Arizona Superintendent Tom Horne has long said his department needs more staff to administer the state’s booming school voucher program. But Democrats allege that lawmakers gave him money to hire more money in 2023 — funds Horne says were actually earmarked for a voucher marketing campaign.
The Arizona House of Representatives passed two bills on Monday that would give the Arizona Department of Education $1 million this year and $2.6 million next year to hire more staff to administer the voucher program, officially called Empowerment Scholarship Accounts, or ESAs.
Rep. Matt Gress (R-Phoenix) said the money is needed to help the department keep pace with explosive growth in the program, which has seen enrollment grow tenfold after Republicans expanded eligibility to all students in the state in 2022.
Enrollment in the ESA program went from around 10,000 students in 2021 to nearly 102,000 today, according to the Arizona Department of Education.
“But did we increase the ability to administer this program at the rate that we needed to? We did not,” Gress said. “I think it caught government by surprise, and we are working to ensure that parents and families can get access to these funds that they are entitled to.”
Since entering office in 2022, Horne has said the department doesn’t have enough staff to review every voucher purchase in a timely manner.
In 2024, he said those backlogs forced voucher families to wait months for reimbursements. To counteract that, he adopted a policy to automatically approve any voucher expense under $2,000 without an initial review.
Democrats have long argued the voucher program lacks guardrails, as the cost eclipses $1 billion annually. They pointed to Horne’s decision and reporting by 12News that the number of inappropriate purchases by voucher families may be much higher than the department claims.
Gress argued the Democrats should support his bills, arguing it will put more staff in place to monitor the program.
“Haven't we heard from a lot of folks that we need more eyes on these purchases?” Gress said.
Budget deals
But Democrats in the House of Representatives, who all voted against Gress’ bills, said they already gave Horne $10 million to hire more staff three years ago.
“And instead of administering that, hiring more people, looking at how to explore waste, fraud, and abuse and prevent it, they decided to advertise the program,” Rep. Nancy Gutierrez (D-Tucson) said.
She is referencing a slate of television commercials starring Horne that began in 2023, encouraging Arizonans to enroll in the ESA program.
John Ward, the department’s ESA program director, told lawmakers in a committee hearing earlier this month that the legislature designated that money for the commercials.
“The $10 million that was given to the Department of Education — my understanding was that it primarily was to market the program and for advertising,” Ward said.
That year, Republican legislative leaders gave rank-and-file GOP lawmakers each a pot of money for pet projects in order to secure enough support to pass the state budget.
Doug Nick, a spokesman for the department, said Sen. Janae Shamp (R-Surprise) used part of her allocation to fund ESA marketing campaigns. Horne made similar statements to the Arizona Republic in 2023.
“The Democrats’ claim is false,” Nick said. “In 2023, when lawmakers were each allowed to earmark $10 million as part of the budget deal, Sen. Shamp made it very clear to Supt. Horne that her $10 million was intended for ESA advertising.”
Nick also shared emails showing the department updating Shamp on the television spots it purchased with the money in August 2023.
“Thank you for sending,” Shamp responded.
During a committee hearing earlier this month, Gutierrez said “the legislature was not told the truth” about how that money would be used, pointing to legislative budget documents that tell a different story.
The fiscal year 2024 state budget, which lawmakers approved in May 2023, allocated $10 million to the department for “operating expenses.”
According to a budget breakdown prepared by legislative budget staff, that $10 million was for an “administration funding increase.”
The document makes no mention of funding for the Arizona Department of Education for commercials, advertising or marketing.
“So they spent $10 million on advertising the program to get more people using the program without ever taking time to explore how people might abuse this program,” Gutierrez said.
Nick noted that budget documents from 2023 also lack any authorization for the department to hire new staff, and that Horne’s office was following directives from Shamp and Republican legislative leaders.
Any effort to further supplement ADE’s voucher program budget, including Gress’ bills, will need to win the support of Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs.
And so far, she appears aligned with Democratic lawmakers.
The governor’s office said earlier this year that Hobbs won’t approve new money for Horne’s office unless it's attached to other, broader voucher reforms backed by Democrats.
EDITOR'S NOTE: This story has been updated to correct what office Janae Shamp has held in the Arizona Legislature. She has only been a senator.
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