Arizona families vindicated after years of unfair attacks: Matt Beienburg

Imagine a school where one out of every four things the teachers told students was wrong. Now imagine blaming the students for learning the material poorly, publicly shaming them for their confusion, and threatening to kick them out of their academic program for not performing the way you expect.

If that seems unjust, then perhaps you can sympathize a little better with the Arizona families who have tried to support their children’s education with help from the Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) program. Over the last few years, political activists and certain members of the media have portrayed these families as bad actors seeking to cheat the system, defraud taxpayers, and undermine the solvency of public education.

Fortunately, a new report from the Arizona Office of the Auditor General should finally bury this anti-ESA family narrative in the eyes of all but the most rabidly partisan. For those less inclined to pore over the full text, here are a few key takeaways.

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