Kyrene School District Governing Board will be voting Tuesday, May 23, on whether to ask voters for additional funding assistance in the upcoming November election.
The district’s Citizens’ Bond Committee has proposed a bond election of more than $160 million and a $8.5 million override.
During a May 10 meeting and study session, the board members and district staff covered the details of their upcoming fiscal year 2023-24 budget recommendations.
Kyrene’s Director of Business Services Brian Lockery delivered his mandatory presentation on budget revisions made and the district’s Citizens’ Budget Committee also presented its recommendation.
During study session, Kyrene’s Chief Financial Officer Chris Herrmann presented the recommendation of the citizens’ committee for the special bond and district additional assistance override elections, with several committee members sharing their opinions on district bond and override funding and the district’s priorities in spending it effectively.
The committee’s recommendation was decided upon after reviewing Kyrene’s budget process and the status of existing bonds as well as the maintenance and operations and capital overrides.
“We have 10-year plans, multi-year plans for things that we would spend our bond money on and things that we would spend our (district additional assistance) override money on as well, so we have a good lens of the needs and the things and the timing for our schools,” Herrmann said.
District additional assistance and bond dollars help to maintain the condition of district schools, supporting areas like technology, curriculum and equipment.
After its latest meetings, the committee came to the conclusion that the district should host another bond and override election given that without that funding, Kyrene would rely solely on state funding for its current operational costs.
Kyrene’s special bonds and district additional assistance override were first approved by voters in 2017 for a seven-year term to increase the district additional assistance budget limit for capital outlay expenses.
In 2017, voters authorized nearly $117 million. According to Herrmann, the district has $19.5 million in bonds remaining with plans to sell them in the fall for additional capital purchases and projects.
For 2023, the committee proposed a total of $161 million, as the district has plans to replace Kyrene’s bus fleet.
The proposed breakdown of the bond amount:
Construction: $137 million (85.1%)
Transportation: $18 million (11.2%)
Administration: $6 million (3.7%)
As for the district additional assistance override number, the committee proposed a total of $8.5 million be approved by voters. This money will go toward instructional materials, classroom technology, software, alternate learning tools and more.
If the committee’s recommendation is accepted, the district will put the measure on the ballot in November, but if it is unsuccessful, the district has another opportunity to approve the funding in 2024 before its funding decreases.
Budget changes
In Lockery’s presentation, he discussed the district’s budget at large, providing context for the changes made in each category.
The aggregate budget limit for 2023 was initially set at$181.2 million, however in revisions, the limit was increased to $183 million with additional dollars allocated for federal projects and the unrestricted capital budget limit and a decrease in dollars for the general budget limit.
Going into each category, Lockery began with the general budget, which includes maintenance and operations and transportation funding. After revisions, the general budget limit totaled $126.2 million.
“There were a number of changes that netted to a difference of a reduction of $1.3 million in budget capacity,” Lockery said.
The million-dollar reduction came from the district’s base support level, Proposition 123 funding and capital district additional assistance funds allocated to maintenance and operation — Lockery noted that even with this transfer to maintenance and operations the revised budget retains those funds for capital purposes.
As for other budget revisions, increases were noted in the unrestricted capital budget limit, federal and state grants and community education. Kyrene’s classroom site fund also recorded a decrease of about $250,000.
Revised numbers for each category came out to:
Unrestricted capital budget limit: $28.1 million
Changes to federal and state grants: $28.7 million
Classroom site fund: $17.7 million
Community education: $13.1 million
The unrestricted capital budget limit and federal and state grants increased by about $1 million, while community education increased by over $2 million.
“The major change here is the decision to not transfer the (district additional assistance) — which I referred to just a few moments ago — back into the maintenance and operations fund. By not making that transfer almost $1.8 million remains in the unrestricted capital budget limit capacity,” Lockery said.
Board President Kevin Walsh questioned if the district had not been conservative enough with its budget modifications, to which Lockery responded by saying that their projections for enrollment fluctuate and that the estimated budget numbers will likely be less than the proposed number.
In the regular meeting, the board unanimously approved the revisions brought forth.
The governing board will meet May 23 to vote on the committee’s recommendations for the maintenance and operations and capital overrides and to vote on the fiscal year 2023-24 capital plan.
Final budget numbers will be proposed and decided upon in June.
Reporter Caroline Yu can be reached at cyu@iniusa.org
To voice your opinion on this story, connect with us at AzOpinions@iniusa.org.
Meet Caroline Caroline Yu joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2020 as a summer intern covering Scottsdale. As an intern, she continued her coverage of Scottsdale, Paradise Valley and Tempe. After graduating in 2022, Caroline became a full-time reporter for Scottsdale and Paradise Valley. She is currently reporting for the Tempe market.
Community: She is a supporter of the environment and tries to get involved with related community events.
Education: Arizona State University with a BA in Journalism and Mass Communications, with a minor in French.
Random Fact: She used to be a ballet dancer for 10 years.
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“There were a number of changes that netted to a difference of a reduction of $1.3 million in budget capacity,” Lockery said.
Board President Kevin Walsh questioned if the district had not been conservative enough with its budget modifications, to which Lockery responded by saying that their projections for enrollment fluctuate and that the estimated budget numbers will likely be less than the proposed number.
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