Grand Canyon Times

Arizona's education department has secured a federal grant of $34.8 million aimed at supporting charter schools that serve educationally disadvantaged students. This funding is intended to establish 24 new high-quality charter schools and assist 23 existing ones in implementing effective academic growth models.

Horne expressed his satisfaction with the achievement, stating, “I am extremely pleased that we have received this federal grant that will create 24 new high-quality charter schools and help another 23 existing schools with models and practices that result in academic growth. I want to commend the department staff who competed for this funding. Their work has resulted in the state receiving the largest recipient of this grant, per capita, in the country.”

Highlighting Arizona's role in school choice, Horne added, “Arizona is the leader in the country on school choice and charters are a major component of that. These dollars will serve a vital purpose in making sure that an estimated 10,000 students in traditionally underserved areas will have a chance to select a high-quality charter school. Every student in every part of our state, urban or rural, rich or poor, deserves this opportunity and I am very pleased to be a part of this effort.”

The initiative focuses on increasing access to quality education for students identified as economically disadvantaged, those with disabilities, English Language Learners, and other groups. The program also aims to address achievement gaps by improving teaching methods through technical assistance and encouraging college-level course enrollment.

The department expects these efforts to lead to significant improvements in student performance on state tests over time.