Recently, Afton completed its engagement with the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) with a plenary speech and breakout sessions at the annual MEGA conference for Title I administrators. The plenary speech provided an overview of the state’s corrected Title I allocation process for LEAs; further details and Q&A were provided in the breakout sessions.
Earlier this year, the ADE engaged Afton to investigate and help resolve a 2014 audit finding to ensure the ADE is compliant in regards to allocation of Title I funding to LEAs. These misallocations were initially thought to be a $400K calculating error. After conducting an investigation, Afton found over $30M of Title I funds that were misallocated from 2014 to 2017. The ADE is utilizing Afton’s recommendations and detailed analyses as it negotiates with the U.S. Department of Education to resolve the previous miscalculations and correct the allocation process and procedures moving forward. Afton’s Katie Morrison-Reed and Mitch Mraz led this work in collaboration with Title I leadership at the ADE. You can find Afton’s work here toward the bottom of the Arizona Department of Education’s Title I website and read how the ADE corrected the Title I funds allocation process here.