Governor Katie Hobbs speaking with attendees at the 2024 Legislative Forecast Luncheon hosted by the Arizona Chamber of Commerce & Industry at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona.
Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne is pushing back on Governor Katie Hobbs’ calls for an audit of his department after it was revealed almost $30 million was not appropriated to schools.
Last week, Nick Sullivan of the Arizona Republic reported up to 200 schools would face cuts to their school improvement grants because the Arizona Department of Education failed to distribute the money before federal deadlines, and would have to return the money to the government.
On Aug. 7, six Democratic lawmakers called for an audit of Horne’s department, citing the school improvement grants, as well as the Department’s alleged refusal to release their data and formulas used to reduce Title I grants for the upcoming school year. Hobbs released a statement expressing her support for the lawmaker's call on Monday.
“School finance officers across the state have tried and failed to re-create the reductions
generated by the Department, leading to confusion and doubt regarding the accuracy of those
calculations,” said a letter written by the six representatives.
Title I grants, according to the Department of Education’s website, provide extra funds to schools with a high proportion of students from low-income families.
The other funds in question, school improvement grants, are usually used to fund training and staff positions at qualifying schools.
According to the Arizona Republic article, the department failed to notify the hundreds of affected schools that they no longer had access to the school improvement grants until after schools had applied and planned for extra money this year.
“These actions bring into question whether the Department exercises the attention, transparency, and clear communication needed to appropriately oversee our state's educational funding,” the letter wrote.
A few hours later, Horne announced he had submitted a waiver request appealing to the U.S. Department of Education to get the funds back, and the misappropriation was not his fault.
“The under-utilization of about $29 million in federal funds began in Fiscal Year 2020 under the previous superintendent and the employee who incompetently handed these allocations no longer works at this department,” Horne wrote in a statement.
Horne called Hobbs’ allegations false and said his department is working on correcting the error that he says happened under Democrat Kathy Hoffman’s administration.
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