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“It’s really important that some outside agency like OCR comes in — someone outside the school district can come in and see what’s going on,” said Dr. Diana Newmark, University of Arizona Education Advocacy Clinic Director. Then the Trump Administration started firing staff to cut down on government spending. Newmark said she stopped getting through. “It’s really difficult to know how to navigate enforcement areas when we’re not sure if anyone’s going to pick up the phone,” Newmark said.

Advocates are calling on Arizona’s Department of Education to step up. “What we’re concerned about is do we have the capacity, the will, and the foundation to do it?” said Champions for Kids co-founder Karla Phillips-Krivickas. But State Superintendent Tom Horne said he supports the federal cuts. “We monitor schools and help them. The federal government monitors us, so you’ve got two agencies doing what one agency can do,” Horne said.