Troubled Isaac Elementary School District receives $6M

Yahoo

28-01-2025

The Brief
The troubled Isaac Elementary School District in Phoenix got a $6 million infusion from the feds as the county says it's at least $20 million in debt.
It obviously won't cover the entire deficit, and by law, the county said none of the $6 million could go to paying teachers, but instead it had to be used to pay off its debts.
PHOENIX - Educators at the Isaac Elementary School District received good news on Monday from the federal government.
Money is on the way. For now, however, the county says it won't go toward paying the district's payroll.
What we know
The Arizona Department of Education said the school district is "somewhere between $12 million - $15 million underwater."
Maricopa County says the debt is actually much higher.
Those on every side of this issue said they want a solution, and teachers just want a paycheck for their work.
Even if everything works perfectly from here on out, it won't happen in time.
The backstory
Per a Dec. 31, 2024 letter sent to Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne by Maricopa County School Superintendent Steve Watson, the district has a total overexpenditure of approximately $12.6 million.
Additionally, the letter states that Isaac School District has a negative balance of approximately $6.6 million in relation to a federal program that aims to provide discounted phone and internet services to eligible schools. The letter states the expenses would need to be "corrected to an appropriate fund" if the district does not have adequate financial claims to support the expenditures, which will increase the overspend even further.
Per the minutes from the state board of education meeting, the state board of education voted unanimously to place the district under receivership.
Dig deeper
On the morning of Jan. 27, teachers rallied outside the district's buildings, not knowing if their pay had run dry. News of financial relief gave way to more issues while parents of 5,000 kids sat in limbo.
Maricopa County Treasurer John Allen says the district is actually $28.5 million in debt. He says the county is legally unable to foot any more bills.
"I'm doing what the law tells me to do," he said.
State Superintendent of Education Tom Horne fired back at that.
"I think the county has been very irresponsible. They don't care about 5,000 kids missing out on the education they're entitled to," Horne said.
Horne announced the feds released $6 million in old COVID-19 relief money for the district, but the state won't hand it over until the county agrees to use it on payroll.
"They're refusing to use the money for payroll. They say if we send them money, they'll use it to pay back debt," Horne said.
The county says they legally have to pay off debt first.
At the state board of education meeting, Isaac District teacher and board member Jason Catanese called for unity.
"Today we have the opportunity to not just save schools, but come together as leaders in the face of adversity," Catanese said.
Horne hopes the legislature writes a law compelling the county to use the federal money for payroll, but $6 million would only cover three pay periods for the district's 650 educators.
What's next
What's the long-term plan?
"The long-term is they have a lot of property they can sell so everything that was advanced can be paid back," Horne said.
A receiver has taken over the district to find what happened.
"It's hard to make this type of money just disappear and not really have the things to show for it, in which they said they were doing. And that concerns me," Allen said.
So, now the focus shifts to the state capital and the legislators here.
Even if something came through Monday night, the money would not arrive in time for payroll on Jan. 28.