Horne statement on AZ Homeland Security ESA data report

For immediate release: August 1, 2023
Contact: [email protected]
 

Horne statement on AZ Homeland Security ESA data report

PHOENIX: State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne has issued the following statement in light of today’s release of an Arizona Department of Homeland Security cyber incident report:

Horne stated, “The Arizona Department of Education had no way to know the reason for the resignation of Christine Accurso other than her own statements in her letter of resignation. The department did not request this resignation; it was initiated by the former employee.

Under state administrative code (Sec. 2-5A-105), we are not permitted to release that letter and though we have asked permission from Mrs. Accurso to release it, she has declined. Instead, she has offered her own statement, which is below.”

Accurso stated, “Today (July 24, 2023) I tendered my resignation. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to get the ESA program on track and functioning. We trained and implemented a full staff of competent professionals who love the program and will carry it forward. I achieved much of what I set out to accomplish, but it is time to move on and pursue other opportunities to engage citizens, especially parents, to fight for school choice and other issues they believe in for the future of our state.”

Horne continued, “The DHS report confirms that the Department of Education notified ClassWallet of a data issue. We received a statement on July 14, from ClassWallet, which is below.”

ClassWallet CEO Jamie Rosenberg wrote: “The problem has been resolved. It was a permission setting error. Once discovered, we took immediate action and corrected the permission setting. Additionally, we performed a database search and concluded no other users were affected. Therefore, this is an isolated incident to a single user.”