Overview
- The Citizens Clean Elections Commission hosted separate primary debates Wednesday for Democrats and Thursday for Republicans ahead of the July 21 vote, sharpening the race’s focus on vouchers and oversight.
- At the GOP debate, Tom Horne claimed Kimberly Yee served on a diversity, equity and inclusion committee, and Yee countered with a letter from the treasurers’ group saying she did not.
- Oversight concerns deepened after the Arizona Auditor General found the Education Department was not properly auditing purchases under the state’s Education Savings Account voucher program, allowing questionable expenses.
- The ESA program, which pays private school and home-school costs, now serves more than 100,000 students at about $1 billion a year, putting pressure on the state budget and on enforcement systems.
- Policy fixes took center stage as Teresa Leyba Ruiz vowed to shut down Horne’s “Teacher Empowerment Hotline” to redirect money to classrooms and Yee proposed card-style tech that auto-denies improper ESA charges.