On Monday, Arizona lawmakers were stunned when they received an email from Superintendent of Public Instruction Diane Douglas in which she claimed that she had been a subject of “fake news.” Douglas was referring to an article in the Arizona Republic about the Empowerment Scholarship Account program.
In that article, the reporters accused the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) of providing data that is “opaque, incomplete and riddled with errors.”
It is well-known that the ADE, under the leadership of Douglas, has regularly failed to turn over public records in a timely manner. Last month, Douglas’ right-hand-man, Michael Bradley, advised the ADI that its records request was delayed by months due to the fact that the ADE had lost most of its legal staff. As a result, public records requests could not be reviewed by staff in order to be turned over for public consumption.
Many ADE staff members have left the Department since Douglas’ arrival. The chaotic atmosphere and Douglas’ prickly disposition have sent even the most dedicated bureaucrats out the door.
| 7/1/16 TO DATE | |
| TRAVEL TOTAL | $631,115.72 |
| TRAVEL-IN-STATE | $394,577.08 |
| TRAVEL-OUT-OF-STATE | $236,538.64 |
| AIR FARE | $55,800.87 |
| AIR FARE OUT-OF-COUNTRY | $612.97 |
| CAR RENTAL | $51,929.09 |
| LODGING | $93,131.63 |
| LODGING OUT-OF-COUNTRY | $66.06 |
| MEALS WITH OVERNIGHT STAY | $24,276.17 |
| MEALS WITHOUT OVERNIGHT STAY | $15.00 |
| OTHER MISC OUT-OF-STATE TRAVEL | $10,706.85 |
| LEGAL TOTAL | $479,663.86 |
| ATTORNEY GENERAL LEGAL SERVICES | $469,481.65 |
| EXTERNAL LEGAL SERVICES | $10,182.21 |
| 7/1/15 TO 6/30/16 | |
| TRAVEL TOTAL | $1,230,342.52 |
| TRAVEL-OUT-OF-STATE | $366,127.78 |
| TRAVEL-IN-STATE | $864,214.74 |
| AIR FARE | $155,405.14 |
| CAR RENTAL | $184.11 |
| LODGING | $154,875.04 |
| MEALS WITH OVERNIGHT STAY | $40,771.94 |
| OTHER MISC OUT-OF-STATE TRAVEL | $14,891.55 |
| LEGAL TOTAL | $678,769.15 |
| ATTORNEY GENERAL LEGAL SERVICES | $423,686.55 |
| EXTERNAL LEGAL SERVICES | $255,082.60 |
| 7/1/2014 TO 6/30/15 | |
| TRAVEL TOTAL | $1,483,583.36 |
| TRAVEL – IN-STATE | $940,318.11 |
| TRAVEL – OUT-OF-STATE | $543,265.75 |
| AIR FARE | $238,303.32 |
| AIR FARE OUT-OF-COUNTRY | $2,908.80 |
| CAR RENTAL | $3,557.49 |
| LODGING | $136,938.39 |
| LODGING OUT-OF-COUNTRY | $267.49 |
| LODGING OUT-OF-STATE | $85,178.12 |
| MEALS WITH OVERNIGHT STAY | $36,927.29 |
| MEALS WITH OVERNIGHT STAY OUT-OF-COUNTRY | $41.52 |
| MEALS WITH OVERNIGHT STAY OUT-OF-STATE | $23,441.91 |
| MEALS WITHOUT OVERNIGHT STAY | $51.15 |
| OTHER MISC OUT-OF-STATE TRAVEL | $15,650.27 |
| LEGAL TOTAL | $447,614.05 |
| ATTORNEY GENERAL LEGAL SERVICES | $395,062.78 |
| EXTERNAL LEGAL SERVICES | $52,551.27 |
In Monday’s rambling email, Douglas claimed that her “staff dropped what they were doing to provide this one-time report for the news organization.” Douglas also claimed that the Republic article included “alternative facts.”
Yet, it is Douglas who has become closely associated with “alternative facts.” Douglas continues to insist that she has eliminated Common Core standards in Arizona. A review of the most recent standards shows that Douglas merely edited the Common Core standards while spending tens of thousands of dollars to do so.
The email is not the first odd message delivered by Douglas in regards to the Empowerment Scholarship Account. Last week, after the Legislature approved expansion of the program, Douglas sent out a press release “calling on the Legislature to fund the administration of the program at the full four percent of ESA allocations as provided by law,” in order to “ensure the program has the resources it needs to serve parents and fully account for allowable expenditures.”
Within minutes, ADE staff recalled the press release. It was believed at the time, that Douglas recalled the release due to the lack of support for the expansion.
Douglas’ letter to legislators:
Dear Republican Legislator:
I am writing you to respond to fake news that was published by a failing news organization Friday. My Department oversees the Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) program, and there is no organization better equipped to understand the needs of the students enrolled in the program, or the intricacies of how it is managed, as demonstrated by the information in the attached report. There is also no one that cares more about protecting student privacy and student data than I do.
Friday’s misleading story makes several skewed claims that are disingenuous at best, or completely false:
1. The news organization criticized ADE for having data that is “opaque, incomplete and riddled with errors,” while also citing the inclusion of “Amazon” and “Bank of America” in its list of schools.
The so-called reporters asked for “raw data” and said that they would happily clean up the data, so in good faith those entries were provided.
2. They also complained that we omitted dollar figures for all but a fraction of schools.
I believe in student privacy and protecting the identities of our children. When we first agreed to provide these reporters with any data on the program, we made it clear that on sound advice from the Attorney General’s office that we would never provide data for entries with less than 10 students. I am committed to not violating student privacy laws.
3. The reporters claimed that we were unwilling to distinguish among similar school names such as “Brophy”, “Brophy Prep” or “Brophy College Preparatory.”
Not only were we willing, but attached is a screen grab of all of those Brophy combinations assembled together in the report we sent them.
4. A hack media lawyer chimed in and said that “he was shocked that state officials did not have accurate records readily available.”
Well, I am shocked that he has never heard of FERPA or student privacy. The report that our staff worked around the clock to complete for them was one that had never been made available to the public previously. This was brand new and instead of praising ADE for going above and beyond, they published these alternative “facts.”
5. The lawyer also said that he was “surprised that they could not combine schools with similar entries.”
Our staff dropped what they were doing to provide this one-time report for the news organization. Unfortunately for the reporters, those combinations of schools did not result in more than 10 students per school, which was the agreed upon number for data privacy. That is why he did not give them the student numbers for those schools per the counsel of the Attorney General’s office.
With all of that said, let me tell you some of the highlights of the program:
• The program has grown to assist 3,500 students, a majority of which are special needs students.
• Although statute calls for the Department’s administration of the program to be funded at 4 percent of its total cost, the program is not currently being funded at even half of that amount.
• Despite those financial obstacles, ADE has doubled its ESA staff to 8 full-time employees, allowing the Department to more efficiently manage the program.
• An IT system was implemented within the past year and provided several program enhancements:
• Online applications for parents with automated notifications;
• Streamlined electronic expense report submission portal;
• A risk-based expenditure classification system that more quickly and effectively detects possible cases of fraud; and
• Integrated email and productivity tracking for staff members.
• There is a two-step oversight system for examining all applications, as well as a process for randomly assigning applications to staff members for review to prevent internal cases of fraud. Not only has no external auditor ever detected a single case of fraud that we did not internally identify first, we are also proud to say that we have never had a single case of internal fraud.
I passed along this information to you today because I care deeply about all students in Arizona and I want to ensure that we never lose sight of protecting their best interests. Despite what certain news outlets publish, there is no better steward of this program than ADE.
You can always contact me personally if you need me to clear up any inconsistencies related to the ESA program or any of the programs administered by the Department.
Yours truly,
Diane Douglas
Diane M. Douglas
Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction