PHOENIX — Some Arizona families used taxpayer-funded education dollars to buy diamond necklaces, lingerie, jet ski rentals, gaming consoles and designer purses, according to audit spreadsheets obtained by ABC15 through a public records request.
The spreadsheets show nearly 84,000 Empowerment Scholarship Account purchases flagged as “unallowed” over a nearly yearlong period from December 2024 to October 2025.
ESA money is only supposed to be used for legitimate, documented education expenses. The records reveal thousands of times the money was misappropriated, although its unclear how often the issues are mistakes or misunderstandings versus outright fraud.
The 84,000 flagged items add up to millions of dollars in misappropriated ESA funds. An exact total is difficult to determine because some purchases appear on multiple spreadsheets.
State Superintendent Tom Horne shared the audit lists with Attorney General Kris Mayes following a series of tense exchanges last summer.
Mayes told Horne she was “gravely concerned” about his “apparent failure” to manage the ESA funds — specifically the policy of automatically fulfilling purchases under $2,000.
Then, Horne defended the practice, saying it was necessary because of a backlog of reimbursement requests and limited staff.
“For things under two thousand dollars, we pay it, but that doesn’t mean it was approved. We made it clear it’s not approved until we audit it,” Horne said in an August interview with ABC15.
Auditors first conducted a risk-based randomized review of 304,966 purchases and found about 47,072 — roughly 15% — were unallowed. Some items were barred outright under ESA rules. Others lacked a required invoice or curriculum documentation explaining their purpose.
According to Horne’s office, when apparent misuse was detected, the account holder was then fully audited, uncovering tens of thousands of additional unallowed expenses.
Among the items flagged: a one-carat diamond necklace, toilet paper, cell phones, jet ski rentals, gaming consoles, a designer purse, Air Jordan sneakers, ladies’ brass and hotel rooms.
One account holder spent $1,300 on 47 unallowable items — mostly clothing — in a single transaction. Multiple entries also showed parents paying themselves.
“If we find that somebody’s asked for something inappropriate, they have to either pay it back or gets charged to their account or in some cases will have to send it to the attorney general for a lawsuit to get the money back,” Horne said in a prior interview with ABC15.
The released spreadsheets had redacted identification numbers for ESA account holders, so it’s unclear how many total accounts had unallowed purchases.
This story was reported on-air by a ABC15 Senior InvestigatorMelissa Blasius and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
