Instructional Improvements Fund

56% [of the contributions* go] to the Instructional Improvement Funds administered by the [Arizona] Department of Education. Every school district receives these funds.

Arizona Tribes have contributed $486.8 million since FY2004, giving $43.1 million in FY2014 to the Instructional Improvement Fund [B,C]. The fund helps reduce class sizes, improve teacher compensation, and support early reader and dropout prevention programs. The funds are distributed to all state, public, and charter schools and can be a substantial and continuing source of funds for schools. In FY2013, for example, Santa Cruz Valley and Nogales Unified School Districts in Santa Cruz County received $135,000 and $236,000 from the fund, respectively [G]. Recent additional Tribal support for education included:

• An Ak-Chin Tribal Council contribution in 2013 of $2.6 million to the Maricopa Unified School District in Pinal County, which helped to fill a funding shortfall, benefitting 419 American Indian pupils and many non-Indian students.
• San Carlos Apache Tribe gave 149 iPads to Fort Thomas Unified School District for elementary and high school students who met or exceeded the reading, writing, and math requirements of the AIMS test in 2014 and gave MacBook Airs to graduating seniors.
• Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community provided funding for an innovative summer bridge program at Maricopa Community College that helps address falling male minority college completion rates by giving middle-school boys mentors, college application training, and career models.
• A Yavapai-Apache Nation distribution of more than $100,000 to public, private, and parochial schools in the Verde Valley of Yavapai County in 2014.