Chandler school board puts bond package, override on Nov. 4 ballot
Courtesy of Chandler USD
Andersen Junior High School students work in a greenhouse in March. The CUSD Governing Board voted 4-1 on June 11 to seek a $271.5 million bond approval from voters in November, along with a new maintenance and operations override approval.
There were only a handful of votes cast by the Chandler Unified School District Governing Board at its June 11 meeting, though those votes affected major decisions.
Most of the votes also came at the end of lengthy discussions.
The board voted, 4-1, to place a $271.5 million bond on the ballot Nov. 4. It also voted unanimously to put a 15% override spending authorization on that same ballot.
Board member Kurt Rohrs was the lone “no” vote on the bond, just as he’d been a year ago when the board ended taking a $487 million bond to voters, which they rejected. This year, however, the board had unanimously agreed to seek a bond, but was merely deciding how much to ask for; Rohrs wanted the district to ask for approval of an alternate $199.5 million bond package.
CUSD had already given notice to Maricopa County that it plans to hold both such elections this year.
Rohrs said he’s concerned the $271.5 million bond doesn’t have as strong a chance of passing as the $199.5 option. He pointed out that between the override, the district’s bond and the city of Chandler asking for $475 million bond approval in November as well, voters might see a school bond of “more than a quarter billion dollars” and decide to reject all three.
The maintenance and operations, or M & O, override is a $45.7 million budget authority, district staff explained. Unlike a bond, which is more like borrowing a set sum of money for select purposes, an override is a time-limited tax authority to help fund salaries and everyday district operations.
CUSD is about to start the next-to-last year of its 2021-voter-approved override at full funding levels.
If the override election fails this November, district staff and the board would have about 18 months to hold another election or make other adjustments before override funding declines significantly, by state policy.
If passed in November, CUSD’s override clock would start again in terms if 2026-27 being the first of five school years of full 15% override authority. That would put the district on track to wait until November 2029, in the fourth year of full authority, to ask for a new override approval from voters.
The $271.5 million and $199.5 million options were selected from four options that a 20-person bond committee compiled, eventually chosing its top two preferences. A $154.4 million and $487 million options were not selected by the committee.
Chief financial officer Lana Berry said the committee was made up of “district stakeholders,” though a full list of committee member names and occupations hasn’t been made public.
Voters approved a $290 million bond in 2019.
Berry said the main differences between the $271.5 million option and the $199.5 option were dollar amounts alloted to certain expenses or purchases and the “reimagining” projects being funded more in the higher-dollar option the board chose.
The $154.4 million option had only the most essential upgrades for Hartford Sylvia Encinas Elementary School, opened in 1957 and currently one of CUSD’s oldest facilities. Both of the options the board considered June 11 included a $40 million funding option called “Hartford rebuild.”
There is $20 million labeled “junior high rebuild or remodel” that’s only in the $271.5 million option the board chose. Andersen Junior High School, located in the oldest-built part of Chandler, opened in 1976.
Jason W. Brooks News Editor | Chandler Independent
Jason W. Brooks joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in July 2021 as an associate editor. After a year covering Buckeye, he has covered Chandler since the fall of 2022, in addition to assisting the Daily Independent throughout his time at INI.
Education: University of New Mexico, bachelor of arts in journalism and mass communication, print emphasis, English minor.
Random Fact: He and his siblings witnessed a Space Shuttle launch and landing in the same year in person, on opposite coasts.
Hobbies: Karaoke, bicycling and American Sign Language.
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