Working 4 You: How are some recipients of Arkansas Education Freedom Accounts spending the money of Natural State taxpayers

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Frustration is building around Arkansas regarding the state’s new Education Freedom Accounts, with parents and taxpayers claiming the money is being used to buy unnecessary items.

Education Freedom Accounts or EFAs are a big part of the Arkansas LEARNS Act that was signed into law in 2023. EFAs gave parents the option to use state money to send their students to private schools or fund items to homeschool their children.

This school year, more than 17,000 students have applied for EFAs. Some parents say it has been a game changer, but not everyone is on board with the new education reform program.

A parent named Kristy said she has two children in private school, explaining that she and her husband made the decision years ago. Following the passage of the LEARNS Act in 2023, though, the couple applied for EFAs to help with the cost of tuition.

“For my children, it just works better when they are in smaller environments and can get more one-on-one attention,” Kristy said.

While the LEARNS Act seems to be working for Kristy and her kids, both of whom have learning disabilities, there is however concern that not all parents are using the EFA program as intended.

Anonymous tips to the Working 4 You hotline have made claims of money distributed through the EFA program being used to buy unapproved items, which tipsters called “theft.”

There were also claims that parents were planning on selling the extra supplies bought with state money and pocketing the cash.

How spending by EFA recipients is being tracked is a concern for Arkansas Education Association president April Reisma. Working 4 You reached out to the veteran teacher after getting those tips.

“I absolutely do not think there is enough transparency whatsoever,” Reisma said. “When people get away with it, they’re going to get away with it. We can’t trust everyone quite frankly.”

State Rep. Keith Brooks (R – Little Rock) sponsored the LEARNS Act and contends the EFA program is designed to prevent fraud or misuse.

“Tuition is locked down,” Brooks said. “The tuition has to be spent first and those funds are exhausted before any other funds can be utilized.”

The state separates every expense into one of three categories for recording purposes – tuition, uniforms or required supplies.

“Everything had to be approved, everything has secondary checked that they had to go through, every invoice was manually evaluated by the department,” Brooks said.

Working 4 You obtained a list of supplies required for the entire 2023-2024 school year and spent a week combing through every expense.

Paper, pens, pencils, tablets and computers, tuition and uniforms were on the list. While most purchases seemed to check out, there were a few items that the Working 4 You team flagged as “questionable.”

For instance, the team found more than $5,000 worth of purchases for Air Pod Max headphones, which have a retail value of $549 each, as well as six different Victus Gaming Laptops purchased at $979 apiece.

There were also approvals for two Poly Voyager UC Headsets, which are typically used for gaming. The total cost of those was $642. There were also 24 other purchases for headphones that cost anywhere from $150 to $420.

After being presented the list of approved expenditures, Reisma said it appeared that public schools had to follow a more stringent set of rules.

“I’m hearing those headphones, and they probably could be used for educational purposes. As a teacher, when I would have headphones for my students, they would either be free or from Dollar Tree or Dollar General,” she noted. “That’s all you need is a working set of headphones. I don’t think we need something that’s that expensive.”

The Arkansas LEARNS Act mentions other expenses will be approved if they are “determined by a participating school to be necessary for the education of a student.” Working 4 You asked the Arkansas Department of Education to clarify if these purchases were allowable.

“Before expenditures are approved, each request is reviewed closely to ensure it aligns with the learning needs of the student participating in the EFA program,” DOE spokesperson Kimberly Mundell said.“Students with learning disabilities may benefit from the enhanced audio, video, and printing features of the items listed. If the requested expenditure did not meet the needs of a student, the item was not approved for payment.”

In the last few months, cost maximums have been put in place for certain items, including caps of $100 on headphones, $1,000 on computers and $500 on printers.

Under those rules, none of the purchases listed as concerns would have been approved.

Brooks believes the state has created mechanisms for people who are concerned about abuse of the programs to be able to try and stop it.

“If there are people who know of fraud, or abuse, or waste that’s going on that is outside of what the law specifies, or what’s allowed by the department, that can be referred to the attorney general, even for prosecution,” he said.

While some state leaders who support the Arkansas LEARNS Act say they want to do whatever they can to prevent the misuse of the EFA program, critics like Reisma think it’s only a matter of time before the slope of cash gets slippery.

“We need to make sure that our students receive the education that they need and that they deserve,” she said.

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