Chandler schools: Back to bond, override drawing board

By Jason W. Brooks
Mail | X: @JasonWBrooks2

When Chandler Unified voters shot down the district’s $487 million proposed bond last November, it put CUSD leaders in a difficult position.

Nothing’s really changed in the past six months, other than inflation has continued to make goods and services slightly more expensive.

But district staff and volunteers have been working, behind the scenes, to prepare CUSD leaders to make decisions on how to pay for everything from HVAC repairs to ordering new buses in the years ahead.

Bond committee co-chairs David Anguiano, left, and Michelle Mowery, along with Chandler Unified chief financial officer Lana Berry, presented options to the board at a May 7 study session put together by a bond and override committee. There are three options for the bond that would ultimately cost district property owners progressively less than the $487 million failed proposal.

The cheapest of the options to taxpayers wouldn’t include a “reimagining” of Hartford-Encinas Elementary School, though that seems to be one of staff’s most frequently mentioned and prioritized major yet-to-be-funded projects.

Berry and the subcommittee members took questions from the board and explained many details during the hour-long session.

“You have to sell furniture and equipment bonds within five years,” Berry said, explaining one of the many nuanced rules and laws surrounding Arizona school district bonds. “Land purchases, construction, buses, those types of things can be paid off over 20 years.”

Mowery said that in a May 1 meeting, the committee voted, 12-8, to recommend the district pursue renewal of its 15% maintenance and operations override and to recommend the board choose between what it calls options No. 2 and No. 3 — A $271.5 million option and a nearly $200 million option.

“All 20 unanimously voted for option No. 2,” Mowery said.

Watch the entire presentation and board questions by clicking here.

We invite our readers to submit their civil comments on this topic. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org.   Email Jason W. Brooks at jbrooks@iniusa.org.

INDEPENDENT NEWSMEDIA

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.

Community: He supports animal shelters.