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School Board approves Annual Financial Report

Posted 10/12/22

The Fountain Hills Unified School District Governing Board met last Wednesday, Oct. 5. During the business meeting, the Board discussed the water main break, which relocated the Board meeting to the …

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School Board approves Annual Financial Report

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The Fountain Hills Unified School District Governing Board met last Wednesday, Oct. 5. During the business meeting, the Board discussed the water main break, which relocated the Board meeting to the middle school, the annual financial report (AFR) and they mourned the loss of Board member Judith Rutkowski.

According to Superintendent Dr. Cain Jagodzinski, water gushed out like an oil pump from the water main break and the school had to turn the water off to fix it. Jagodzinski was told the water main would be fixed by Friday, Oct. 7, but added that October break adds additional time should there be another issue. Jagodzinski did not know the total cost for the emergency maintenance issue at the time of the meeting.

The Board elected Jill Reed the new Board vice president. She replaced Rutkowski and expressed her condolences and added that Rutkowski will be missed.

“Judy had a passion for the Board, and she had a passion for Fountain Hills,” Reed said. “She always talked about the Fighting Flock of Falcon Fury. She had been a band parent when her kids were in high school, and she was still a big advocate of our marching band. She also had such a caring heart and put her passion into being a good Board member.”

The Board heard updates from PTO President Jelaine Goldapper and STUGO junior class president Ayden Nguyen and junior class vice president Skye Alker. Both talked about ongoing and upcoming fundraisers, including the Apex Fun Run, Fountain Hills Middle School’s Day of Awesomeness and a new 5k fundraiser to replace the PTO Gala.

The 5k is meant to appeal to a larger audience and will be held at the high school on Saturday, Jan. 28. The theme is Flapjacks and Feathers, and the PTO is looking for sponsors to pay $250 to get their business name on the back of a shirt designed by the students and picked by the PTO. The high school students will also have a movie night the week before Halloween and juniors and seniors will pay to paint a parking spot in late October.

The Board heard a review of the AFR from the True Professionals LLC consulting firm before later approving the AFR. The consultant said that the amount of funds FHUSD carried over into Fiscal Year 2022 was a good amount, $683,321 in Maintenance and Operations (M&O) and $3,354,992 in Capital. The consultant’s only concern is Arizona’s Aggregate Expenditure Limit (AEL), which he said every Arizona public school should be worried about.

Each year since 1980, the Arizona Legislature votes to Override the AEL. The Override allows public school districts to spend their entire budget, but if legislature votes against the Override, FHUSD and all other public districts will have to cut 16% from their current budget year.

When Arizona passed the AEL, it also implemented a school funding formula. The funding formula and AEL have remained unchanged and in place for over 30 years.

The AFR also broke down the past Bond and Overrides passed in Fountain Hills. The last voter-approved Bond was $8 million in 2013, and less than 2% of those funds remain today. Nearly a quarter, 23%, of the M&O Override passed in 2021 went toward funding all-day kindergarten, and 40% went toward salary increases to make FHUSD competitive with surrounding districts.

There was no public comment made and the Board approved Policy Advisories 716, 717-720, and 722-736 as written. The Board discussed an updated policy advisories regarding vaccinations, Policy Advisory 737-738, and decided to reword a regulation at a future work study session.

The Board will complete a self-evaluation this week and submit individual reviews by Monday, Oct. 17. The Board will discuss their evaluation at the next work study session, which is on Wednesday, Oct. 26, at 5 p.m. All meetings are recorded and livestreamed on the FHUSD YouTube channel.