PHOENIX — Governor Katie Hobbs has requested an audit into Superintendent Tom Horne's "mismanagement of public school funding."
On Monday, Hobbs joined six members of the House of Representatives by calling a Joint Legislative Audit Committee special audit of the Arizona Department of Education's (ADE) school improvement and Title I funding allocations.
“I commend the members of the state legislature who are demanding accountability and transparency,” wrote Hobbs in a news 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.”
Last week, the ADE announced it needed to revert about $29 million in school improvement grant funds to the federal government after it wasn’t used in time. These funds are given to schools where students underperform and need additional assistance. The money typically goes toward helping staff in ways of professional development, leadership training, some supplies, curriculum and more.
However, on Monday afternoon, Superintendent Tom Horne announced that the U.S. Department of Education contacted the ADE late last week to offer a waiver to recoup approximately 29 million federal Title I dollars that had been under-utilized during the previous Hoffman administration.
Horne says the department has submitted the waiver request that will cover State Fiscal Years 2021, 2022 and 2023.
In a statement, Horne wrote, “The governor today is repeating false allegations. These dollars should have been sent to districts and charters years ago during the Hoffman administration, but they were allowed by previous staff to accumulate and potentially revert. In reality she is asking to investigate Kathy Hoffman’s administration, but the problem is being corrected by my administration.”
“2022 was my predecessor's administration,” Horne said last week, referring to former Superintendent Kathy Hoffman. “It’s not that the Department of Education is losing it,” he says of the funding going back. “It's that the prior administration didn't meet a deadline.”
Hoffman offered a statement to ABC15 in response:
“Tom Horne has had nearly two years of responsibility over the federal funds and this is his mistake to resolve. There were no issues with the school improvement grants during my administration. Schools should not have suddenly found out they had $29 million cut from their budgets just as the new school year is starting. My office prioritized transparent and frequent communication with our school leaders. Tom Horne does not seem to have continued that policy.”
The demand for a special audit comes after reports that showed the Department of Education lost $24 million in federal funding for public education.
“As our letter states, the actions of the Arizona Department of Education and Superintendent Horne have raised serious questions about their ability to responsibly oversee the state’s education federal funding distribution,” said House Democratic Whip Nancy Gutierrez, who authored the letter asking for an audit. “We need more attention to detail, basic transparency and better communication with schools -- and with us -- to avoid the budget cuts and negative impacts that our schools have experienced. We need an audit right now to find out exactly what is happening and why, and to restore trust.”
