Mayes orders Arizona’s top education official to end automatic ESA approval of requests under $2K

PHOENIX — Arizona’s top education official and the state’s attorney general are clashing over the empowerment scholarship accounts (ESA) program.

The showdown started after Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes said she was “gravely concerned” about the way the way the Arizona Department of Education automatically approves ESA purchases under $2,000 with little oversight or review.

“This policy has led to ESA holders purchasing prohibited items such as diamond rings, lingerie, above-ground pools and big screen TVs with taxpayer funds,” Mayes said in a letter she sent to the Arizona Department of Education on Friday. “I cannot stand by while public monies are misspent.”

Kris Mayes accuses Tom Horne of enabling fraudulent ESA purchases

Mayes accused Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom