Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne told The Center Square that the Empowerment Scholarship Account’s error rate is lower than that of other Arizona government programs.
Katie Ratlief, executive director for Common Sense Institute Arizona, said the school choice program’s error rate is around 1%, the same as it was in 2018, before it became available universally.
Data released by the state Education Department this week puts the “actual fraud or egregious purchases” rate at a paltry 0.3% and unallowed spending at 2%.
Ratlief told The Center Square that nearly 2 million transactions occur each year.
Matt Beienburg, director of education policy at Phoenix-based Goldwater Institute, said people can use ESA funds for anything from private school tuition to special education therapy curriculum and supplemental materials.
He said the Arizona Department of Education uses risk-based auditing, the same method the Internal Revenue Service uses to audit taxpayers.
