The Arizona Department of Education has spent more than $100,000 to correct problems that led to the misallocation of millions in federal funds, and those costs could continue to rise.

For decades, our state has been a national leader in education freedom – the radical concept that parents know their own children best and should be empowered to select a school for them that is the right fit. The movement has flourished. Consider public charter schools, where enrollment is booming and reached a record 185,000 students statewide this year.

According to a letter sent to school districts and charter schools on Tuesday, the department under-allocated $15.2 million in Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA, funding. Department spokesman Stefan Swiat said a 2015 audit by the Office of Special Education Programs also found that $14.3 million was over-allocated, affecting about 400 charters and districts.

A former president of the Arizona Board of Education who resigned his post last year amid an ongoing battle with state schools chief Diane Douglas has died.

Hundreds of charter schools and traditional school districts in Arizona have been receiving more federal funding for low-income students than they were entitled to while others were left with far less for at least the past four fiscal years.

High-performing schools got a temporary boost in state funding because of their standardized test scores, but the additional money has proven to be incredibly short-lived for some schools under Gov. Doug Ducey’s signature performance pay plan.

I was disappointed to read that a loosely organized “institute” of former elected officials and politicians released a report – not on how to help all schools improve – but, rather, singling out charter schools for unfounded criticism. The report is riddled with errors and inconsistencies, and drips with sarcasm. Suffice to say, it reads more like a campaign hit-piece than a scholarly analysis.

A majority of Arizona’s charter schools spend taxpayer dollars on non-competitive business arrangements with for-profit businesses that are owned by the charter holder, board members, or their relatives. Grand Canyon Institute’s research found that 77 percent of charter schools engage in ‘related-party transactions’ in a manner that is not in the best interests of Arizona’s students, parents and taxpayers.

Charter and private schools are here for the foreseeable future. The right answer is for leaders of the public school system to adopt what the “parallel schools” are doing right to help raise the performance of the traditional public-schools.

An Arizona Capitol Times analysis shows that under the governor’s plan, full-day kindergarten expansion is going to be more limited than he has envisioned.