The Arizona Department of Education plans to clear a backlog of reimbursements for families using the state’s school voucher program. It will automatically reimburse 85,000 purchases of up to $2,000 and audit them later.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne made the announcement at this week’s State Board of Education meeting.
“For those whose applications are approved because they’re $2,000 or less without checking, if the audit shows that they were improper, the money can be clawed back and if it’s fraudulent, there can be more severe consequences to that," Horne said.
Horne sad once the backlog is taken care of, the department should be back to approving requests within 30 days. The state had received complaints from parents that it was taking too long for them to be reimbursed.
The announcement prompted concerns from Save Our Schools Arizona’s Beth Lewis.
In a press release, she called the automatic approvals a "recipe for disaster," adding that it "props the door wide open for fraud and abuse."
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