The program has grown tenfold in three years
Contributed Article
PHOENIX – In a dramatic show of support for school choice in Arizona, more than 100,000 students are now enrolled in the Empowerment Scholarship Account program, according to state schools chief Tom Horne.
At a news conference in Phoenix today, Horne was joined by parents who chose the ESA program to best meet their children’s educational needs and who are enthusiastic about its benefits.
Horne said, “When I took office this term, the ESA program had about 11,000 students. In the past three years, we have grown it to more than 100,000 students.
This milestone is a remarkable endorsement of the value of the ESA program and proves that Arizona parents continue to embrace school choice. Consider a family with three children. Two of the children are doing just fine in district schools. The third child’s needs are not being met. Now, the parents can find another school that meets the child’s needs. I do not understand how anyone can say parents do not have a right to find a school that meets their child’s needs, unless people are so immersed in ideology that they lose sight of what is best for students. The ESA program joins charter schools and open district enrollment as pillars of school choice in Arizona.”
The ESA program also continues to grow in its ability to serve parents by operating securely and efficiently. Over the past year, the enrollment process has been streamlined to make it simpler and faster for parents to establish an account. Call volume to program specialists is greatly reduced as various customer processes are simplified, and the purchase and reimbursement timeline that once stretched into months is now virtually seamless.
The department has initiated a technology-based counter-fraud tool to augment efforts to ensure purchase requests are allowable, Arizona residency is verified, and risk-based auditing ensures accountability and efficient customer service. To date, the department has recovered approximately $1.2 million in unallowable expenses through collections, repayments, or referrals to legal authorities.
Horne added, “Some people have questioned my authority to insist that expenditures only be for valid educational purposes. I am not the final word. Parents have a right to appeal (a) denial to an administrative law judge. There have been 20 such appeals, and my authority to deny the expenditure was involved in every one. We have 20 wins and zero losses. Administrative law judges have held unanimously that I do have that authority.”
