For those who value data over hyperbole concerning Fountain Hills schools, I suggest studying the Arizona Auditor’s recently released “report cards” at azauditor.gov. Here are some highlights:
1) Our 94 percent graduation rate exceeds that of our peers (90 percent) (page 154).
2) We are indeed well funded. Revenues are $10,687 per student with $9,843 expenses.
3) Teacher salaries appear woefully uncompetitive despite more than adequate instructional funding. We spend $4,308 per student on instruction with average teacher salaries of $39,882 while Scottsdale spends $4,400 and pays $48,099 (page 348). Peer Queen Creek pays $49,451 while spending $4,085 (page 310). Our student/teacher ratio is 16.7 students, while Queen Creek’s is 19.3. Achieving their productivity level could allow a 15 percent salary increase without raising taxes.
4) FHUSD ranks last of eight peers in math with 51 percent of students passing. Our peer group average is 60 percent (page 445).
5) In English Language Arts, we rank seventh of 8 with 54 percent passing. Our peer average is 58 percent.
6) The AzMERIT tests (https://azreportcards.azed.gov/districts/detail/4247) show that in math we’re tied for last amongst our peers in percentage of “highly proficient” students and highest “minimally proficient” students despite highest teacher staffing.
7) We only dedicate 50.4 percent of our spending to instruction. That ranks 13th of 15 in our group (page 455).
8) We spend $1,308 per student on administration while our peers average $846.
9) Enrollment dropped from 2,412 (2001) to 1,368 (2018). During that same period, the estimated number of K-12-age residents has gone from 2,821 to 2,600 (factfinder.census.gov). Enrollment decline (1,044) is far higher than student resident decline (221). Increasing “affordable housing” won’t solve this. Better school quality may.
I eagerly await the district plan to increase performance above that of our peers and allocate resources to better benefit our students.
