Arizona school districts running out of time to spend federal COVID funding

PHOENIX — Several Arizona school districts are running out of time to spend money allocated to them as part of federal COVID funding.

The deadline for districts and charters to obligate funds under law is Sept. 30. Of the $2.36 billion allocated to Arizona, $432 million remains, according to the Arizona Department of Education.

The schools have until the end of the year to draw down the dollars, which were appropriated to them by Congress in 2021.

“We have been in contact, in many cases multiple times, with districts and charters to remind them of their responsibility to obligate these funds,” Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne said in a press release. “Most are showing the ability to do this, but a number of them are at great risk of reverting funds.”

Horne said schools that have not touched any of their funding include Khalsa Family Services, Satori, Inc. and the Pima County Accommodation District. He added that other districts have only used a fraction of their funding or are refusing to do so.

There is some good news, though. Approximately $175 million in funding has been drawn down since August as the department gets districts to use the funding.

“That outcome is still avoidable if they simply do the work that we have been urging them to do,” Horne said.

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