The Arizona Department of Education’s $84 million funding mistake that affected Title I and Special Education money of various districts resulted in Phoenix Union High School District being overfunded for four years.
The Arizona Department of Education gave Phoenix Union High School District an excess $2.4 million over four years, according to Craig Pletenik, a spokesperson for the district. PUHSD’s excess funding accounted for about 4 percent of the $56 million Title I funds that were misallocated.
PUHSD did not discover the mistake itself and all of the money was absorbed and spent, according to Pletenik.
“We didn’t even realize the department of education overfunded us,” Pletenik said.
Title I funds allow schools to hire teachers who specifically help to develop after school learning programs and improve overall student success in addition to helping schools meet state academic standards. Each district has to apply for a grant that allows them to receive government funding under Title I.
Districts can apply for the grant but they may not be eligible for the funds. The demographics of the district is the determining factor of the allocation from the Arizona Department of Education, according to Stefan Swiat, a spokesperson for the department.
About 77 percent of PUHSD’s students qualify for the free and reduced lunch program, according to the district website. The program is part of the National School Lunch Program that provides free or low-cost lunches to students who come from low-income families, according to the NSLB website.
“Every penny we get, we can use for our kids because they need it,” Pletenik said.
The misallocation was discovered in the 2017 audit, according to Pletenik.
Swiat said the Arizona Department of Education wants to ensure it is taking care of the needs of the school systems by adequately responding to its mistake.
“How do we not harm our schools, how can we make sure the least amount of people are affected by this?” Swiat said of the process to determine the department’s solution.
The Arizona Department of Education announced that none of the districts that were overfunded will have to pay back the extra money. Likewise, the districts that were underfunded were given their previously missing dollars.
When schools apply for the grant to receive Title I funding, they enter a relationship with the Arizona Department of Education that helps them to navigate their financial situation. Therefore, if PUHSD had been underfunded, it would’ve impacted the schools negatively, according to Pletenik.
However, Swiat said the Arizona Department received no complaints from any schools regarding funding, and that he didn’t recall any schools that were underfunded mentioning anything about a shortage.
Although it took a year for the Arizona Department of Education to fix the funding mistake, Swiat said school districts like Phoenix Union High School District are pre-approved for funding of Title I from here on.
Swiat said there is a stigma about government that says it makes frequent mistakes. He added that he hopes their solution to the funding mistake will show their dedication to their schools and remove that stigma.
If the department follows policy procedures correctly, this mistake should not happen again, according to Swiat. He added that auditors are in place for the differing programs and they hope to get it right in the future.
“Our Title I Director couldn’t be happier with the outcome,” Swiat said. “The result worked out pretty perfectly.”
Contact the reporter at egraves5@asu.edu
