While the trend of recipients of ESA/school vouchers misusing the public money they've been given has gotten a lot of press coverage recently (it's gotten so bad that AZ Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne appeared on Channel 12's Sunday Square Off to defend his failures. Of course, his "defense" was a desperate attempt to shift the blame on to certain Democratic women, like Governor Katie Hobbs, Attorney General Kris Mayes, and his predecessor as SPI, Kathy Hoffman), the Republican majority in the AZ legislature is adamant in their refusal to do anything to rein in that misuse of public funds.
Maybe that refusal is rooted in the myriad, often internecine, ties that R members of the legislature have to STOs and charter schools.
The are 90+ STOs that have been certified to receive donations for individual income tax credits and 90+ STOs that have been certified to receive donations for corporate tax credits (there is a LOT of overlap between the two) (the lists have URLs that indicate they are from 2023, but the lists were updated on 8/8/2025).
Certain legislators reported (on their financial forms) their ties to STOs and private/charter schools -
From State Representative Michael Way:
Charter schools seem to be a profit center for the Way family
From House Speaker Steve Montenegro:
From Representative David Marshall:
He doesn't specifically call it (the STO) out, but the church was certified (allowed) to accept tuition tax credit donations from 12/16/2022 to 9/30/2023 .
From Representative Alexander Kolodin -
Arizona School Choice Trust (ACST) received more than $71m is tuition tax credit donations from CY98 thru FY24.
From Senator Shawna Bolick -
Not only does she work for Choose A School, her organization has strong ties to Kolodin's ACST.
From Choose A School's website -
There's a reason that I used the word "internecine" earlier.
Of course, the person who may find STOs and School Tuition tax credits the most lucrative is former legislator Steve Yarbrough.
According to records from the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC), he's part of two organizations that are certified to receive STO donations.
While the the address for ACSTO goes to a PO box, many STOs list their addresses as PO boxes or private mail drops. In and of itself, that's not evidence of criminal behavior.
On the other hand, the address for School Choice Arizona goes to a building that's owned by Yarbrough, according to the Maricopa County Assessor. That org doesn't have to go far to talk to its landlord.
The two Yarbrough organizations collected nearly 17% of the millions of dollars given to STOs in FY2024 (the latest year for which data is available.)
AZ Department of Revenue annual reports on STO tax credits are here.
One interesting development:
This organization, Simply STO, is one that I couldn't find in ACC records. However they may be registered under a different name, so to use a phrase I've used before - in and of itself, that's not evidence of criminal behavior.
The org's website does not list any names or even a phone number. Their contact page is a contact form, and not even an email. Again, that's not evidence of criminal behavior.
Lastly, the address they give tracks back to a "rent a desk" place designed to give small organizations a cheap street address. Again, that's not evidence of criminal behavior.
Taken together though, it is interesting and begs a few questions.
