A 3% base-salary increase for all Apache Junction Unified School District employees is included in the 2023-24 school year budget approved recently by the governing board.
The AJUSD governing board voted unanimously July 11 to adopt the budget of $48,031,291 for the next school year. Students return to school July 24.
The board had voted unanimously at a meeting in June to approve the proposed budget for the same amount.
President Dena Kimble at a meeting of the Apache Junction Unified School District Governing Board. (Special to Independent Newsmedia, Arianna Grainey)
Arianna Grainey
“Governing board approval is necessary for the adoption of the budget for 2023-24 school year. The proposed budget was approved at the June 6 board meeting and appropriately posted allowing for the public’s input,” President Dena Kimble said prior to the July 11 vote.
Taxpayers will pay the same property tax rate as last year — $4.5594 per $100 assessed valuation, according to school district documents, or $455.94 for a $100,000 home. The primary portion of the rate, which supports maintenance and operations, is $3.6804. The secondary portion of the rate, which goes toward paying off bonded indebtedness for new construction, is $0.8790.
Angela Terry, AJUSD’s executive director of business services, told the governing board at the June 6 meeting that the budget is set up expecting a reduction of 4% of the average daily membership of students from last year.
School districts receive a base level amount per student from the state of Arizona for maintenance and operation based on the current-year average daily membership. For the 2023-24 year, the ADM is 2,742.67, down from 2,856.949 in 2022-23 and 2,931.8156 in 2021-22, according to the district’s budget documents.
Superintendent Robert Pappalardo reported June 6 that the district has secured a grant for budget year 2023-24 to cover the costs of school resource officers at Cactus Canyon Junior High School and Apache Junction High School.
“We have great news about the student safety grant. We got that, so our officers at the high school and the junior high are now going to be paid out of that safety grant,” he said. “One of the things that will be new for us is that they have to do 185 hours of classroom time so we’re going to pilot it with those two before we move on to do more officers,” he said.
AJUSD has three elementary schools, a junior high school and a high school. The district is from Meridian Road on the west to the town of Queen Valley on the east and from the Goldfield Mountains to the north, south into the San Tan Corridor. Communities served include Apache Junction, Gold Canyon, Peralta Trail, Queen Valley and unincorporated Pinal County land in-between.
Richard H. Dyer can be reached at rdyer@iniusa.org, or on Twitter @rhdyer. To voice your opinion on this story, connect with us at AzOpinions@iniusa.org.
Richard Dyer Managing Editor | East Valley @RHDyer
Meet Richard Richard Dyer has worked at Independent Newsmedia Inc. USA since 1987, starting his career in Apache Junction as a copy editor and being promoted over the years to work as the editor of the Mesa Independent, news services editor for the East Valley office in Apache Junction, managing editor for the East Valley office, news services editor for the East Valley office and eventually also for the newspapers at INI’s then-Chandler office, managing editor again and as a news editor covering Apache Junction/Gold Canyon and Queen Creek. He helped start the Florence Independent while the news editor covering Apache Junction and Mesa news. In January 2023, he became associate managing editor for the East Valley newspapers and in August 2023 became managing editor for the East Valley newspapers of Chandler/Tempe, Gilbert, Queen Creek, Florence, Mesa and Apache Junction/Gold Canyon, while also reporting on Mesa and Apache Junction/Gold Canyon.
Community: Since 2009, he has worked as a volunteer to design The Blue Guitar Magazine, Blue Guitar Jr. magazine and Unstrung magazine, which are projects of The Arizona Consortium for the Arts; and since 2014, has been overseeing the art submissions.
Education: University of Arizona with a master of arts in journalism and a bachelor of science in agricultural communication. Also continuing education at Mesa Community College in welding in a metal art sculpture class.
Random fact: Saw his first tornado on May 31, 2010, which was classified as an EF-2, as part of a stormchasing tour group.
Hobbies: He is an artist of welded-steel sculptures, selling his artwork at juried and non-juried art shows.
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