Editor’s note: A direct response to this article has been published at: https://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2026/06/09/arizona-esa-moms-demand-voucher-reforms-to-protect-education-for-students-with-disabilities/ 

We are ESA moms supporting the Protect Education Act to rein in the Empowerment Scholarship Account school voucher program. We’re even collecting signatures to get it on the ballot. We believe reform is essential now. 

The reckless spending of ESA funds — taxpayer dollars that families can use to pay for private or homeschooling expenses — has caused tremendous harm to this program. This has been enabled by a total lack of legislative guardrails and irresponsible management by the Arizona Department of Education. 

Meanwhile, the cost of ESAs is devastating our public schools. The most damage has been to under-resourced special education services, which serve almost 90% of the K-12 students in Arizona who have disabilities. The financial impact is particularly harmful to our rural schools and especially the students with disabilities who attend them. 

As parents of students with disabilities whose children have benefited from the education that was made possible with ESAs, we now say: The only way forward is to make reforms. 

The 2022 universal expansion of the program made it available to all Arizona K-12 students, regardless of income or public school history. Since then, the ESA program has grown from about 12,000 students at a cost of nearly $190 million per year to over 100,000 students, with the cost rising to over $1 billion just this current fiscal year. 

Fraud, waste and the abuse of taxpayer dollars have happened with the ESA program, as recently reported by the Arizona Auditor General. However, the Arizona Legislature has stubbornly refused any reforms. Instead, ESA has been treated as an untouchable sacred cow. 

Thanks to the vague wording of Arizona’s ESA law and rules, ESA has redefined the concept of K-12 education so that practically anything can be considered “educational,” including lifestyle purchases and enrichment activities: museums in Europe, castles in England, ancient ruins in the Middle East, skiing (“it’s PE!”) or Kenmore appliances. Just use AI to write a curriculum, and tax dollars will automatically be approved for purchases of $2,000 or less!

Adding salt to the wound, some ESA account holders have stockpiled years of funds (up to a quarter million dollars!) meant for K-12 education, knowing they can be used for higher education. We support prioritizing early intervention for students with disabilities today, rather than allowing critical educational resources to sit in an account for years. 

Further, many disabled individuals require lifelong support. While the majority in the state Legislature has prioritized the billion-dollar ESA program, despite millions in misspending, programs that serve individuals with disabilities are on the chopping block or at-risk for being defunded, including the Arizona Division of Developmental Disabilities. 

Hiring anyone with ESA funds can be a messy, confusing process. No usable list of ESA vendors exists. While some ESA vendors and many account holders think they are “ESA approved” or “Arizona Department of Education (ADE) approved,” the reality is that no vetting occurs. A vendor listed in the ESA system simply accepts money through that system. The state has no contract with ESA vendors, provides zero oversight, and neither requires nor performs background checks of ESA vendors. 

According to recent reporting, mobile phones and televisions have been purchased with ESA funds. These are banned in ESA law, but no prosecutions have been reported. The silence on such banned purchases speaks volumes about the current deep dysfunction of ESA administration. 

Right now, substantial misuse of ESA funds is sent by the ADE to the Arizona State Board of Education. The State Board then votes on whether to refer the fraud to the Arizona attorney general. However, very few cases have actually been forwarded since universal ESA expansion and the ADE’s $2,000 auto-approval policy took effect. Indeed, the auditor general raised concerns about the lack of timely action that could lead to these public funds becoming unrecoverable. The auditor general’s report also raised many red flags regarding deficiencies in the auditing of ESA purchases and how transactions were reviewed. 

We support Protect Education’s ban on luxury items. Arizona taxpayers should have confidence that their money is being spent on legitimate educational expenses. 

We support its academic accountability measures, and we note that Protect Education thoughtfully crafted those in regards to students with disabilities. Quality matters for education. Parents want the freedom to make decisions based on real information about schools and tutors.

Protect Education preserves access to ESA for all students with disabilities, regardless of household income. The initiative’s income cap applies only to universal ESA students — students who were eligible prior to universal expansion, including students with disabilities, will not be affected. 

We appreciate that Protect Education allows a full year of ESA rollover funding for students with a disability, since their educational needs can vary. 

We support Protect Education because it creates basic safety standards. The sad reality is that individuals with disabilities are more likely to be abused, but we know all students are at-risk. We support efforts to protect all students, including those using ESAs. 

No one is taking away school choice. Arizona has plenty of it. This initiative draws a line about what taxpayers should be paying for and the transparency and accountability they should expect in return. 

We urge you to join us in supporting these commonsense reforms! Sign the Protect Education petition, and vote YES in November. 

Dr. Kathy Boltz is an ESA mom in Phoenix. 

Amy Pedotto is an ESA mom in Tempe.