Last Wednesday, June 1, members of the Fountain Hills Unified School District Governing Board voted unanimously at the end of their business meeting to call for a special election for a bond, and to call a special election for a District Additional Assistance (DAA) override, also knows as a capital override. Early voting begins Oct. 12, and Election Day is Nov. 8, 2022.

The last day to register to vote in order to be eligible to cast a ballot in this election is Monday, October 10.

The Board knew when the DAA Override failed to pass last November, they would have to call for another special election this year. The DAA would provide $750,000 per year to the school district, and the funds would go toward instructional and student materials, including software/hardware, textbooks, online resources, furniture, and vehicles.

The DAA override that was considered last year would have been funded by an annual tax rate of $0.1306 per $100 of secondary assessed valuation. That averaged about $48 per year for Fountain Hills residents. The estimated first-year tax rate for this year’s proposed DAA override is $0.12 per $100 of net assessed valuation used for secondary property tax purposes.

The bond is a recent development that came out of land sale discussions which started on Feb. 23 of this year. The Board does not want voter fatigue to be an issue, so they only decided to put two items up for election, leaving the potential land sale out of consideration for now.

The lone public comment made last Wednesday came from a woman who had spoken against the potential land sale before. She pledged her support toward the school district for the DAA override and the bond elections.

The sample bond ballot provided in the Board packet referenced a $20 million bond. The bond would be a continuation of the previous bond’s tax rate, 23 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. That money could be used for constructing and renovating school buildings, improving school grounds, supplying schools with equipment, technology and more.

The Board is required to publish notice requesting arguments “for” and “against” the elections. Arguments are not to exceed 200 words and must be signed and addressed by the sender. The author’s name will be printed in the voter information pamphlet that Interim Superintendent Dr. Patrick Sweeney has been requested to prepare pursuant to A.R.S. 15-481, 15-492 and 35-454.

The deadline for submitting arguments is Aug. 12, and they must be mailed or hand delivered to the Maricopa County School Superintendent, School Elections Office, 4041 N. Central Avenue, Suite 1200, Phoenix, AZ 85012.

Other News

The Board also discussed end-of-year activities during the June 1 meeting, such as graduation and the staff appreciation breakfast, where administration presented Falcon of the Year awards for the first time to 14 employees across the district. This carried over to when Fountain Hills High School athletic director Evelyn Wynn called up the beach volleyball team to be recognized for making the postseason.

Wynn also spoke of Alex Schafer, who competed at the state golf tournament but could not be in attendance. Then track coach Kevin Clancy spoke on Erin Hooley and Jentezen Behnke, who represented Fountain Hills High School at state but also could not make the meeting.

The Board also hosted its second reading of revisions to Policy JJJ regarding the academic standards athletes will be held to and approved those revisions.

The Board approved the resignation requests of four staff members; Alexandra Means, April Lawson, James Curtis and Rich Dellacona. The Board waived the $1,500 liquidation fee request from all resigning staff members and made comment to circle back to that policy later this summer. According to Jill Reed, who was on the Board when they approved the $1,500 fee, that fee is supposed to cover employee search costs and should only be considered if a staff member leaves in the middle of the year, not the summer.

The next Board meeting will be held on Wednesday, June 29, at the FHUSD Learning Center. It will be both a business meeting and work study session beginning at 5 p.m. The following month, the Board will host a retreat at 4 p.m. at the FHUSD Learning Center on Wednesday, July 27.