Department of Education - Administration and Allocation of Funds

The Arizona Department of Education (ADE) should implement a comprehensive system to ensure the accuracy of attendance data from Local Education Agencies (LEAs), which are primarily school districts and charter schools. ADE allocates nearly $5 billion in state and federal monies to LEAs, most of which is distributed based on LEA-reported attendance data. Although accuracy of the LEAs’ attendance data is critical, limited reviews have indicated that there are inaccuracies in the data. Once it has implemented a comprehensive system, ADE should then adjust the LEAs’ funding appropriately. Additionally, ADE generally approaches obtaining and administering federal grants appropriately. However, it can improve its process by obtaining and using information about past applications to help it with future applications.