Grand Canyon Times

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne announced today that the U.S. Department of Education (USED) has offered a waiver to the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) to recoup approximately $29 million in federal Title I funds that were under-utilized during the Hoffman administration. The department has submitted the waiver request, which will cover State Fiscal Years 2021, 2022, and 2023.

On August 8, USED contacted ADE Title I staff to encourage the department to apply for a Tydings waiver. This waiver would allow excess funds that had accrued due to under-allocations beginning in Fiscal Year 2020 to be retained. Prior to this notification, no requests had been mentioned by USED to ADE.

Horne stated, “I will always fight for more money for schools, so I am happy to submit this waiver request to the federal government. The under-utilization of about $29 million in federal funds began in Fiscal Year 2020 under the previous superintendent and the employee who incompetently handled these allocations no longer works at this department.”

He added, “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.”

With approval of this waiver request, the department aims to increase funding for the most underserved districts and charters.