U.S. Department of Education to make moves that will impact Arizona’s school system

PHOENIX – The U.S. Department of Education (DOE) is taking a step toward dismantling, and that will affect Arizona’s school system.

Last week, the department announced plans to move programs into other federal departments, including shifting Title I and English language learner funding to the Department of Labor and the Office of Indian Education to the Department of the Interior.

This is the next step in the Trump administration’s plan to dismantle the DOE and hand over education decisions to the individual states.

How will the U.S. Department of Education’s moves affect Arizona?

State Superintendent Tom Horne told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s The Mike Broomhead Show on Monday this will put more responsibility on the state.

“One of the things that I got a lot of questions about was, could we handle special education because a special ed section won’t be operating at the federal level, and the answer is yes,” Horne said. “We monitor the schools. They monitor us. That’s two agencies doing what one agency can do. So, that’s a good development.”

Horne added some parts of the department will be adjusted on a state level, with education civil rights issues being handed over to the attorney general or county attorneys’ offices.

The changes will be made within partnerships between federal agencies, with specific focuses on elementary and secondary education, postsecondary, Indian education, child care, foreign medical schools and international education.

Horne said overall, he supports the states receiving educational power.

“We know Arizona schools. In Washington, it’s like an echo chamber,” Horne said. “They don’t know Arizona schools and a lot of times they make silly decisions. So, I think it’d be a great improvement.”

Horne added this will also give more power to parents, with school boards taking on more responsibility to make up for the lack of federal education oversight. He urged parents to use their governing board vote to express their education opinions.

Funding for this journalism is made possible by the Arizona Local News Foundation.

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