Vacations Paid for By School Vouchers
Up to $2000 worth of expenses can avoid review
If you live in Arizona and want to take the family on a nice vacation, the state’s school voucher program may be able to help.
Save Our Schools AZ reports on parents using ESA voucher funds to essentially provide discounted vacations:
An explosive new report from the 12News investigative reporting team caught the voucher-pushing organization Love Your School coaching parents how to use ESA vouchers while on pricey vacations, including overseas trips and jaunts to San Diego — sparking furious public outcry across the state.
One webinar for voucher-receiving parents notes:
"If you are going down to Mexico, you can find something educational down there, and a tour that you're taking down there, you can get reimbursed for that with the proper paperwork.”
But how do they get away with it? Aren’t the expenses supposed to be at least somewhat related to education?
As 12News points out, most tickets to San Diego attractions or others outside of Arizona are likely to get approved regardless of cost — at least up to $2,000. Why? Supt. Tom Horne’s ADE implemented a new policy in December that all expenses less than $2,000 are approved automatically, without any review, with the plan to audit later.
So, if you’ve got school-aged kids and want a taxpayer-subsidized vacation, Arizona has the scheme for you.
Awful! Just awful! But then again, this corruption is right up Republican’s alley.