Arizona is channeling $40 million in federal COVID-19 relief funding toward tutoring students falling behind in school.
Superintendent Tom Horne said the cash was taken back from other programs approved by his predecessor, Kathy Hoffman.
Horne said the department is not pulling funding from all of the organizations who received aid — just those who could not show that students were making academic progress, or were running out of time to spend their funding.
“We sent out a memo to the vendors and we asked them to let us know, how data showing that their efforts have increased learning of the students," Horne said. “Some of the programs were doing fine, but they weren't spending at a rate fast enough to use up the money by next September. So, we let them have enough funds to continue as right as they were going.”
The recouped money will be given out on a first-come, first-served basis for first through eighth grade students who failed to pass proficiency tests in reading, writing and math.
The website to sign up goes live Sept. 15.
