The Higley Unified School District Governing Board unanimously approved a tentative capital budget for fiscal year 2025-26 of $15.85 million.
The budget presented was largely the same as what board members reviewed previously, with one notable adjustment, adding a line for participatory budgets, Chief Financial Officer Tyler Moore said.
He explained that $75,000 was moved from the major projects line item to fund a new initiative aimed at increasing student involvement in capital-project planning.
He added that the concept is modeled after a similar program in Queen Creek USD, where student councils help determine how a portion of the district’s capital funds are used for school projects.
The motion passed unanimously with a 4-0 vote with board member Tiffany Shultz absent.
The tentative budget approval is an early step in the district’s financial planning process. A final adoption of the budget will occur later this year following additional reviews and potential revisions.
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.
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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