‘ESA Confidential’—Arizona Reporter Craig Harris Accused Of Coordinating With School Choice Opponents At State Capitol

Screenshots shared on social media appear to show 12News investigative reporter Craig Harris participating in a private group chat with opponents of Arizona’s Empowerment Scholarship Account program during late-session legislative activity at the Arizona Capitol.

The screenshots were posted June 13 by Corey DeAngelis, a school choice advocate and research fellow at The Heritage Foundation, who accused Harris of coordinating with members of Save Our Schools Arizona, a group opposing Arizona’s universal ESA program. One screenshot shows a group chat titled “ESA Confidential 12News,” while another appears to show Harris providing guidance about positioning inside the Arizona Capitol during legislative activity on school choice bills.

“The fake news ‘journalist’ attacking school choice in Arizona–Craig Harris–is coordinating with a teachers union group called Save Our Schools. The lady in the picture is a Save Our Schools board member. They’re chatting in a group called ‘ESA Confidential 12News’,” DeAngelis wrote in the post, which included screenshots of the alleged exchange.

BREAKING: The fake news "journalist" attacking school choice in Arizona–Craig Harris–is coordinating with a teachers union group called Save Our Schools.

The lady in the picture is a Save Our Schools board member.

They're chatting in a group called "ESA Confidential 12News." pic.twitter.com/P58UyOqi89

— Corey A. DeAngelis, school choice evangelist (@DeAngelisCorey) June 13, 2026

Save Our Schools Arizona has been active in efforts to restrict Arizona’s universal ESA program and is among the groups backing the Protect Education Act, a proposed ballot initiative aimed at overhauling the program. The campaign says the measure would impose new safety requirements, add spending transparency rules, ban ESA funds from being used on non-educational expenses, place a $150,000 income cap on most families seeking ESA eligibility, require unused ESA funds to be returned, and impose academic-quality standards on schools receiving voucher dollars.

Kathy Boltz, who appears in the screenshots shared by DeAngelis, has been identified as a Save Our Schools Arizona board member in prior coverage. The Copper Courier reported in April that Boltz, an ESA parent and small business owner, sits on the Save Our Schools Arizona board and has argued that the universal program has expanded beyond what she believes was its original purpose.

The screenshots circulated as lawmakers were attempting to resolve a major fight over ESA reforms in the final hours of the legislative session. KJZZ reported that House Republicans said they had reached a deal with the Arizona Education Association to impose new restrictions on voucher dollars in exchange for the union agreeing to stop gathering signatures for its more restrictive ballot measure. As part of that proposed deal, lawmakers also reportedly agreed to drop an anti-teacher labor union ballot referral and another measure that would have required certain school districts to spend at least 60 percent of operational dollars on direct instruction.

The deal collapsed in the Senate, where Democrats and two Republicans, Senate President Warren Petersen and Sen. Jake Hoffman, voted down the House-crafted ESA reform bill, according to KJZZ. Republican lawmakers then advanced a separate ballot referral, HCR 2048, titled the “Military Families College Savings and Scholarship Protection Act.”

The measure would amend the Arizona Constitution to prohibit the state from seizing, transferring, or otherwise taking money from scholarship accounts of students who are children of military families if the account is part of a state program that allows those students to use the money for tuition or fees at eligible postsecondary institutions. The proposal also states that the provision is not limited to programs created only for children of military families.

HCR 2048 includes a voidability provision stating that if any bill enacted into law or voter-approved measure after Nov. 1, 2026, violates that protection, the entire bill or measure is void and cannot be severed by a court. Axios Phoenix reported that the provision could nullify the Protect Education Act if both measures were approved by voters, describing the referral as part of a late-session Republican effort to counter proposed ESA reforms.

The Arizona Senate Republican Caucus framed the package differently, saying in a June 12 press release that lawmakers had approved three ballot referrals intended to protect military families, direct more education dollars into classrooms, and prevent taxpayer-funded school resources from being used for labor organization activity. In addition to HCR 2048, the caucus highlighted HCR 2040, which would bar school districts from using public money or resources to support labor organization operations, and HCR 2007, which would require larger school districts to spend at least 60 percent of operational spending on direct instructional expenses.

The timing in the Capitol made the Harris screenshots drew scrutiny because Save Our Schools Arizona and allied public-education groups were not merely commenting on ESA policy from outside the process. They were active participants in a live legislative and ballot-measure fight over the program’s future.

Harris has reported extensively on alleged misuse of ESA funds. In February, 12News reported that Arizona Department of Education records showed parents allegedly misspent at least $10.3 million in ESA funds on banned items. In March, 12News reported that more than 18,000 ESA parents were flagged for misspending, but only six cases had been referred for prosecution.

Harris’ reporting has been sharply criticized by school choice advocates and conservative policy organizations, who have argued that 12News overstated the scope of fraud and misuse. In March, the Goldwater Institute called for 12News to retract claims about ESA misspending, arguing that later analysis from the Arizona Department of Education showed program misspending was below the level suggested in the station’s reporting.

The incident has also drawn attention from AZ Free News, where Jason Bedrick and Matthew Ladner wrote in an op-ed that the screenshots showed Harris “using his knowledge of the Arizona Legislature’s political process to provide tactical advice to an advocacy group that has a direct political stake in the legislation he is supposed to be covering neutrally.” Bedrick is a senior research fellow at The Heritage Foundation’s Center for Education Policy, while Ladner is a senior advisor for education policy implementation at the center.

Following DeAngelis’ post, Turning Point Action COO Tyler Bowyer called for Harris to be fired, writing on X, “You can’t pretend to be a reporter and be this ethically compromised.” DeAngelis later posted that Arizona State Sen. Jake Hoffman also called for Harris to be fired.

Craig should be fired for this. You can’t pretend to be a reporter and be this ethically flawed.

He should totally go work for a leftist non profit or group and just be honest about it.

Nothing stopping him from that. https://t.co/DlMha6XLal

— Tyler Bowyer (@tylerbowyer) June 13, 2026

12News is the Phoenix NBC affiliate owned by TEGNA, according to the station’s about page. TEGNA’s published “Principles of Ethical Journalism” says the company is committed to “truth, independence, public interest, fair play and integrity,” and says those principles apply “to everything we do, from gathering information to reporting and producing content.” The same policy instructs employees to avoid conflicts of interest, avoid even the appearance of a conflict, and not participate in political advocacy or publicly share political views without prior management approval.

Arizona’s ESA program remains one of the most contentious education policy fights in the country. The Arizona Department of Education reported 100,713 students enrolled in the program as of June 15. ADE says ESAs allow the money that would otherwise pay for a student’s education in a neighborhood school to follow that student to the education setting selected by the student’s parents, including private school, home-based education, curriculum, educational supplies, tutoring, and other education expenses.

ESA reform bill fails, but @GOP will put referral on ballot that would prevent taking excess ESA funds from military families + defeat ESA reform initiative to sweep excess funds & income cap.

AZ has 987 ESA military families — less than 1 % of program https://t.co/kwFOjN8njC

— Craig Harris (@CraigHarrisNews) June 15, 2026

Harris posted his reporting to X Monday, writing, “ESA reform bill fails, but @GOP will put referral on ballot that would prevent taking excess ESA funds from military families + defeat ESA reform initiative to sweep excess funds & income cap. AZ has 987 ESA military families — less than 1 % of program.”

As of this report, Harris has made no public statements regarding the incident; however, DeAngelis has shared screenshots of alleged deleted posts to X in which Harris reportedly responded. Harris has not responded to requests for comment.