Community members, staff and parents are being encouraged to attend one of five remaining informational forums offered by the Kyrene Elementary School District to hear details of plans for the 2010-2011 school year and beyond.
The forums will explain how education represents a major percentage of the state budget and continues to be subject to Arizona’s economic climate.
The good news, say district officials, is that Kyrene has been recognized for sound fiscal management and remains proactive in its efforts to maximize savings.
Based on the experience of previous years, the district has had solid community support in approving overrides and bond initiatives, and remains at the top of the state rankings in the efficient expenditure of dollars in the classroom while remaining well below average in administrative spending.
The district continues its development of alternative budget scenarios, one for each possible outcome of the May 18 election, said Nancy Dudenhoefer, communications manager.
At the forums, Superintendent Dr. David Schauer will share some of the approaches the district is studying and announce three new “innovation academies,” followed by a question-and-answer session.
Budget scenarios
Plan A assumes that Proposition 100, 1 percent sales tax initiative, passes on May 18. If no additional cuts come from the state, Kyrene will experience an approximate $6M deficit which can be managed for one year through a conservative 2009-10 budget which prepaid allowable expenses, thereby reducing expenditures for 2010-11 by utilizing restricted and unrestricted reserves and through identifying increased efficiencies.
This means Kyrene will not experience overall class size increases or across-the-board base pay reductions for employees.
Plan B assumes that Proposition 100 does not pass on May 18. This lack of additional revenue from the state would almost double the Kyrene deficit to $11.8M.
At that point, say district officials, Kyrene would have to implement more drastic measures such as increased class sizes, employee pay reductions and changes to programs.
Tuesday, May 4, 1:30 p.m., Kyrene de los Cerritos Elementary School; Thursday, May 6, 6 p.m., Kyrene de los Lagos Elementary School; Monday, May 10, 3:30 p.m., Kyrene de la Esperanza Elementary School; Wednesday, May 12, 10 a.m., Kyrene School District offices.
