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On April 11, the Arizona Department of Education responded to the Goldwater Institutes letter
requesting that they adjust the ESA handbook to align with state law. Their responses are below,
and the emphasis (underlined phrases) is mine.
If you have any questions on the material below, please let me know.
p. 4: Applicants must spend a portion of quarterly funds each quarter and at least 25% of
the annual award by the end of the contract year.
o Department Response: The Department will revise this section to reflect the
requirement of A.RS. 15-2402(8)(1) that the ESA holder must spend merely
a portion of the ESA funds annually.
p. 5: policies are subject to change any time during the contract year without notice or
warning.
o Department Response: It is unclear what you are citing here as the Handbook
states, and has stated since at least August 2016, that the Department will
provide notice of any policy changes and the effective date of any change.
[Note that SB 1431 also requires the department to provide notice to families
when the agency changes the handbook.]
p. 7: the Department may request address verification at any time, and require applicants
to submit utility bills; failure to do so may result in termination from the ESA program.
o Department Response: The Department will remove the dollar limit on uniform
expenditures.
p. 15: The Department will disallow expenditures if, in its judgment, the costs of
materials for extra-curricular subjects far exceeds those for the academic curriculum
1
so that 60% of purchases must be for core/academic subjects.
p. 16: The cost of supplemental materials should not exceed the cost of the curriculum.
p. 17: Applicants must provide an education to the child before using unspent funds
towards a Coverdell Education Savings Account.
pp. 25 & 28: To remain eligible for renewing an ESA contract, the applicant must have
spent 25% of annual funding.
ADEs closing paragraph in the letter: The Department is willing to discuss any of the issues
raised above with you if you should have any questions. The Department does not believe
that costly, time-consuming litigation is in the best interests of either party or the ESA
program participants. The Department will reissue the Handbook within the next several
weeks and provide notice to all ESA holders regarding the changes specified above.