READ: Nick Mansour Reacts to the Latest 12News Article on Continued Waste, Fraud, and Abuse in Arizona’s Universal Voucher Program.

The latest revelations of waste and abuse from users of Empowerment Scholarship Accounts (ESA’s) to purchase banned items are shocking.  Our taxes are paying for ridiculous items totally unrelated to education – jewelry, kitchen appliances, insurance, luxury hotel stays, wedding gifts, and on and on.  Some are even buying sexually explicit items, like lingerie.  Nearly 20% of the program funding may be wasted according to 12News’ latest estimates.  Taxpayers deserve better oversight of this program, and it is long past time to end this waste and make sure the money is going where it’s desperately needed – our schools.

While shocking, these revelations aren’t new.  Similar waste was uncovered just last summer and we’ve been talking about this on the campaign trail for months.  Our Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tom Horne, and our Treasurer, Kimberly Yee, each have the power to end this waste today and they clearly have not.  Instead, according to 12News, both have “slow-walked or refused” public records requests, and it appears 12News only received the information after filing lawsuits.  It’s reasonable to speculate that we, the Arizona taxpayers, wouldn’t even know about this if not for this excellent example of investigative journalism. Taxpayers deserve accountability and transparency, not delay.

The apparent lack of leadership or meaningful action is appalling. Where is the effort to hold Superintendent Horne accountable, force him to take action, or even just pause automatic reimbursements until the proper oversight is in place? Instead, a program that is on pace to cost Arizona taxpayers millions of dollars seemingly continues hurdling down the tracks with no meaningful effort from the leaders charged with overseeing the program. Arizona families work hard, balance their budgets, and should expect their leaders to do the same. The continued erosion of accountability should not just concern us. It should deeply disappoint us.

If a business was run like this, it wouldn’t be in business long.  We can eliminate this waste and end this abuse. We deserve better stewardship than this.  We deserve proper oversight, accountability, and transparency.  I’m ready to bring that to the Treasurer’s office.

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