Chairman Matt Gress (R-AZ) is demanding accountability on two fronts – student safety and federal child care dollars – and he's making clear the stakes are too high to look the other way.
The Joint Legislative Audit Committee voted Monday to direct the Arizona Auditor General to launch two special audits, a decision announced by Gress that puts both the state's schools and its child care assistance program under a microscope.
For Gress, the timing on both audits is urgent.
"Parents deserve to know whether schools are prepared to respond to credible threats and whether serious safety concerns are being handled properly," he said. "Taxpayers deserve to know whether hundreds of millions of federal child care dollars are being managed responsibly."
The school safety audit, the fourth of its kind, will include a direct look at Phoenix Union High School District following a string of serious campus violence incidents, including the stabbing death of a student at Maryvale High School.
Additionally, auditors will examine whether schools across the state have followed emergency response policies, properly investigated safety complaints, and complied with Arizona's mandatory reporting laws.
The audit passed unanimously and is expected to be completed by the end of 2027.
Auditing Arizona's Administration
Now, the second audit zeroes in on Arizona's administration of the federal Child Care and Development Fund, a program that distributed roughly $573 million in fiscal year 2024.
The Arizona Department of Economic Security oversees the program, which helps qualifying families afford child care. Previous state audits had already flagged concerns about provider oversight and questionable expenditures.
Gress pointed to fraud cases unfolding in other states as a warning Arizona shouldn't ignore. Federal prosecutors recently charged 15 defendants in Minnesota in an alleged scheme involving more than $90 million tied to publicly funded child care programs.
"Arizona should not wait for a crisis before asking hard questions," Gress said. "When hundreds of millions of dollars flow through a program, strong oversight is not optional."
As both audits received bipartisan support from the committee, auditors will review child care program expenditures spanning fiscal years 2021 through 2025.
