Just as the school year starts, Superintendent Horne’s Arizona Department of Education (ADE) unexpectedly yanked funding from the students who need it most. Read columnist Rhonda Cagle’s piece from the Arizona Republic to find out how Horne has made back to school extremely difficult for many Arizona schools. We’ve excerpted it below:

“The Arizona Department of Education is again leaving districts and schools holding an empty bag. Months after unexpectedly cutting Title I funds to Arizona’s poorest students and schools, the department has made a substantial, surprise reduction to school improvement grant funds to schools serving students who struggle the most. And just as a new school year begins.

Days ago, as superintendents were welcoming teachers back for the school year, districts and charter schools received cryptic communication informing them that the Office for School Improvement was “reviewing grants to ensure that all requested expenses are reasonable, necessary, and allocable.” That message was immediately followed by short, scripted meetings and phone calls informing districts that drastic cuts — more than 50% for some school districts — had been made to the grants dedicated to improving student achievement in this new school year.

… These cuts result in districts losing tens and even hundreds of thousands of dollars. This, after they have already built their budgets and hired staff for the year based on those funds. The scramble in making up for these cuts varies, as it appears the reductions were not equitable. Some districts are cutting teacher training, rescinding contracts with ADE-approved vendors that provide it. Others are having to lay off grant-funded teachers, just as the school year begins.

An anonymous Superintendent from a Valley district said, “Someone is not taking care of the math at ADE. There now seems to be a cash grab going on across the state, kind of like going through the couch cushions looking for spare change. But it’s ultimately impacting the kids who need help the most.”

… Besides shilling for private voucher schools, what is Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne focused on? With these reductions once again taking educators by surprise, it certainly isn’t communicating with the public schools he was elected to serve. How are schools expected to trust ADE when approved funding can suddenly be reduced or eliminated? How are they supposed to set and balance a budget when the numbers they work with become arbitrary? Why is ADE choosing to balance its budget on the backs of our most vulnerable children and the schools that serve them? Most importantly, why do we let them?”