Before leaving office, former Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Kathy Hoffman announced a $6.75 million investment allowing more students to eat free lunches.Â
School staffers across Arizona may increasingly find themselves pressed to fill in on other jobs, as school districts struggle to fill positions across the board.
More than $200 million in state funds is expected to be transferred out of Arizona's public school system through the state's newly-expanded voucher program.
A new Arizona law allows any of the state’s 1.1 million students to pay for private schools using tax dollars set aside for the state education budget.
Officials are scrambling to figure out how to afford meals for students at a time when inflation nationwide is running at the highest level in decades.
The new directive requires any agency or program that receives funding from the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service—such as public schools— to prohibit discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation.