Key Points: 

• Frozen federal education funds to be distributed by Oct. 3 

• Federal bill could cut $3.5 billion in Title I funding for 2026

• School staff prepare for possible impact on education programs

While frozen federal education funds are expected to reach Arizona by Oct. 1, those in the state’s education community are fearful that more public education cuts are coming. 

The federal government originally froze $6.8 billion in education funding – $132 million of it intended for Arizona – on July 1, under the guise that it wanted to analyze where the funds were going. 

On July 14, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes and attorneys general from 23 other states filed a lawsuit against the federal government’s freeze, demanding the funds be distributed. 

Marisol Garcia, president of the Arizona Education Association, said when school officials were told the money was frozen over the summer, teachers and school staff immediately began preparing for the worst.

Some teachers began looking for second jobs to compensate for their loss of salary. Others met to reallocate funds for their coming semesters, Garcia said. 

“It was a panicky month of school districts trying to figure out what they were going to do,” Garcia said. 

The suit ended with the federal government agreeing to release the remainder of the frozen funds between Oct. 1 and Oct. 3. 

The Arizona Department of Education faced minimal disruptions to grant funding due to the brevity of the pause, according to Doug Nick, a spokesperson for the department. 

“The department has already made available any amounts that were withheld,” Nick said in a statement to the Arizona Capitol Times. “The grants payments are being distributed on schedule.”

But Ricardo Hernandez, CFO of the Tucson Unified School District, said that communicating with the ADOE has still been difficult. 

“Sometimes, they don’t want to give us complete answers because they don’t want to contradict something that someone else up the ladder might have said or not said,” Hernandez said. “It’s been a very frustrating process so far.”

Despite winning the lawsuit against the Trump administration, there are still concerns in the education community that more federal funding could be withheld from educational programs. 

“The attorney general remains concerned about the illegal funding freezes engaged in by the Trump administration,” Richie Taylor, a spokesperson for the Arizona Attorney General’s Office, said. “She will continue to hold the administration accountable for violations of the law.”

Garcia and Hernandez said Arizona’s schools are fearful of angering the federal government and getting more funding taken away over contentious political debates. For example, Garcia said staff were concerned they may be penalized for teaching history incorrectly or having a gender neutral bathroom. 

“There is a little bit more vigilance in our community, amongst our families, especially to just kind of be aware,” Hernandez said. 

The budget for the 2026 fiscal year is expected to be finalized at the beginning of October. Currently, the proposed budget from the House of Representatives includes a federal government plan to cut approximately $3.5 billion in funding for Title I schools in the coming fiscal year. 

“We felt some uneasiness with what happened in July,” Garcia said. “Now we’re waiting for the second part of the hurricane to hit us.”

According to Nick, the ADOE is expecting a $46 million cut in education funding from the federal government for the 2026 fiscal year. 

Due to Arizona’s large percentage of students who live below the poverty line, Garcia said the state has to rely heavily on federal grants and money. She expressed concern that funding cuts may make programs designed to support students from lower-income families unsustainable.

Garcia said additional academic support, math and English coaches, and class sizes are some areas that may suffer the most.

“Class sizes are going to be the biggest impact,” Garcia said. “Immediately, they’re going to ask teachers to have larger class sizes, and we already have some of the largest in the country.”

In case DOE faces a budget cut in the coming fiscal year, Hernandez said the Tucson Unified School District is prepared to reallocate funds away from the schools and put them toward district-wide programs to have more control over where the funds are going. 

While this strategy is intended to maximize the results from a tight budget, Hernandez said he was concerned the plan may impact students. 

“It would be to take a look at how we redistribute dollars towards initiatives that still support students, but are more efficiently put across the district,” Hernandez said. 

Hernandez said his district’s at risk family support services and early childhood education programs may suffer too.

“Like most school districts, we don’t have a way to make up $7 million that automatically goes out in a vacuum,” Hernandez said. 

Tyler Kowch, the communications manager for Save Our Schools Arizona, said some schools in Arizona offer food pantry programs for students, which may now go away as a result of incoming funding cuts. 

“If we see further cuts to Title I funding, I think we can see more school closures,” Kowch said. “We can see cuts in services for Title I students.”

According to a study from Common Sense Institute Arizona, over 20 public schools in Arizona have closed since January 2025. 

“These schools are going to be really devastated with further cuts we’ve already seen across the state,” Kowch said. “If we see further cuts to Title I funding, I think we can see more school closures.”