Gilbert Public Schools' override has narrow approval in third results released early Wednesday morning through the Maricopa County Elections Department.
The Yes vote is at 33,209, or 52.3%, whiles Nos are 30,288, or 47.7.%. Results are unofficial until canvassed.
Meanwhile, a second question that would allow the district to sell some land to raise capital needs is easily passing by nearly a 2-1 margin at 41,062 Yes votes, or 64.53%. No votes are 22,575 or 35.47%.
The override continuance calls for the district to continue to be allowed to raise 15% over its revenue control limit, about $36 million, for its M&O budget.
That budget pays for the day-to-day operations of the district, including most salaries. It would be paid for by the district continuing its secondary property tax on district property owners.
The money raised would have to be spent on issues the district defines for voters: ensuring competitive salaries to recruit and retain high-quality teachers and staff in classrooms; maintaining programmatic choices for students to create future-ready graduates; maintaining campus safety and security personnel; and maintaining class sizes with an allocation to class size reduction.
The override continuance failed last November along with a bond question. The district's governing board opted to offer the land sale this November in place of another bond question.
The two land sites are the district’s “Madero” and “Cole” properties, each of which were set aside for possible elementary schools. However, the district projects no need for those schools.
The Madero property is about 13.8 acres east of south Crismon Road and south of east Madero Avenue in Mesa. The Cole property is about 11.9 acres east of South Cole Drive in Lakeview Trails North at Gilbert’s Morrison Ranch.
District officials said they would not be obligated to sell the land, but the authority to do so would exist with voters' approval and would not expire.
Selling the land would be a hedge against a capital emergency, like two years ago when South Valley Junior High School had to replace 96 HVAC units on its roof all at once.
A facilities report last year from an engineering services firm found the district had a $178 million maintenance backlog after the district addressed $20 million of it during the summer.
Left unaddressed, the unfunded liability for the district would grow to $1.07 billion by 2052 without additional investment to renew, repair and replace district buildings, the study found.
Without additional bond money coming, the district’s only means on hand to address those capital needs would be its “district additional assistance” funding it receives each year from the state. Those funds are the basis of the district’s unrestricted capital budget.
The capital budget pays for items like buildings, maintenance, transportation, curriculum and technology.
We would like to invite our readers to submit their civil comments, pro or con, on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org. Tom Blodgett can be reached by email at tblodgett@iniusa.org or follow him @sp_blodgett on X.
Meet Tom Tom Blodgett joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2022, when the company acquired Community Impact Newspaper's Phoenix-area properties. Raised in Arizona, he has spent more than 35 years in journalism in the state.
Community: He has served as an instructional professional in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication since 2005, and is editorial adviser to The State Press, the university's independent student media outlet. He also is director of operations for an 18U girls fastpitch softball team from Gilbert.
Education: Arizona State University with a BS in Journalism.
Random Fact: He lived in Belgium during his freshman year of high school.
Hobbies: Tweeting enthusiastically about ASU softball (season-ticket holder) and grumpily about other local sports (pessimistic fan).
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