By AZ Mirror
A Republican lawmaker chastised Democrats on Monday for voting against increased funding for school voucher oversight, something that they’ve demanded for years.
Typically, Rep. Matt Gress, R-Phoenix, has chided Democrats for regularly asking for more funding for public schools. During a January House Education Committee meeting, he said that his Democratic colleagues and public school advocates always had the same refrain: “more money, more money, more money.”
But Gress said on the floor of the Arizona House of Representatives on Monday that the Empowerment Scholarship Account program needed more money for proper oversight.
Gress sponsored House Bill 2499, which would appropriate $2.6 million for 12 new full-time positions at the Arizona Department of Education in the coming fiscal year to administer the voucher program, and continue that funding in future years.
He also sponsored House Bill 2500, which would supply the Arizona Department of Education with $1 million in supplemental funding during the current fiscal year to hire another 12 administrative employees to oversee the school voucher system.
The ESA program, which will cost more than $1 billion this year, provides taxpayer money to parents of any Arizona K-12 student to attend private school, fund home schooling or to save for college. Democrats have continually called for better oversight for the program, especially after a report last year that parents used ESA funds to purchase unallowable items like major appliances and lingerie.
