While Gilbert Public Schools awaits word from the state Capitol on what its funding will be in fiscal year 2023-24, the district is prepared to close an anticipated $12.26 million deficit in a key budget.
Associate Superintendent Bonnie Betz outlined for the governing board April 4 what maintenance and operations funding could look like if the statutory budget is met or if the governor’s proposed budget is passed. The maintenance and operations, or M&O, budget is the district’s largest budget and covers day-to-day operations of the district, including most salaries.
Betz’s presentation showed the board that under a budget where funding is adjusted the minimum 2% for inflation, GPS could project a $269.86 million maintenance and operations budget limit.
Under Gov. Katie Hobbs’ proposed increase of 3.04% in funding, the GPS projection is at $272.49 million.
Those projections are made with a number of assumptions from the district beyond the budget proposals in Phoenix: a loss of 400 students in “average daily membership,” a key metric in state funding formulas; a decrease in the “teacher experience index” as younger teachers replace retiring ones, resulting in a loss of about $1 million; and the transportation revenue control limit matching what it was in fiscal year 2022-23.
Nonetheless, once some budget savings are figured in against discretionary and non-disretionary budget increases and pay increases, the district must close a $12.26 million gap in the M&O budget, Betz said.
The district plans to do that with increased contributions from three sources of on-going monies: $5.04 million from the Classroom Site Fund, an education sales tax; $2 million from a Medicaid fund; and $760,000 from various other funding sources that pay for themselves, such as Community Education and Nutrition Services.
That leaves another $4.5 million to make up, which the district plans to do by a one-time transfer from the district’s capital funds. The district previously transferred $20 million of M&O money from its current fiscal year to the capital fund, where it could earn interest, Betz said. This transfer would mark a return of some of that money.
The budgetary savings the district is expecting comes from fewer teachers being needed as a result of fewer students as well as two medical premium holidays being credited back to the M&O budget. The district’s insurance trust would cover those holidays. The saving on both items is projected at $3.1 million.
The non-discretionary budget increases, projected to total $3.56 million, would come from medical premiums rising 2%; hourly wages increasing for minimum wage workers; inflationary increases for supplies, fuel and utilities; special education increases; and increases to the Arizona State Retirement System.
The discretionary increases, expected to be $3.33 million, come from new positions and salary adjustments, a “set-side” sum for hard-to-hire positions and hiring for teachers with years of experience, the addition of 12 elementary-level art teachers plus supplies for the additional elementary art classes.
Pay increases to hourly staff and exempt staff account for an anticipated $9.81 million increase.
Betz also reviewed the capital budget projections as an anticipated $17.41 million under the statutory budget and $17.91 million under Gov. Hobbs’ proposal.
A number of factors could improve or reduce the budget from those projections, such as a greater or smaller loss of student enrollment or other Legislative actions, Betz said.
Final approval of a budget will not come until June.
Tom Blodgett can be reached by email at tblodgett@iniusa.org or follow him @sp_blodgett on Twitter. We would like to invite our readers to submit their civil comments, pro or con, on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org.
Tom Blodgett Senior News Editor | Gilbert @sp_blodgett
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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