Parents left to fill the gap in ESA vendor vetting

• State fails to cross-check ESA vendors with disciplinary records • Disciplined educators seem to still be listed as vendors • Parents left responsible for vetting providers

State law requires the Arizona Department of Education to ensure that tutors and teachers participating in the Empowerment Scholarship Account program have no past disciplinary record with the State Board of Education. However, a review of a state database of past cases and a list of ESA vendors reveals potential overlap that may be inconsistent with the statute.

Of the tutors, vendors and therapists listed by full name, seven appeared in both the state’s educator discipline database and ClassWallet, the primary ESA payment platform.

To date, the department has not completed a cross-check nor removed any vendor