Tens of millions of dollars in grant funding that has expired could be returned to Arizona schools, as per an offer from the U.S. Department of Education. The Arizona Department of Education has asked for a waiver that would extend the spending deadline and provide state schools access to more grant funds, at the behest of the federal agency.
Even though the awards’ deadline expired in September 2023, the U.S. agency informed The Arizona Republic that it will still take Arizona’s proposal into consideration. Although the department under previous superintendent Kathy Hoffman had requested a similar waiver as recently as November 2022, Tom Horne, superintendent of public instruction, and Michelle Udall, his associate superintendent over school improvement, had previously stated that it was too late to address the issue by the time Horne took office in January 2023.
Horne said that his administration filed for a waiver last week after state education officials were notified by the U.S. Department of Education that it was a possibility. In a press release on Monday, Horne stated, “I am happy to submit this waiver request to the federal government. I will always fight for more money for schools.”
The state department informed school administrators earlier this month that it had returned $29 million in unused grants to the federal government. The Republic first broke the story, which provoked a flurry of condemnation from the governor and state legislators. Horne said that Hoffman, his predecessor, was to blame for the mess. She oversaw the State Department, which received the monies first.
The news release dated August 5th quoted Horne as saying, “I did not tolerate the incompetence of the employee, who was fired or resigned when told otherwise would be fired in March 2023.” According to Udall, the department didn’t learn about the loss for a whole year. Nick stated last week that the State Department could not have awarded further grants since the funds needed to be allotted at the beginning of the 15-month term, even if it had been aware of the September 2023 limit.
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