Arizona State Schools Superintendent Tom Horne is pushing back after Attorney General Kris Mayes publicly criticized the management of the Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) program.
In a letter to Horne on Friday, Attorney General Mayes told Horne she was “gravely concerned” about his “apparent failure” to manage the ESA funds, specifically the policy on automatically fulfilling purchases under $2,000.
In December, Horne announced the department would auto-fulfill purchases under $2,000 due to a backlog of reimbursements and limited staff.
On Friday, Mayes told Horne to stop automatically approving purchases of items under the unallowable section of the ESA Parent Handbook. In her letter, she said the auto-approval policy "led to ESA holders purchasing prohibited items such as diamond rings, lingerie, above-ground pools, and big screen TVs with taxpayer funds."
In a statement Friday in response, Horne said Mayes is misleading the public about how ESA funds are handled.
Horne says Mayes’ recent comments on how he’s handling the program left out details that his office is recovering money that had been improperly spent. According to Horne, more than $600,000 in improper purchases has either been collected or is in the process of being collected.
Horne has also previously defended the use of risk-based auditing, saying it was allowed.
In Mayes’ letter, she told Horne to confirm that he has stopped automatic approvals of prohibited items no later than 10 days from Friday, with more actions including developing and implementing an expense review and audit procedures in consultation with the Auditor General as well as suspending accounts that made unallowable purchases and more.
Mayes also told Horne’s office to provide copies of the department’s purchase review standards and risk-based audit procedures and more within 30 days from Friday.
"I also need to assess whether the Department is taking appropriate steps to respond to clear abuses of the ESA program and safeguard public funds,” she said in the letter, adding that she wants to stop the misuse of public funds “without further litigation, but I must reserve all available legal remedies."
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