12News reporter Craig Harris is being accused of “journalistic malpractice” over his reporting on alleged misspending in Arizona’s Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) program, particularly his use of a “20%” figure to describe unallowable or fraudulent spending in the program, which critics say is based on a limited audit sample rather than overall spending.
Corey DeAngelis, a fellow at the Heritage Foundation, said 12News leadership did not adequately fact-check Harris’s reporting or respond to criticism of that figure from others, including the Arizona superintendent of public instruction.
“12News is engaging in journalistic malpractice,” DeAngelis said. “They need to retract their false claims if they want any semblance of credibility or neutrality as a news station. And the thing is, it doesn’t seem like they care.”
The ESA program provides families of more than 100,000 Arizona students with about 90% of state per-pupil funding, typically $6,000 to $9,000 annually, for private schooling, homeschooling or other approved expenses.
Harris and 12News have focused on a “20%” figure for alleged “unallowable” or fraudulent ESA spending that DeAngelis and others say is misleading and based on a risk-based audit of flagged accounts rather than a random sample of transactions.
“Harris and his buddies over there, have been repeating a lie about the amount of fraud or unallowable spending and the Arizona school choice program,” DeAngelis said.
DeAngelis said the methodology behind the 20% figure is a central issue.
“Harris would have you believe that one-fifth of all spending in the Arizona School Choice program is fraudulent. That is false,” DeAngelis said. “If you look at a risk-based audit that flags particular transactions that are already deemed as high risk, obviously that is not going to be representative of all the spending.”
Corey DeAngelis, Heritage Foundation fellow, has accused 12News reporter Craig Harris of “journalistic malpractice.” (Heritage Foundation)
DeAngelis also disputed claims about a “hidden tab” Harris said he found in a spreadsheet provided by the state.
“(Harris) claimed that they hid that smaller sample of accounts because it didn’t show what they wanted to find,” he said. “But if you go in, and he made that with no evidence, he didn’t share any data, he just made that claim publicly.”
DeAngelis said he reviewed the same spreadsheet and found a 2,000-record subset that he said showed, “if anything, it found better results for the school choice program.”
He said the smaller sample reportedly showed “unallowables at 1.5% as opposed to the larger sample showing it at 1.9%” and “egregious spending at about 0.13%,” figures he said were lower than other estimates.
“Total misinformation. (Harris) just lied about it,” DeAngelis said. “Maybe he just doesn’t know how to look at data or something, but he either lied about it or he’s way out of his league when it comes to analyzing data and that’s okay, but you shouldn’t pretend like you know something that you don’t and try to deceive the public.”
Arizona PBS has also featured Harris in its programming and produced similar stories based on his claims.
After Harris’s claims were broadcast, the Arizona Department of Education conducted an analysis using a random sample and reported a 0.3% fraud rate and 1.9% in unallowable spending.
The department said those rates are lower than improper payment rates in other state programs such as Medicaid at 7.4%, food stamps at 9.3% and unemployment insurance at 14.4%.
The Arizona Department of Education noted the higher estimates cited by Harris and 12News were incorrectly generalized.
Subsequently, State Superintendent Tom Horne called Harris’s reporting “outrageous and reckless” and urged a correction.
“Continued use of the 20% fraud allegation is an outrageous misrepresentation to the public that must stop,” Horne said in a press release.
Horne said the 20% figure presented by Harris and 12News “had nothing to do with fraud” and “resulted from a total misinterpretation of data that we provided to Channel 12.”
“The submission of a purchase that is deemed unallowable does not constitute fraud,” Horne said. “Most are innocent mistakes, such as an error in a form that must be resubmitted, or educational items that are not on the allowable list but that the user could have in good faith believed were permitted.”
Horne also noted $1.2 million of unallowable expenses had been recovered by the Arizona Department of Education.
DeAngelis said he challenged Harris via X, after which Harris shifted his argument to claim that 20% of families had at least one unallowable transaction, which he said reflects a change in definition rather than overall spending.
He said Harris altered definitions to preserve the higher figure.
“If you go back to the data, it’s about less than 2% of unallowed,” DeAngelis said. “But when you start changing definitions, they want at least one of these, out of all the families, at least one of the transactions, it’s just changing definitions to get to a number that he had stated before using a different method.”
DeAngelis and Heritage Foundation colleague Jason Bedrick called for a retraction.
“(Harris) didn’t like the demand to retract his article, and so he blocked both of us,” DeAngelis said.
DeAngelis said critics of the ESA program, namely the state’s teachers’ unions, have focused on the figure in Harris’s headline rather than the underlying data, which he described as reflective of a broader effort to undermine the program.
“They’re hanging their hat on this 20% figure because they don’t like the school choice program, it’s just so obvious,” DeAngelis said. “But for most people they’re not thinking about it in this way. They just see the headline and they say, ‘oh my goodness, there must be a lot of fraud going on. We better vote to get rid of the school-choice program.’ And that’s their whole agenda.”
The Arizona Education Association has cited Harris and 12News reporting on the issue.
“You see the line of attack was they didn’t care what the data said. It was just ‘we’ve got to find any way to discredit the study’….So instead of looking at the data and the methods and their claims, they’re just trying to attack,” DeAngelis said.
DeAngelis said he contacted 12News leadership multiple times seeking a retraction but has not received a response.
That includes Kate Morris, president and general manager of Arizona’s TEGNA TV stations, who oversees 12News operations and local news strategy.
“I’ve pointed out how Craig Harris is wrong,” he said. “I’ve emailed (Morris) four times between March 13 and March 22nd, I kept updating her every step of the way, when the ADE study came out, I sent her my articles on the issue, and so on and so forth, and she has never responded. So they just want to sweep it all under the rug.”
Kate Morris, GM of TEGNA’s Arizona stations. (LinkedIn / Kate Morris)
DeAngelis also criticized a researcher cited in Harris’s reporting.
“12News also used Jen Jennings as their researcher to try to back up their claims,” DeAngelis said.
Jennings, a Princeton University professor, said the findings suggest a need for stronger oversight of the program. According to her Bluesky social media profile, Jennings is a professor of sociology and education policy at Princeton School of Public and International Affairs who focuses on K–12 education policy and leads an education research section.
DeAngelis believes Harris’ selection of Jennings to provide analysis was, in his view, directed at him personally.
“With 12News, it’s almost like they’re just laughing in everybody’s faces,” DeAngelis said.
Jennings previously used ChatGPT to generate a satirical fictional story involving DeAngelis and former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. DeAngelis pointed to the example as evidence she was not an appropriate choice to provide analysis.
“It was just really creepy,” DeAngelis said. “And (12News) chose her of all people. They didn’t even try to choose someone who looks unbiased on the issue of school choice. They found someone again who was going to find what they wanted them to find.”
Jen Jennings, Princeton education policy professor. (Bluesky / Jen Jennings)
The dispute has also broadly drawn outside commentary.
The Goldwater Institute has disputed Harris’s reporting as well, saying it relied on a non-representative sample and misinterpreted data.
The Cascade Policy Institute and Ed Choice have both also backed DeAngelis and the Arizona Department of Education.
The Arizona Free Enterprise Club accused Harris of biased reporting on the ESA program and cited past reporting it described as “defamatory,” which it said is subject to ongoing litigation.
Americans For Fair Treatment also weighed in on X.
“Arizona’s 12News ran with a claim that 20% of Arizona ESA spending was fraudulent. The actual fraud rate? 0.3% — confirmed by a Stanford PhD statistician analyzing a random sample of 3,000 accounts. That’s not journalism — that’s an AGENDA,” Americans For Fair Treatment said in its post.
They were joined by Cole Smead, who owns and operates a Phoenix-based investment firm, and who framed Harris’s and 12News’ use of the data in ideological terms.
“Craig Harris hates school choice. This isn’t about vouchers. This is about out of state interests like the teachers union paying to take away the freedom to choose for your child. SCHOOL CHOICE IS THE ANSWER. DON’T GET IT TWISTED,” Smead said on X.
