Log in

School Board approves revised budget, handles housekeeping

Posted 5/17/22

The Fountain Hills Unified School District Governing Board approved a revised budget for the 2021-2022 fiscal year at a business meeting last Tuesday, May 10. The meeting began with a public hearing …

You must be a member to read this story.

Join our family of readers for as little as $5 per month and support local, unbiased journalism.


Already have an account? Log in to continue.

Current print subscribers can create a free account by clicking here

Otherwise, follow the link below to join.

To Our Valued Readers –

Visitors to our website will be limited to five stories per month unless they opt to subscribe. The five stories do not include our exclusive content written by our journalists.

For $6.99, less than 20 cents a day, digital subscribers will receive unlimited access to YourValley.net, including exclusive content from our newsroom and access to our Daily Independent e-edition.

Our commitment to balanced, fair reporting and local coverage provides insight and perspective not found anywhere else.

Your financial commitment will help to preserve the kind of honest journalism produced by our reporters and editors. We trust you agree that independent journalism is an essential component of our democracy. Please click here to subscribe.

Sincerely,
Charlene Bisson, Publisher, Independent Newsmedia

Please log in to continue

Log in
I am anchor

School Board approves revised budget, handles housekeeping

Posted

The Fountain Hills Unified School District Governing Board approved a revised budget for the 2021-2022 fiscal year at a business meeting last Tuesday, May 10. The meeting began with a public hearing on the revised budget led by FHUSD’s Director of Finance, Catherine King.

This was the second revision of this year’s budget. FHUSD receives finances from the state based on average daily membership (ADM) at the 100th day of school, but FHUSD received special permission from the Arizona Department of Education this year to make changes after the 100th day.

FHUSD adjusted its ADM to include the Arizona Online Instruction (AOI) student count, and FHUSD’s total weighted count grew from 1,477 in the adopted budget at the beginning of the year to 1,626 in the second revision. The adjusted count grew FHUSD’s budget from $9 million to $10 million.

The primary changes in the revised budget came from Federal Grants. Under the Cares Act, FHUSD received $1.3 million from the ESSER 3 grant. ESSER 3 included language that allowed FHUSD to pay counselor salaries through the grant, as opposed to using their Maintenance and Operations (M&0) funds.

State legislation also changed how classroom site funds could be used last summer. The classroom site fund was adjusted to include the salaries of registrars, therapists, nurses, counselors and psychologists. FHUSD is able to pay these salaries from the classroom site fund instead of using the M&O budget or the ESSER 3 grant.

King broke down the school’s expenditures into three categories; salary and benefits, purchased services and supplies. FHUSD spent 74% of the budget on salary and benefits, 19% on purchased services, and 7% on supplies.

King noted that the purchased services section of the budget was larger than normal because of the excess of substitute teachers the district has utilized this year.

King also broke down some of the challenges faced in the last fiscal year. McDowell Mountain Elementary school had a staff turnover rate over 20%. The turnover was over 12% at Fountain Hills Middle School, and it was over 14% at the high school. District office turnover was over 30%, but King mentioned there are only 10 district office staff members to start with.

FHUSD’s M&O budget is down 5.8% this year due to declining student enrollment. FHUSD had over 1,600 students in 2014, around 1,200 in 2022, and current trends indicate there will be an estimated 636 students enrolled in FHUSD schools by 2030.

The Board returned to the revised budget during action items and voted to approve the revisions. The Board also approved a new teacher mentor stipend of $1,800 for the 22-23 supplemental pay schedule, and the Board approved the extracurricular fee schedule for 2022-2023.

Other business

During reports, Interim Superintendent Dr. Patrick Sweeney spoke to kindergarten and eighth grade promotions taking place this week. Sweeney also said that summer school registration is now open, and the high school football field had repairs done and will be repainted and ready for next season.

Sweeney mentioned that when the football field was installed, it was given an eight- to 10-year life expectancy. Next season will be the ninth year of use for the current field.

The Board approved 19 consent agenda items relating to housekeeping. Items included everything from authorization of Dr. Cain Jagodzinski as the student activities treasurer for next year, to reauthorizing administrators to dole out suspensions.

ASBA

The meeting ended with a discussion on the Board’s submission to the Arizona School Board Association. FHUSD’s Board compiled a list of seven priorities they would like the ASBA legislation to consider this summer.

The Board’s first priority suggestion is to revise the school finance formula to provide a revenue source less reliant on the general fund or annual legislative appropriation and to provide dedicated school capital funding consistent with the constitutional requirement of a general and uniform public school system. Next, the Board would like the ASBA to consider funding full-day kindergarten classes and fully restore career technical education for ninth grade students.

The Board would like the ASBA to establish financial and academic transparency for all institutions and individuals that accept public funds and eliminate unfunded mandates and administrative burdens. The Board would also like greater flexibility in the divestiture and/or use of taxpayer-funded assets, and they would like the ability to change language on

override/budget increase election items to better reflect what voters are being asked to support.

FHUSD’s Board added an additional work study session to its schedule since the last regular meeting. The Board will next meet on Tuesday, May 24, for said work study session at 5:30 p.m. The next business meeting will be Wednesday, June 1, at 6:30 p.m. Both meetings will be held at the District Learning Center and livestreamed on YouTube.