Chandler district’s slimmer budget OKed

By Jason W. Brooks
Mail | X: @JasonWBrooks2

Chandler Unified’s Governing Board didn’t need much time to discuss its 2026-27 school year overall budget at its June 24 meeting.

That’s partly because its chief financial officer had just presented a great deal of information — and partly because there isn’t that much to discuss when going through state-mandated procedures on a deadline.

The board unanimously approved its slimmer $393.9 million budget for publication at the meeting, which was its last before the state’s June 30 deadline for budget approvals.

Unlike last year, when the Arizona legislature went to the end of June without approving a state budget and the many school finance formulas and dollar amounts that go with it, Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs signed the state’s fiscal 2027 budget into law June 13 this year.

While that allowed Chandler finance staff to plug in nearly all information, there were a few exceptions, CUSD Chief Finance Officer Lana Berry said, such as free-and-reduced lunch state supplemental aid.

“Right now, that shows up as a decrease, because there isn’t a way to enter it on a form,” Berry said. “So when this comes back to you in December (for a state-required mid-year budget revision), you should see about $1,954,000 put back into that space.”

The 2025-26 budget that the CUSD board approved for publication in June of last year was about $393.3 million, which was about $16 million less than the 2024-25 budget. But the big change the district had to make this past year was one it knew was coming — cutting about $7 million from its maintenance and operations fund.

The M&O is an Arizona district’s largest fund, as it’s the most versatile pool of money used to pay nearly all salaries and benefits. The 2026-27 M&O for Chandler will be about $346.3 million, or about $7 million less than the 2025-26 M&O, as of a May 6 board-approved revision.

As enrollment has been dropping among public school districts around the state, including in CUSD, schools have been closed and districts have made major staffing adjustments.

CUSD hasn't closed any schools in decades, but the board had lengthy and contentious discussions in January meetings about how many and which positions would be permanently eliminated, eventually landing on about 120 teaching, specialist and administrator positions, starting with the 2026-27 year.

Berry’s calculation uses a CUSD average daily membership loss of 1,150 students, which affects district funding in M&O and with other funds. For example, the enrollment decrease cost the district $824,000 in the upcoming year’s unrestricted capital funds.

Berry said the East Valley Institute of Technology is “holding us hostage” for about $6 million in career and technical education funds to get districts to sign new intergovernmental agreements. She said a court date related to ongoing litigation between school districts and EVIT would resolve at least the base funding aspect of those issues.

The June 24 meeting was the last for Superintendent Frank Narducci, who’s retiring after five years in that role and almost 40 years in K-12 education. Dr. Anna Battle takes over July 1.

The board is set to meet only once next month, on Wednesday, July 8. Final approval of the budget will be a main item on the July 8 agenda.

Email Jason W. Brooks at jbrooks@iniusa.org. Please submit comments at yourvalley.net/letters or email them to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.

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.