GILBERT, AZ — Shannon Behnke and her family moved from Maryland to Arizona in 2021 because of the state's empowerment scholarship program.
Shannon's daughter suffers from learning disabilities. In Arizona, the Behnkes found hope and help.
"Within three months of being in that school, she was reading," said Shannon Behnke.
Under the expansion of the voucher program, any student can qualify to get state funds to attend the school of their choice and receive tutoring help and other services.
In November, when it came time to pay tuition, Shannon made the request through the voucher program.
So far, the tuition is still not paid.
"A lot of schools are facing the same situation. The vendors that have all been serving our children are still waiting on payments since November," Behnke said. "I know some of you agree with the ESA and some of you don't."
On Wednesday, Arizona's Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne revealed that under his predecessor, Kathy Hoffman, the Department of Education stopped authorizing payments to schools, tutors and vendors in November.
"When we took office a week ago, there were 171,000 parents who had applied and who had not heard back — 171,000 of them. Some of them for many months," Horne told the Senate Education Committee.
The superintendent said his team reviewed and approved nearly 25,000 ESA payment requests on the first day.
That's more than $22 million.
A former Department of Education official in Kathy Hoffman's administration says when the program expanded to all students in September, a flood of applications led to a slowdown and they needed to make sure the applications were legitimate.
The former official also said, "The Department of Education was advised by the state auditor general not to do bulk approvals of transactions."
Officials who now run the ESA program tell ABC15 the funds distributed on Horne's first day as superintendent were already approved. They just needed to be released.
"I know they're really trying to make it work to clear up the backlog," Behnke said. The Gilbert mom is confident her daughter's tuition bill will get paid. She is hoping to see the email from the Department of Education confirming it soon.