Peoria Unified School District

Peoria Unified School District office.

The Helios Education Foundation announced its “College Knowing and Growing Initiative,” a $5 million investment expected to reach nearly 145,000 students in 18 school districts across the state.

During the Foundation's ACT Summit in downtown Phoenix Wednesday, President and CEO Paul Luna explained that the program will cover the costs of taking a national college admission exam, help students complete financial aid forms and provide career planning services.

“The future of Arizona and the economy of Arizona will be driven by our ability to create the type of workforce and to prepare a workforce to meet the future job demands," he said.

The initiative begins this school year and runs through 2019-2020. A study by Georgetown University found that 65 percent of jobs in the country will require post-secondary education by 2020.

These are the selected districts with many schools that include students from low-income families:

• Chandler Unified District #80 (Chandler, seven schools)
• Flagstaff Unified District (Flagstaff, three schools)
• Florence Unified School District (Florence, two schools)
• Flowing Wells Unified District (Tucson, one school)
• Glendale Union High School District (Glendale, nine schools)
• Globe Unified District (Globe, one school)
• Higley Unified School District (Gilbert, two schools)
• Lake Havasu Unified District (Lake Havasu, one school)
• Nogales Unified District (Nogales, one school)
• Peoria Unified School District (Peoria, eight schools)
• Phoenix Union High School District (Phoenix, 15 schools)
• Round Valley Unified District (Round Valley, one school)
• Sunnyside Unified District (Phoenix, two schools)
• Tolleson Union High School District (Tolleson, six schools)
• Tucson Unified District (Tucson, 11 schools)
• Vail Unified District (Vail, five schools)
• Winslow Unified District (Winslow, one school)
• Yuma Union High School District (Yuma, six schools)