By Diana Whittle
Governing Board members have agreed to provide some financial relief to budget-squeezed Kyrene schools with the restoration of $300,000, which should be available in January.
Each of the 25 district schools would receive the returned funds based on a percentage of the money that was actually cut during this fiscal year.
“We will begin the calculations now and be ready to distribute the money in the early new year,” said Jeremy Calles, chief financial officer for the district.
Calles explained that the money is available due to a growth payment of over $300,000 from the state.
“The state recalculates the average daily membership (ADM) for schools on a regular basis, and the last growth payment wasn’t factored into our original budget,” said Calles.
“Because we know that our schools are hurting due to budget cuts, we decided our first priority was to distribute the money to them.”
He says he has heard from a few principals that the portions of the budget hardest hit involved supplies and money for substitute teachers.
While the schools will be given some discretion as to how to put the funds to use, the district’s preference would be that the returned money be allocated to the maintenance and operations, capital or sub budgets.
“There is a balance between ensuring that every school honors what we value as a district and providing the flexibility for each school to meet the specific needs of their community,” said Calles.
“We are still working on finding that balance.”
As for Kyrene standards, Calles is clear that each school will still offer families and students the values that they have come to know and expect.
“We want our schools to be successful and for site staff to have input on budget, but we will continue to maintain our standards of limited class size and offering special electives such as PE and music.”
Some schools may choose to offer other kinds of electives, such as theater or coding.
“As we move through our budget planning cycle for the next fiscal year, we hope to adhere to our goals and also return to a full-budget allocation for each of our school,” said Calles.
But, that decision will hinge on the outcome of the May election, which could have a major impact on budget plans.
This will include a vote on the settlement between the state and school districts. The financial lawsuit with the state argues the amount of the award due to school districts, when it was ruled by the Arizona Supreme Court that the state failed to deliver adequate funds to schools since Fiscal Year 2009.
Calles is currently the president of the Arizona Association of School Business Officials, and in this role, he closely monitors decisions by the state legislators that impact schools.
“If the May election is successful, then the provisions of that ballot measure will be the settlement of the lawsuit,” said Calles.
The funding would be for this fiscal year and next, as well as the next eight years. Kyrene could begin receiving the settlement funds as early as June.
“We are planning on what we will do if the election is successful. We will then need to prioritize and hope we can store school budgets fully during the next fiscal year.”
