Gilbert Public Schools proposing ‘conservative’ budget amid student loss

By Tom Blodgett
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Gilbert Public Schools leadership presented its proposed budgets for the 2025-26 fiscal year at the June 10 governing board meeting, outlining what they consider a conservative financial plan. 

The board will vote on final adoption of the budget — which was shaped by anticipated student enrollment decline, inflationary costs and uncertainty surrounding state legislative support — at its June 24 meeting, following the required public notice and hearing process. 

The proposed maintenance and operations budget reflects the administration’s expectation of a continued decrease in student enrollment, which affects state funding levels.  

Associate Superintendent Bonnie Betz said the district built its plan assuming a worst-case loss of 1,300 students, even though “they said it's probably likely we would lose a thousand to 1,100, but not sure.” 

Because Arizona school districts are funded based on average daily membership, an enrollment-based figure, even modest enrollment declines significantly reduce revenue.  

Betz said the decline in the past four years has had a compounding effect on budget planning. 

The M&O portion of the budget, which covers salaries, benefits and operating costs, is projected at $282.82 million. The plan includes 2% across-the-board salary increases for all employees, partially supported by Classroom Site Fund revenue and enterprise operations such as nutrition services and community education. 

In presenting the budget, Betz said leadership aimed to maintain commitments made to voters in the successful 2024 override election, including competitive compensation and reduced class sizes.  

“We do maintain salary competitiveness, we're maintaining safety and security to include social workers and behavioral health counselors,” she said. “And we also are maintaining that $2 million annual allocation to class size reduction.” 

The proposal also recommends adding full-time positions to support growing needs, including English language learners and gifted students.  

“We have seen an increase of about 40 to 50 students over the last few years in our English language learner,” Betz noted, saying those students account for 10% of the district’s state accountability score. 

An estimated $320,000 is also included to convert campus deans to assistant principals in an effort to improve retention and professional development pipelines for school administrators. 

Despite the staffing increases and pay raises, district officials said the budget balances without drawing down reserves.  

Betz said the combination of projected savings, reduced staffing due to student attrition and decreased retirement contribution rates will offset much of the added costs. 

The district expects to save money through attrition by eliminating 44 teaching positions, corresponding with the projected student loss.  

“We are not going through a reduction in force,” Betz said, adding that staffing changes have been absorbed through retirements and resignations. 

Further cost reductions came from internal cuts to departmental discretionary spending, totaling about $1.3 million, and a $500,000 savings from a lowered state retirement contribution rate. 

On the revenue side, the district’s Classroom Site Fund allocation is decreasing slightly due to prior-year student count declines. The state-set per-pupil distribution increased about $50, but the overall allocation dropped by roughly $200,000, from $30.1 million to $29.8 million. 

The district also chose not to include continued funding from Proposition 123, a voter-approved education funding initiative, in the proposed budget due to legislative uncertainty.  

“We are being conservative and not budgeting for that additional money,” Betz said. 

To avoid dipping into reserves prematurely, GPS leadership proposed keeping $9.5 million of its capital carry-forward in unrestricted capital rather than shifting it to M&O immediately.  

“If we need to, depending upon what happens in September, we have until Dec. 15th to be able to change the budget to move that money back,” Betz explained. 

The proposed budget estimates a slight decrease in the district’s total tax rate — about 19 cents per $100 of assessed property value. Betz said the final figure could be even lower once debt service fund cash balances are finalized.  

The proposed capital budget allocates $47.98 million in spending, primarily to address facility renewal projects across aging campuses.  

“’Albert, that's all you got,’” Betz said she told the district’s operations director Albert Dutchover when limiting facility renewal to $15 million. “He said, ‘But Bonnie, I need 15.2.’” 

The district is holding another $5 million in contingency for emergency repairs, such as HVAC or plumbing failures. A recent example involved a $30,000 cost to replace a flooded network switch caused by a leaky air conditioning unit. 

Among the high-cost projects included is a $1.5 million rooftop HVAC system at Spectrum Elementary, where 70 rooftop units need replacement. 

The Governing Board will hold its final vote on the budget at its next regular meeting on June 24, after the statutory public notice and hearing period. 

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. 

Tom Blodgett
Senior News Editor | Gilbert

tblodgett@iniusa.org

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).