Key Points:

• Parents eliminated price caps in new ESA Handbook draft 

• Lawmakers submitted the draft for review

• State superintendent declined to consider proposal

Lawmakers proposed cutting any spending limits and expanding the list of allowable purchases in a new Empowerment Scholarship Account handbook draft submitted to the Arizona Department of Education. 

Three ESA parents authored the latest homegrown iteration of the handbook with the blessing of legislators and the legal review of staff. 

Though State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne said he would continue to negotiate with lawmakers, he declined to consider the latest draft from parents, noting the department’s own drafting process with the ESA Parent Handbook committee. 

“We had an elaborate procedure. We had parents who were chosen in a diverse way, with all different kinds of representations. They were chosen to work on the handbook. They worked extremely hard over a long period of time and they came up with a good product,” Horne said. “We can’t have random people throwing handbooks at us.” 

The ESA Handbook is an annual exercise in which the department gathers feedback from accountholders to update program policies, with final approval from the State Board of Education. 

Horne and the State Board of Education have twice tabled handbook drafts due to lawmakers’ and parents’ continued backlash over a proposal to limit prices on purchases like laptops and computers, instruments and vocational tools. 

After the last handbook was sent back to the drawing board in April, Horne said he would continue discussions with lawmakers and see to it that the Department of Education gathered more parent input by way of a town hall style forum. 

Noise around the handbook has since gone silent outside of negotiations between the department and legislators, until last week, when ESA parents took matters into their own hands. 

Angie Faber, an ESA parent and co-author of the latest handbook, said lawmakers, including Rep. Michael Carbone, Rep. Lisa Fink, Rep. Tim Dunn, Rep. James Taylor and Rep. Michele Pena, approached her and Stacey Brown, a former member of the ESA parent committee, to draft their own handbook.

Major changes include the elimination of any price limits, new language green-lighting any expenses “reasonably” related to an educational or vocational purpose, and the expansion of allowable purchases in line with that logic. 

“As far as we’re concerned, and as far as the legislators are concerned, the cap is how much we have in our account,” Faber said. “We only get a certain amount of money every year, and we should be able to utilize that funding how we see fit.” 

Brown noted the draft went through extensive review. 

“The handbook was created and brought to attorneys to make sure that everything was lawful and with the intent of the law so there really should be no other conversation,” Brown said. “This is what parents need and want for their kids. This is what the legislature has approved and this is what the legislature’s lawyers have approved. This is a solid handbook. There’s no reason for it to be rejected.” 

Carbone said the lawmakers served as a resource in the process. 

“We’re here to represent them. It’s our job as representatives first to represent. Then, we have access to the superintendent,” Carbone said. “We want a good ESA program. We want to be transparent. That’s all these parents are asking for.” 

Horne, who has been an outspoken critic of frivolous spending in the ESA program, said the department was not considering the submitted draft but said he would continue to work with lawmakers. 

“I’m hoping we’ll come up with an agreement soon,” Horne said. 

As work on the handbook continues, deadlines loom ahead. Parents are set to convene at a town hall meeting on June 10 to offer feedback on the handbook. The State Board will meet again on June 23 to consider the handbook, with a July 1 deadline to adopt it.