Superintendent slams pro-voucher tactic

Hoffman: Group exploits Navajo situation in try to expand program

State schools Superintendent Kathy Hoffman on Tuesday slammed the pro-school-voucher group behind a late-session push to allow Arizona vouchers to be used at some out-of-state private schools, contending that the American Federation for Children was exploiting Native American students’ situation to further its policy agenda.

Hoffman, in her first public comments since the controversy erupted over the weekend, said AFC recruited the children and parents, who live on the Navajo reservation, to attend a New Mexico school while using funds from Arizona’s Empowerment Scholarship Program. She said she viewed AFC’s actions as part of a strategy to expand the program.

The state superintendent, a Democrat, said she supports using the Department of Education appeals process to forgive the money that has already been spent at the New Mexico school, keep the seven children currently attending that school in the ESA program, and allow them to attend a private school in Arizona.

The total amount of improperly spent vouchers is less than $18,000, she said.

The controversy ignited when AFC posted a video airing concerns that some students in Window Rock might be kicked out of the program and forced to repay tuition because it had been spent out of state. Republican lawmakers quickly declared they would introduce legislation to address the problem by allowing out-of-state vouchers to be used within two miles of the Arizona state line.

Republicans introduced a bill late Tuesday, HB 2758, that would allow any student currently using an ESA voucher at an out-of-state private school within two miles of the state border to continue to do so until July 1, 2020. A companion bill, SB 1545, has been introduced in the state Senate.

“I am distraught to learn more and more about AFC involvement with this and their involvement in recruiting the families in a way that is illegal,” Hoffman said, contending that AFC was inducing parents to violate the law. “To me, that crossed the line, clearly AFC has been taking advantage of the situation and these vulnerable families.”

Hoffman said she tried to work with American Federation for Children on a solution before the proschool-choice group posted its video. Hoffman called the video exploitative of Native Americans. Hoffman said she asked AFC to take down the video, but the group refused because she would not support an outof-state expansion bill, she said.

In addition, Hoffman claimed that multiple legislators and representatives of American Federation for Children told her because she did not support a separate voucher-expansion bill, the Department of Education, which Hoffman leads, would never receive the full allotment of funding to regulate the ESA program. That bill, SB1395, authored by Sylvia Allen, R-Snowflake, would have expanded the program by relaxing eligibility limits.

Hoffman said she would not name the legislators who told her that.

The ESA-enabling legislation calls for 4% of the program’s budget to be spent on oversight. And the Legislature over the years has provided the Department of Education with money to oversee the program but refused to authorize that it be spent. Currently, the department receives 1.8% of the ESA budget for regulation, Hoffman said.

American Federation for Children did not return calls and emails requesting comment. A representative of Hilltop Christian School told

“You need to talk to Marty Begay (a representative of American Federation for Children). We have no comment”

Hoffman said she was dismayed to see Hilltop’s website had claimed it was legal for Arizona residents to use ESA funds to attend the private school and directed them to contact American Federation for Children for more information.

This weekend the school’s website said: “Arizona families can now send their children to Hilltop Christian School at little to no cost to your family! The American Federation for Children is a state-funded program for students in Arizona. Children living on tribal lands in Arizona qualify!”

The language has since changed to correct several errors, including that the program is called the Empowerment Scholarship Account program and that it is a state program in Arizona, not a program of the advocacy group American Federation for Children. The contact number and email to inquire about the program belong to Begay, of the American Federation for Children.

Hoffman said she does not support the legislation to allow payments to private schools outside Arizona. She said she believes it to be an expansion of the ESA program, which voters rejected last November.

“I do not support the bill as it was written,” Hoffman said. “This would open the door for more students to use ESAs out of state.”

Hoffman said she could see advocates in the future pushing to allow vouchers to be used beyond the twomile, out-of-state boundary.

The Department of Education in April sent letters to seven Arizona families whose children attend Hilltop, questioning the spending and giving them 30 days to respond, Hoffman said. The Navajo reservation encompasses parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.

Hoffman said it was her understanding that Hilltop Christian School was not on the reservation. Representatives of the school would not confirm to

whether or not the school is on the reservation. Ten students were given ESA approval and attended Hilltop, she said. Two were approved in August 2017 and eight were approved between April and August of 2018. Three students left the school before the Department of Education discovered money was being spent in New Mexico during a routine internal audit.

Hoffman said she was waiting for the families to use the appeal process when the issue exploded this weekend.

However, emails show that the American Federation for Children officials were in contact with the Department of Education as far back as early April, according to emails obtained through an records request.

After AFC posted its video, House Speaker Warren Petersen and Senate Majority Leader Rick Gray, R-Sun City, issued a news release Saturday saying they would introduce legislation to address the issue.

“While details are still being finalized, we have bipartisan support in both the House and Senate to correct this outrage,” their statement said. “There is no greater form of government abuse than giving someone an approval only to later revoke it and punish them for relying on that approval. No student should have to pay for a bureaucratic error, and no family should have to live with the fear that they have endured.”

Hoffman said the department never authorized Hilltop School, it only approved ESAs for the students who then spent money there until it was caught by the audit.

The conservative think tank Goldwater Institute sent a letter to the Department of Education contending that the children who attended Hilltop should be allowed to continue attending the New Mexico school.