State Treasurer Kim Yee and State Superintendent Tom Horne are at odds over the handling of a cash advance request for the Nadaburg Unified School District. The disagreement centers on whether the Treasurer’s office was aware of its responsibilities under Arizona law to review and approve such requests.
In a letter dated September 30, Yee said, “…the press release suggests that ASTO was somehow unaware of its duty to review and approve the cash advance request under A.R.S. § 15-973(C). This is incorrect.” However, an email from Nick Barnhiser, Network Admin at the State Treasurer’s Office, sent on August 29 to the Arizona Department of Education (ADE), seems to contradict this assertion.
The email reads: “Hello, my name is Nick Barnhiser and I am the Network Admin at the State Treasurer’s Office. Our Treasurer, Kimberly Yee made us aware of some emails she is getting from a Ryan Young at the Department of Education via Adobe Sign asking her to sign a Cash Advance for the Nadaburg School District. This is not something the Treasurer nor our office handles and the message was forwarded to us as possibly fraudulent.”
Barnhiser added that he identified Ryan Young as a staff member at ADE but could not find his contact information. He requested assistance in resolving what he believed might be an error, noting that emails had been consistently reaching Yee’s inbox.
The exchange highlights a potential miscommunication between state agencies regarding their roles in financial matters related to school districts.
