{"id":555,"date":"2026-05-16T16:03:32","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T16:03:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scottsdalemovinghub.com\/?p=555"},"modified":"2026-05-16T16:03:32","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T16:03:32","slug":"legislature-gave-schools-chief-tom-horne-10m-for-the-esa-program-gop-rival-kimberly-yee-said-he-wasted-the-money-on-a-vanity-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottsdalemovinghub.com\/?p=555","title":{"rendered":"Legislature gave Schools Chief Tom Horne $10M for the ESA program, GOP rival Kimberly Yee said he wasted the money on a vanity project"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<p>PHOENIX \u2014 A critical report from the Arizona Auditor General on the state\u2019s Empowerment Scholarship Account program quickly became a major issue this week in the race for Arizona superintendent of public instruction.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/scottsdalemovinghub.com\/?p=553\">Boyfriend in custody after pregnant 16-year-old shot to death, 2 others critically injured in Buckeye<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Republican incumbent Tom Horne defended his administration\u2019s handling of the rapidly growing ESA program, while challenger and State Treasurer Kimberly Yee accused him of failing to oversee the system and properly use $10 million in state funding.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Democratic candidates Brett Newby and Teresa Leyba Ruiz also criticized the voucher-style program and called for stronger support for public schools.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>The ESA program, which now serves more than 100,000 students attending private schools or being homeschooled, costs the state roughly $1 billion annually.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>The Auditor General\u2019s report raised concerns about oversight within the Arizona Department of Education, noting wasteful spending, little oversight, and conflicts of interest.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>It also said the Legislature gave Horne\u2019s department $10 million in 2024 for new ESA operating expenses.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Yee argued Horne misused the money.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>\u201cRather than hire those who would manage the ESA plan accordingly for greater efficiencies, for money out the door faster to those families, he decided to use those dollars for a vanity campaign, for television ads,\u201d Yee said during this week\u2019s Republican debate with Clean Elections\/Arizona Media Association.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Horne pushed back, saying lawmakers specifically directed the money toward promoting the ESA program.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>\u201cThe Legislature specifically instructed me to use that $10 million for advertising of ESA,\u201d Horne said. \u201cThat was their instruction to me. I had to use it for that; otherwise, I would have been going against the Legislature.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/scottsdalemovinghub.com\/?p=551\">Plane down near Sun Lakes, no injuries reported<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Despite their sharp disagreements over ESAs, both Republican candidates agreed that Arizona teachers deserve higher pay.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>\u201cWe allocated $445 million to the K through 12 education system that can go to our wonderful teachers for increased pay,\u201d Yee said of the Treasurer&#8217;s Office.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Horne echoed that sentiment.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>\u201cEvery year, I address the state of education at the Legislature, and every time I do that, I tell them we have to increase the pay of our teachers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>The Democratic candidates also emphasized teacher pay and educator support during their debate.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>\u201cOne of the things that we started to bounce around is being able to provide more benefits to teachers,\u201d Newby said. \u201cBecause it\u2019s a decades-long situation where our state Legislature doesn\u2019t fund schools, doesn\u2019t fund public education very well.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Ruiz said teachers need more respect and support from state leaders.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>\u201cWe need to start by respecting the educators in the classroom,\u201d Ruiz said. \u201cRight now, many teachers feel vilified. They feel overworked and underappreciated, and the first thing I will do is bring back respect to this noble profession.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>The winners of the July 21 primary election will advance to the November general election.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>The superintendent of public instruction serves a four-year term with an annual salary of $85,000.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/scottsdalemovinghub.com\/?p=549\">16-year-old suffers life-threatening injuries in Phoenix crash<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PHOENIX \u2014 A critical report from the Arizona Auditor General on the state\u2019s Empowerment Scholarship Account program quickly became a major issue this week in the race for Arizona superintendent of public instruction. Read more Boyfriend in custody after pregnant 16-year-old shot to death, 2 others critically injured in Buckeye Republican incumbent Tom Horne defended [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":554,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arizona"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Legislature gave Schools Chief Tom Horne $10M for the ESA program, GOP rival Kimberly Yee said he wasted the money on a vanity project - Scottsdale Moving Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/scottsdalemovinghub.com\/?p=555\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Legislature gave Schools Chief Tom Horne $10M for the ESA program, GOP rival Kimberly Yee said he wasted the money on a vanity project - Scottsdale Moving Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"PHOENIX \u2014 A critical report from the Arizona Auditor General on the state\u2019s Empowerment Scholarship Account program quickly became a major issue this week in the race for Arizona superintendent of public instruction. Read more Boyfriend in custody after pregnant 16-year-old shot to death, 2 others critically injured in Buckeye Republican incumbent Tom Horne defended [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/scottsdalemovinghub.com\/?p=555\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Scottsdale Moving Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-16T16:03:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scottsdalemovinghub.com\\\/?p=555#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scottsdalemovinghub.com\\\/?p=555\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scottsdalemovinghub.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42958d6a44564ad0a4456d34386abf96\"},\"headline\":\"Legislature gave Schools Chief Tom Horne $10M for the ESA program, GOP rival Kimberly Yee said he wasted the money on a vanity project\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-16T16:03:32+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scottsdalemovinghub.com\\\/?p=555\"},\"wordCount\":528,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scottsdalemovinghub.com\\\/?p=555#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scottsdalemovinghub.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/500655043dabf973c72b5d44f9b00196.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Arizona\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/scottsdalemovinghub.com\\\/?p=555#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scottsdalemovinghub.com\\\/?p=555\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scottsdalemovinghub.com\\\/?p=555\",\"name\":\"Legislature gave Schools Chief Tom Horne $10M for the ESA program, GOP rival Kimberly Yee said he wasted the money on a vanity project - 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