Arizona's Auditor General reviewed a sample of Empowerment Scholarship Account purchases in May and found problems in 25 of 63 transactions, about 34 percent of the dollars examined. Auditors stressed this is not a program-wide error rate.
The bigger finding: 2.3 million purchases worth $654 million were approved automatically between December 2024 and January 2026. About $102 million in prepaid cards and reimbursements got even less scrutiny. One case was referred to the Attorney General.
The program serves more than 100,000 students at about $1 billion a year. Superintendent Tom Horne disputed the findings. House Speaker Steve Montenegro called them serious.
Why it matters here
Valley Jewish day schools take ESA students. How much ESA money flows to each Jewish school has never been published. Kol Phoenix will request the Department of Education's payment records by school.
How we reported this: based on the Auditor General's report as covered by KJZZ and Fox 10. School-level figures are not yet public. Day school parents and administrators can reach us at [email protected].