PHOENIX — Tens of millions of dollars of funding that could’ve been used for students who need a little more help is now going back to the federal government.
The Arizona Department of Education says it needs 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.
State Superintendent Tom Horne’s office said sending this money back will affect around 150 schools across Arizona.
He said $24 million of that money was not allocated by the deadline of July 1, 2022, which schools would’ve been able to use in 2023.
“2022 was my predecessor's administration,” Horne said, 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.”
Of the $5 million of $29 million, Horne said schools did not use that money in time, saying his office had repeatedly reached out to schools to spend their money.
“Schools have complained that we call too much,” Horne said.
However, both the Arizona Education Association, the state’s largest teacher’s union, as well as the Arizona School Administrators Association say they’ve heard that communication has been lacking from Horne’s office.
“The fact that the superintendent wants to blame the former superintendent for what happened, it doesn't matter. The situation is what it is, and he should be doing everything he can to fix this and take accountability for it,” AEA President Marisol Garcia said. “This is a position where we elect people to lead us and it doesn't matter how it happened. We now have to deal with it.”
Garcia points out that this is the second time she felt the ADE had poor communication with school districts. The first is when the federal government decided to decrease Title 1 funding for schools due to changes in the poverty rates in Arizona. School leaders packed an Arizona State Board of Education meeting earlier this year, sharing their concerns about the lack of communication over this issue after Horne told them to plan to allocate a little less compared to years past until they find out their actual amounts.
When ABC15 asked about the communication and transparency concerns schools had with his office over now two funding issues in the last few months, he said it’s “completely false.”
“They complained about opposite things. On the reduction of Title 1 money, we got advance notice that there would be a cut. We didn’t know how much it would be… I got roundly attacked for giving them information that I gave them early,” he continued. “A majority of school districts handle things fine. But you have small percentage of school districts where they didn’t read their emails… We were being attacked for giving the information too early. Now we’re being attacked for giving the information too late.”
Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs also responded to the federal grant issue, telling a group of reporters on Wednesday that her office is looking at all options.
“Including the possibility of an investigation into what happened,” she said. “The bottom line is that it is unconscionable that students are struggling and missing additional assistance because we just forfeited these funds. We should be doing everything we can to invest in our public schools. Once again, Superintendent Horne has failed to do that.”
Horne’s office said Hobbs had only listened to what an Arizona Republic article pushed regarding the issue, which Horne’s office has continued to denounce since it was published.
So, how will schools and students be affected now without this money? Some schools had certain amounts already designated to them. That money had not been spent yet, Horne said. The department then had to reduce some of that amount, but schools had already budgeted the year with the original amount ADE had told them.
Paul Tighe, with the Arizona School Administrators Association, said this change in funding will impact the students who need the most help.
“It's pretty difficult for school leaders to find funds elsewhere,” Tighe said. “There's very limited resources with certainly desire to continue to provide services for our disadvantaged students. It's also, you know, kind of tough, the timing of which has made it even harder. So, there wasn't time to plan already in the fiscal year of the budget year.”
Horne says his office will try to fill the gaps where they can. For example, if schools need tutoring, he said they can help schools use some of their extended ESSER money to help with their Achievement Tutoring program.
“We’re trying to fill to the extent we can from other sources, some of the shortages that may occur,” he said, adding that staff that had been budgeted for the year with this money will still continue.
“If the person’s been hired, we’re going to be sure that that doesn’t happen. That doesn’t affect the hiring of the teacher,” he said.
ADE will be hosting a webinar question and answer session with school districts on Wednesday to clarify with schools.