(The Center Square) – Arizona schools will be seeing $29 million in federal funding they nearly lost due to a lapsed allocation date, a matter that's led to a partisan blame game.
Arizona Superintendent of Schools Tom Horne announced on Friday that the U.S. Department of Education granted the necessary waivers, so that the money could be returned to the Arizona Department of Education.
These funds were leftover from the Title I school improvement funds for years 2021, 2022 and 2023. In order for these funds to be used, they have to be allocated by the Arizona Department of Education. Twenty-four million dollars of those funds were not allocated to any district and $5 million had been allocated, but the districts did not spend them in time.
In addition to this, Horne announced earlier this year that Title I allocations were lower this year due to cuts at the federal level.
“The reductions were so significant – and the Department announced them so late in the fiscal year – that school districts and charter schools were forced to make last-minute cuts to summer programming and employee positions in order to remain within their budgets,” reads a letter from Rep. Nancy Gutierrez to Rep. Matt Gress, who chairs the Judicial Legislative Audit Committee, requesting a special audit into the Department of Education. “These actions bring into question whether the Department exercises the attention, transparency and clear communication needed to appropriately oversee our state's educational funding.”
JLAC held a hearing on Sept. 18, giving Horne a chance to testify as to why the Department had let this deadline pass without applying for a waiver. To this, Horne stated that it was the fault of the prior administration and an employee who has since been fired.
The deadline as to when the request for a waiver had to be submitted was debated during the committee meeting, with Horne stating it was July 2022 (before he took office) and Gutierrez saying it was Sept. 2023 (after he had taken office).
Horne claims that since the deadline was before he took office, it was not his administration that missed the deadline and that the former employee was responsible for under allocating the school improvement funds and not bringing it to his attention that the deadline to file for a waiver had passed.
Democrats in the committee meeting argued that even if it was the prior administration’s fault, Horne had a responsibility to be aware of this and inform the school districts on what was happening. Additionally, they pointed out that schools needed to be informed of the decreased funding for the year sooner in order to budget properly.
“The department kneecapped the budgeting ability of about 200 schools,” said Rep. Judy Schwiebert during the meeting. “These schools are already in a tight financial situation and this sets them up for more problems down the line. In the end it’s not the states or even the districts that suffer, it’s the children.”
Gov. Katie Hobbs also called on the JLAC to conduct a special audit of the Arizona Department of Education.
“I commend the members of the state legislature who are demanding accountability and transparency,” Hobbs said in an Aug. 12 press release. “It is unconscionable that Superintendent Horne has let tens of millions of dollars disappear from our schools—critical federal funding that helps students succeed. I sincerely hope that the Joint Legislative Audit Committee takes up this investigation and finds out what happened to these resources. Our kids deserve better.”
However, JLAC did not approve a special audit since the department is already undergoing a general audit.
After being apprised of the passed deadline and the loss of funding, Horne submitted a request to the U.S. Department of Education, asking for a waiver in order to have these funds returned.
At this time, the Department of Education is still determining how these funds will be allocated.
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