By Kathryn Hickok
Recent news reporting in Arizona, claimed that more than 20 percent of purchases made through the state’s Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) program were “unallowable.” The media outlet implied that a staggering amount of misspending had occurred in one of the nation’s highest-profile school choice programs.
As it turns out, the reports were false.
On March 12, the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) released its own investigation into the state’s ESA program. The ADE determined that only 2 percent of spending occurred for items that were not allowed. “Not allowed” is different from fraud. It appears most of the mistaken spending was likely for items parents didn’t know were prohibited. Fraudulent purchases might account for about 0.3 percent of total ESA spending.
With such a huge difference between 20 percent and 2 percent, how did this happen? According to news articles, a school choice critic and reporter for Arizona’s 12 News analyzed a subset of ESA transactions flagged for review, rather than total ESA spending. He then drew a conclusion from this non-representative sample. Critics of educational choice have since amplified the accusation that taxpayer funding for a major school choice program had been flagrantly abused.
The accusation couldn’t be more wrong. Research analysts from EdChoice, one of the nation’s premier educational choice advocacy nonprofits, independently examined Arizona’s ESA spending for 2024-25. Their findings were in line with Department of Education’s, concluding that questionable spending in Arizona’s ESA program might account for between 1 and 2 percent of purchases that year.
Publicly funded programs are accountable to taxpayers who have a right to know their money is being spent appropriately and according to law. As it turns out, Arizona’s Empowerment Scholarship Account program more than withstands the scrutiny. If only other taxpayer-funded programs passed audits with this much integrity.
Kathryn Hickok is Executive Vice President at Cascade Policy Institute, Oregon’s free market public policy research organization, and Director of Cascade’s Children’s Scholarship Fund-Oregon program. She specializes in research and policy in school choice legislation and other key issues relating to education.
