Arizona K-12 schools are scheduled to receive $2.6 billion in funding from the latest federal COVID-19 relief package known as the American Rescue Plan, which Congress passed in March. This is in addition to the $227.4 million that the state s K-12 schools received in the first round of funding and the $1.084 billion they received from the second round of funding.
The Phoenix Union High School District is expecting to receive more than $100 million in funding from ARP.
“That’s huge, said Naketa Ross, one of the district s governing board members. That’s a lot of money going into our district to help our kids, help our schools and so we love that it s relatively flexible, meaning that we can spend it on learning or wellness or staff retention or technology or facilities as it relates to learning.”
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Push to extend foster care from age 18 to 21 could keep more young adults with services they need
Foster care ends abruptly when a youth turns 18.
Once young people in state care hit that age, they re legally free of the system and many foster youth are more than eager to depart.
Naketa Ross was one of them when she left her foster placement in Chicago 23 years ago. It was a big mistake.
“I was homeless for a while and then I begged the state to take me back on, Ross said, after enduring bed bugs and a stay in a women s shelter. “I didn’t have the skill set to transition into adulthood.”