before universal vouchers went into effect and were offered to anyone regardless of income. That created a surge from kids who were in private or home schools.

Despite getting a hard cap lifted, some Republicans were still not happy.

House Majority Leader Michael Carbone and 13 other GOP lawmakers sent a letter to the board on Monday expressing concern about the handbook.

They asked the board to reject the handbook and to remove “overly restrictive cost guidelines” and “burdensome documentation.”

There were 29 people, including many parents and some ESA students, who addressed the board during the 3-hour-plus meeting.

Most said they knew how to educate their kids without any restrictions on spending.

One of the parents was Lynn Fox-Embry of Goodyear. She has three adopted kids, including two with special needs. 

She told 12News that all three use ESAs, and the program has been a blessing to the kids.

Fox-Embry and many others said the handbook was too ambiguous.

“Families are afraid to use this handbook. They’re afraid that they are going to have to pay funds back, and that’s not what any of us wants,” she said. “We want to be good stewards of this money. We want to operate in good faith.”

The handbook adoption comes six months after the Department of Education was automatically approving ESA requests up to $2,000 because of a massive backlog.

ESA Director John Ward told the board that some of those approvals still could be audited. 

If money were misused, parents would have to refund the state.

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