Higley Unified prioritizes classroom spending, but faces challenges 

By Tom Blodgett
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The Higley Unified School District allocated 70% of its operational spending to the classroom in fiscal year 2023-24, according to an Arizona Auditor General report, but the district faces some ongoing challenges. 

The district’s classroom spending includes 58.1% on instruction, which encompasses teacher salaries, instructional supplies and athletics. Chief Financial Officer Tyler Moore noted Higley’s instructional spending was highest in its peer group and significantly higher than its peer group average of 51.7%. 

However, the report noted non-classroom spending, such as administration and plant operations, has increased over the years, now accounting for 29.9% of the district's total spending. 

Board Member Anna Van Hoek expressed concern over this trend, noting that "when you look at the bigger picture year over year, that number has decreased" for in-classroom spending. She requested a more detailed breakdown of the support services category, which has seen a rise to 7.2% of total spending in 2024, the highest on record. 

The report also highlighted the challenges HUSD faces in keeping up with the changing needs of its students. The district recently approved an additional $300,000 for special education services, reflecting the growing number of students requiring these services. 

"Unfortunately, the number of those students are growing, which means these dollars are going to grow as well," Van Hoek said. 

Despite these challenges, HUSD officials expressed optimism about the district's efforts to improve student learning. They highlighted the district's work in updating curriculum maps and adopting new educational resources, which they believe will provide more rigorous and effective instruction. 

"The (upcoming) ELA resource adoption I believe will also provide some opportunities that, as I said earlier, the current resource that we're using at the elementary level, the evidence of its effectiveness and student achievement and meeting the needs of the standards isn't there," said Marcus Berkshire, Higley’s director of assessment and student information. 

We would like to invite our readers to submit their civil comments, pro or con, on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org. Tom Blodgett can be reached by email at tblodgett@iniusa.org or follow him @sp_blodgett on X. 

Tom Blodgett
Senior News Editor | Gilbert

tblodgett@iniusa.org

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).