Republicans in the Arizona Legislature this week pushed back on Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs’ attempt to “strangle” the state’s education savings account program with new regulations.

“Empowerment Scholarship Accounts are wildly popular with Arizona parents because they leverage private sector solutions to offer the best educational opportunities for their children,” House Speaker Ben Toma, R-Peoria, said. The EPA is Arizona’s version of ESAs.

“Meanwhile, Governor Hobbs and the Democratic Party legislators now seek to strangle ESAs and private education with bureaucracy and regulation. I won’t allow that to happen,” Toma continued.

Toma’s comments come in response to Hobbs’ plan announced Tuesday to impose a slew of new regulations and requirements for the state’s private schools participating in the program. The effort follows an unsuccessful bid by Hobbs last year to restrict eligibility, The Arizona Mirror reports.

Arizona Republicans in 2022 were among the first to expand the school choice program to all students in the state as a means to give families alternatives to failing public schools. The ESA program gives parents access to their education tax dollars to use at schools that best fit their children’s needs, including private schools and education at home.

The Arizona Department of Education website tallies a total of 72,949 students utilizing the program as of Jan. 2.

Hobbs’ “plan to increase accountability and transparency in the ESA voucher program” is billed as a way to “increase student safety, promote financial accountability, and hold private schools receiving taxpayer dollars to similar standards as public schools,” according to a Tuesday news release.

The proposal, which will be introduced in her executive budget, would require fingerprint background checks for those educating ESA students, require private schools to provide special services for certain students, and empower the auditor general to scrutinize how private schools spend ESA money.

Hobbs’ proposed reforms would also require manual approval of all ESA money purchases over $500, prevent private school tuition increases beyond inflation, and impose education requirements for educators who serve ESA students.

Still other changes would increase reporting requirements for schools that accept ESA students, and mandate that participating students spend at least 100 days in a public school to receive ESA funds.

“Arizonians deserve to know their money is being spent on educating students, not on handouts to unaccountable schools and unvetted vendors for luxury spending,” Hobbs said in a statement. “My plan is simple: every school receiving taxpayer dollars must have basic standards to show they’re keeping our students safe and giving Arizona children the education they deserve.”

Despite reports of the program funding questionable purchases in the past, Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne told the Mirror there’s already safeguards in place to monitor ESA spending.

“My office already reviews all expense requests regardless of amount,” he wrote in an email. “In 2023, we rejected several thousand ESA applications for lack of adequate documentation and suspended almost 2,200 accounts totaling $21 million because the student was enrolled in a public school. We’ve also rejected more than 12,000 ESA purchase order requests.”

Toma described Hobbs’ proposed reforms as “unserious” and noted the governor did not consult with Republicans or those running the program to craft her recommendations.

“Most of this wouldn’t withstand basic scrutiny,” he told AZCentral.

“If you require parents to do all this,” Toma said, referring to fingerprint background checks, “I don’t know how you do that.”

While Democrats in the legislature are largely behind Hobbs, with House Minority Leader Lupe Contraras framing the ESA program as “an unaccountable subsidy for private schools,” Republicans have vowed to ensure any changes do not restrict families who want alternatives to public schools.

“I do believe there are some common sense improvements that can be made to the program to ensure student safety, protect the rights of students with disabilities, and level the playing field between public, charter and private schools,” Senate Education Committee Chairman Ken Bennett, R-Prescott, wrote in an email to the Mirror.

“I’m looking forward to working with my colleagues this session to provide transparency and accountability,” he wrote, “but we will not add layers of bureaucratic red tape, as some of the governors’ proposals suggest, or discourage parents from participating in ESAs.”