Horne statement on indictments in ESA matter

PHOENIX – State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne has issued the following statement regarding today’s announced indictments of two people accused of fraudulent actions against the Empowerment Scholarship Account program.

Horne stated, “The Department of Education submitted this matter to the Attorney General‘s office and submitted all the other matters currently under criminal investigation, except one, which was discovered by a credit union.

As a former Arizona Attorney General, I am determined as Superintendent to eliminate any fraud within the ESA program. Upon taking office, I hired an auditor who had been in the Auditor General’s office for 15 years, and who is now in charge of the ESA program as well as an investigator. Those two positions had not existed under my predecessor.

I am pleased that prosecutions are following in the cases we sent to The Attorney General’s office.”