By james art Higley Unified School District’s spending on classrooms and instructional support decreased in the 2023-24 fiscal year, according to the district’s annual financial support.
But neither outcome was surprising to district officials who presented the AFR, an unaudited report required by the state auditor general, to the district’s governing board at an Oct. 15 public hearing.
While classroom spending, often the most scrutinized metric in such reports, was down 3.8 percent from the previous fiscal year, Chief Financial Officer Tyler Moore said that was largely because the district spent 2 .7 million to adopt a new science curriculum in fiscal year 2022 23, an expense that was off the books the following year.
Training support had a slight dip, but again it was predictable. That’s because of the drain on COVID relief funds, Moore said.
The AFR summarizes the district’s spending for the past fiscal year, which in 2023-24 for HUSD totaled more than $182 million in 353,000 accounting transactions.
The report highlights the removal of performance-based funding, which has been integrated into the maintenance and operations fund.
Meanwhile, student benefits saw a slight increase, while administrative expenses rose 6 percent due to the large number of payouts for tenured employees who retired or left the district, Moore said.
Plant costs have increased because of rising insurance and utility costs, Moore said.
The county’s budget balance carryforwards are declining as COVID relief funds run out, with an emphasis on maintaining a healthy reserve, Moore said.
The capital budget has been used for significant projects, with a drastic reduction expected in the coming years unless, Moore said.
Cash-controlled funds, such as food services, are managed to ensure sustainability, Moore said.
In response to a question from the board, Moore said he is working on a policy for the final budget balance to maintain transparency and alignment with financial goals. He said he has a language draft to present to the board at a future study session.
Moore noted a large drop in the community’s preschool graduation balance and said the board may need to consider a tuition increase, another topic for future board consideration.
He also said future capital spending would be severely limited unless additional capital funds became available.
The county has an $83.1 million capital bond on the November ballot as recommended by a community stakeholder group, but its last two bond issues failed by wide margins, halting several capital projects in the district.
Moore said the district is working to obtain grants to supplement the funding, including from the State School Facilities Board, and will provide a future update to the board.
The district also had to shift money from its maintenance and operations budget, which includes day-to-day operations, including most salaries, to its capital budget, which goes to items like buildings, textbooks, technology and buses.
The district regularly had to make this transfer to pay its middle school leases, a financial albatross the district was unable to extricate itself from despite refinancing them to lower the payment. A bond question that involved paying off one of the leases failed with voters in 2022.
But the transfers recently also had to support some maintenance projects.
Vice President Anna Van Hoeck asked if Moore expected more money to go toward classroom spending in the 2024-25 fiscal year.
“I’d like to be able to see those dollars go into the classroom because that’s a major concern for community members,” she said. “They want to see our teachers well paid and they want to see money spent on training. And for the people I’ve spoken to, it’s a matter of seeing educated students versus shiny new buildings.”
Moore said it’s too early to predict what that will look like. Board member Christina Rees also said it’s not the shiny new buildings that account for those costs.
“We’re getting older as a neighborhood and so we’re having to use those funds as far as HVAC and things like that and maintenance and everything than when we were a brand new growing baby district,” she said. “That’s why this one is going up.”
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Tom Blodgett
Senior News Editor | Gilbert
Meet Tom
Tom Blodgett joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2022 when the company acquired the Community Impact Newspaper properties in the Phoenix area. Raised in Arizona, he has spent more than 35 years in journalism in the state.
community: Since 2005, he has worked as a faculty member at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication and is an editorial advisor to The State Press, the university’s independent student media. He is also the director of operations for the Gilbert 18U girls softball team.
education: Arizona State University with a BA in Journalism.
Random fact: He lived in Belgium during his freshman year of high school.
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