Arizona homeschooling moms say state imposing burdensome regulations with policy change: 'Feels deliberate'

Arizona moms who educate their kids at home with funds from a state voucher program are accusing Arizona of imposing burdensome regulations on families after Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes cracked down on the program requirements this summer.

Moms Velia Aguirre and Rosemary McAtee are plaintiffs in a new lawsuit, filed by The Goldwater Institute, against the state of Arizona, Arizona Department of Education and Superintendent Thomas Horne. Aguirre and McAtee participate in the school's Empowerment Scholarship Account "ESA," which gives families 90% of state taxpayer dollars that would otherwise go to the public school district or charter schools to purchase educational materials, including books and supplemental materials, for their children's schooling. 

Traditional homeschooling families must sign an affidavit of intent to homeschool and do not receive taxpayer dollars from the state, while ESA families who school at home do not have to do so and must enter into a contract with the state to receive taxpayer funds to educate their children, according to Arizona Families for Home Education.

The suit alleges that in July, AG Mayes issued "legal threats" to the Department of Education to make sure every ESA purchase had a curriculum tied to it. Goldwater says that the education department is now rejecting reimbursement requests from ESA families for the purchase of "basic educational materials," including things like pencils and erasers, "unless parents could provide an explicit ‘curricular’ document justifying the use of each specific book title or material for their child." 

"It's very hard. Because I'm spending several hours a week developing curriculum for things I've never had to develop curriculum for when I was a district employee or being in the program for four years," Aguirre told Fox News Digital. 

"So it's cumbersome. It's really time-consuming. It's burdensome," she added. "It feels like I have to present this false narrative of developing a curriculum for erasers or pencils or colored markers."

Arizona parents Velia Aguirre, left, and Rosemary McAtee, right, are suing the state of Arizona and Department of Education over new requirements to the state's Empowerment Scholarship Account "ESA" program that they say imposes burdensome regulations on parents. (The Goldwater Institute)

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"It's just odd because the attorney general just seems to lack a lot of knowledge with the whole ESA program entirely. It's really causing strain, and it feels deliberate, being imposed on families that already have it hard educating children with developmental delays," Aguirre said.

Aguirre teaches her three boys with special needs at home and draws on her experience as a former public school Special Education teacher to develop lessons, activities and goals tailored to each of her children's specific needs. But the lawsuit says when she submitted receipts for several educational materials, including the classic novel, "Where the Red Fern Grows;" a periodic table of elements; math and spelling activity books; and pencils and erasers to the department in August, her reimbursement request was denied.

Parents are already required to submit expense receipts for every item purchased with the scholarship funds, the suit says. It alleges the new requirement imposes a burden on parents that "violates state law and state regulations" while adding to the "backlog of tens of thousands of purchase orders awaiting review" and puts a "senseless burden" on parents.

The second plaintiff, Rosemary McAtee, has taught seven of her nine children with funding from the ESA program since 2019. She also had her purchases denied by the state after she bought four books, including the children's classic "Brown Bear, Brown, Bear What Do You See?," and a Catholic Encyclopedia for Children. 

Both moms appealed these denials, the suit shows, but the Board of Education denied them, citing the need to provide a formal curriculum that includes these books.

Arizona ESA parents in the suit say the state has made their jobs much tougher with new regulations. (iStock)

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"I honestly am kind of afraid to buy anything now because if they can change the rules at the drop of a hat, and break the law, – it does break the law that the legislature put in 2020 — it just leaves me with a question mark of, 'Am I going to be stuck carrying thousands of dollars that I'm waiting to be reimbursed on, and then they're going to deny me, even if it meets my contract to my curriculum?'" McAtee told Fox News Digital.

According to Goldwater, Arizona lawmakers added clarifying language in 2020 to the law ensuring supplemental material that is not explicitly tied to a curriculum would not be denied to families in the ESA program. Additionally, they say the State Board of Education has also "approved rules for the program explicitly permitting the purchase of these materials without additional documentation."

A spokesman for Attorney General Kris Mayes' office told Fox News Digital that they are simply enforcing the law and the requirement is meant to encourage transparency and accountability in how taxpayer dollars are spent.

"The Attorney General has simply stated what is required by law. The law doesn’t prevent parents from purchasing paper and pencils, but it does require that materials purchased with ESA funds be used for a child’s education. With instances of voucher dollars being spent on things like ski passes, luxury car driving lessons, and grand pianos, it’s clear that providing documentation on spending is essential to prevent the misuse of taxpayer funds. Attorney General Mayes believes Arizonans deserve full transparency and accountability in how their tax dollars are used and will continue to fight for accountability and oversight in the voucher program," the spokesperson said.

The AG's July letter came after local news investigations found ESA funds were used by some families for karate lessons, golf gear and even passes to a ski resort. 

Five adults, three of whom were former employees of the Arizona Department of Education, were also indicted in February for using fraudulent documents to obtain funds from the ESA program. 

Aguirre said these reports have "fueled" negative stereotypes she said are wrong about the majority of families who teach at home and are enrolled in ESAs. 

When reached for comment, the Arizona Department of Education provided the following statement from Superintendent Tom Horne:

"The Department of Education concedes the argument of the Goldwater Institute. When this issue first arose in July, my concern was that the Attorney General could force Empowerment Scholarship Account holders to return funds if they did not comply with her office’s interpretation of the law. This lawsuit will settle the issue in court and my sincere hope is that the arguments made by Goldwater will prevail," Horne said.

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