Letter outlines process awaiting federal action for upcoming payments

PHOENIX – The Arizona Department of Education is providing guidance to local public districts and charter operators about a pause taken by the U.S. Department of Education (USED) affecting certain federal grants to schools. This does not affect any prior years funding that districts or charters may have available to use.

The U.S. Department of Education did not issue grant award notifications for a limited number of programs on July 1 prior to completing their review of federal awards. This means that the Arizona Department of Education cannot access these federal monies until USED and the federal Office of Management and Budget provide financial amounts to states.

The Arizona Department is taking steps to guide districts and charters regarding the affected programs in grants management for FY 2026 funding applications and we are working to obtain more information and access the federal funds as soon as possible.

Base Level Amount 15-901

2.00%/$100.26 total increase

• $5,113.26

Transportation Support Level 15-945

2.07% increase to support per route mile

• 0.5 or fewer: $3.01
• 0.5-1.0: $2.47
• More than 1.0: $3.01

District Additional Assistance (DAA) & Charter Additional Assistance (CAA) 15-185 & 15-961

2.00% increase to CAA

• Grades PSD-8: $2,131.90
• Grades 9-12: $2,484.69

Qualifying Tax Rate 41-1276

Unified School Districts and Common School Districts not within a High School District (Type 03): $3.1212

Common School Districts within High School District and High School Districts: $1.5606

State Aid Rollover 15-973

$800,727,700 of the FY 2026 basic state aid appropriation to school districts is deferred until July 2026.

This is equal to FY 2025.

Does not apply to charters or school districts with less than 4,000 ADM.

Classroom Site Fund 15-977

$842 per weighted pupil

($50 Increase)

State Aid Supplement

One-time supplemental proportional funding for School Districts and Charter Districts based on weighted student counts. The additional amount received by each charter and district will increase budget capacity; districts can use their apportionment in either Maintenance & Operation or Unrestricted Capital Outlay funds.

• $75,000,000

One Time Supplement for CAA & DAA

One-time supplemental funding for Charter Additional Assistance (CAA) and District Additional Assistance (DAA) will be allocated on a proportional basis. The additional amount received by each charter and district will increase budget capacity; districts can use their apportionment in either Maintenance & Operation or Unrestricted Capital Outlay funds.

• CAA statewide amount: $5,858,000
• DAA statewide amount: $23,142,000

One Time Supplement for FRPL

One-time supplemental funding for Free and Reduced Priced Lunch (FRPL) will be allocated on a pro rata basis using FRPL weighted ADM. The amount apportioned to each charter and district will increase budget capacity; districts can use their apportionment in either Maintenance & Operation or Unrestricted Capital Outlay funds.

• FRPL statewide amount: $37,000,000.00

School Finance Fiscal Operations – Related Statutes

Arizona Department of Corrections 15-1372

Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections 15-1371

Arizona Online Instruction 15-808

Certificates of Educational Convenience   15-825   15-976

Charter Equalization 15-185

Classroom Site Fund 15-977

College Credit by Examination Incentive Program 15-249.06

County Jails   15-913.01

County Juvenile Detention 15-913

County Small School 15-365

Definitions 15-901

Determination of equalization assistance payments from county and state funds 15-971

District Cash Advance of State Aid   15-973

District Equalization 15-943

Early Literacy Grants 15-249.09

Instructional Improvement Fund 15-979

Optional Two Hundred Days of Instruction (5% base level increase) 15-902.04

Small School Capital Transportation 15-963

Teacher Experience Index 15-941

Unorganized Territory 15-1001

School Finance has been notified that the FY25 Basic State Aid and Additional State Aid Rollover payment will be appropriated around July 8th. This payment is the statewide $800,727,700 amount that is required to be withheld from FY25 state aid payments for school districts that had greater than 4,000 ADM in the prior fiscal year.

If you have any questions, please contact the School Finance Payment Team at [email protected].

Thank you!

Due to the Arizona State budgetary shortfall that impacts the Arizona Department of Education, the fiscal year 2025 June state aid payment to eligible school districts has been split into two payments. The first payment was apportioned on Friday, June 20^th, 2025, and the second payment will be apportioned Tuesday, July 1^st, 2025.

The Department of Education was able to appropriate 63.00% of basic state aid funding and 100% of additional state aid funding for the first payment of the June state aid payment for eligible school districts and charters. The remaining 37.00% of basic state aid funding will be appropriated on July 1^st.

Please note that as a result of this funding being separated into two payments, the BSA-64 report on the School Finance Reports website will not reflect the individual payment amounts. The BSA-64 report will only show the sum of payment 1 and payment 2 amounts.

For any additional questions, please email [email protected] or call 602-542-5695, option 1.

Thank you!

The second payment of the Free Reduced Priced Lunch (FRPL), District Additional Assistance (DAA), and Charter Additional Assistance (CAA) will be appropriated by Tuesday, July 1, 2025. Please view this Hot Topic for more information.

Please see the attached spreadsheets for each payment at the bottom of this Hot Topic for information about the annual payment amounts.

For school districts, these funds can be allocated to either Maintenance and Operations fund 001 (M&O) and/or Unrestricted Capital fund 610 (UNR).

If you have any questions regarding the payment amount, please contact [email protected]. If you have any questions regarding how to input these amounts on the Expenditure Budget form, please contact [email protected]. Thank you!

FRPL Worksheet

DAA Worksheet

CAA Worksheet

Action results from new state budget

PHOENIX – Arizona public schools will not face a funding shortfall as the Department of Education sent the necessary information to the state Treasurer this morning, ensuring that supplemental funding approved in the new state budget is sent to schools immediately.

Department Finance personnel began work on this process as soon as the budget was signed into law last week.

In the just-concluded 2025 state Fiscal Year, overall education funding faced a shortfall of just under $200 million due to several factors including a $45 million recalculation of Statewide Average Daily Membership, the $69 million settlement of the Qasimyar tax lawsuit, Empowerment Scholarship Account costs that were $52 million above legislative projections and $17 million less in revenue generated by the Qualifying Tax Rate Levy.

Prior to the passage of the new state budget last week, ADE provided districts and charters with approximately 63 percent of their June payment using funds available at that time. With the new budget, the entire amount due to schools will be paid in full.

PHOENIX – State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne issued the following statement supporting today’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling that schools must provide an opt-out for parents excusing their children when their religious beliefs conflict with course material.

Horne stated, “The United States Supreme Court decision allowing parents to have their children opt out of inappropriate sexual classes is needed.

While scientific education regarding reproduction at an appropriate age is perfectly proper, there has been a trend to subject young children to sexual lessons which are inappropriate to their age.

Defenders of these programs say they want to be welcoming and inclusive. The proper way to do that is to include all students in education about reading, writing, math, science, history, and the arts. The inappropriate lessons about which parents are complaining are a distraction from these crucial academic subjects. My principal goal has been to bring back academic focus into the classrooms. Many of these age-inappropriate sexual lessons are distasteful, damaging to young children, and are a distraction from the academics teachers ought to be teaching.”

Horne touts work of schools to promote fine arts

PHOENIX – State schools superintendent Tom Horne says he is very pleased that nearly 2,400 Arizona public school students received the Seal of Arts proficiency during the 2024-25 school year, the highest amount ever awarded.

The Dysart Unified School District had the highest number of recipients with 249 students.

Horne stated, “I am a passionate supporter of the arts. Not only do disciplines such as music, theatre, art and dance have intrinsic value, but studies have proven that students who pursue the arts often do better academically. There is tremendous value in arts education, and I am extremely pleased to see the highest number of students in the history of this program receiving the Seal of Arts Proficiency. I also offer my congratulations to the Dysart district and its leadership for having the most students receiving this recognition.”

The program began in 2019 with the goals of celebrating students who demonstrate elevated levels of proficiency in arts standards; identify pathways of artistic literacy that cultivate life skills; prepare students for college and career readiness and promote increased access to arts education statewide.

The arts and culture jobs sector in Arizona represents nearly 80,000 jobs. The Seal of Proficiency provides a pathway to prepare students with the skills needed to succeed in creative industries and flourish in their personal and professional lives.

2,366 students achieved a Seal. The total number of Seals is 2,400 since some students received more than one.

BUDG-25 reports for all school districts have been posted to the School Finance website.  FY 2025 June BUDG-25 reports have been calculated using the FY 2025 June BSA-55 information.

• District BUDG-25, BUDG-75, and BSA-55 reports are available to download from this School Finance website. For further instructions on how to navigate the website, please view this Hot Topic.

Please contact the Budget Team ([email protected]) if you have any questions.

Thank you!

The $75 million additional funding provided by Proposition 123 (Laws 2015, 1st Special Session, Chapter 1) for FY 2025 will be distributed in two payments: $37.5 million on December 6, 2024, and $37.5 million by June 30, 2025. Individual school district and charter allocations are based on the share of statewide weighted Average Daily Membership (ADM). The second $37.5 million payment was calculated based on the same ADM that was used for the FY25 June Classroom Site Fund payment. 

The file linked below will show the first, second, and total annual payment amounts for the FY 2025 Prop 123 payment per LEA. Districts are listed first by county, followed by charters alphabetically. 

District and Charter Prop 123

Please contact the School Finance Payment Team at [email protected] if you have any questions about this payment.