The Higley Unified School District is proposing a $500,000 increase in its capital budget for fiscal year 2025-26, despite estimating less funding from the Arizona Legislature, officials said.
The district’s governing board conducted its first review Tuesday of the proposed capital budget for the coming fiscal year, with Chief Financial Officer Tyler Moore presenting an overview of planned expenditures and the status of district additional assistance from the Legislature.
Moore’s presentation showed a proposed capital budget of $15.85 million, up from the current $15.35, mostly on the strength of a larger budget balance carryforward.
The district is facing a potential decrease in state capital funding for the coming fiscal year as last year the Legislature made a one-time payment increase of $300,000 to district additional assistance, its contribution to capital budgets, but has not had any such discussions this year about renewing that payment.
Moore said the district estimates an overall loss of $700,000 in distract additional assistance to $6.8 million.
As a result, the district will be 100% reliant on School Facilities Division funding for any major maintenance projects, Moore said.
The district is reducing spending in areas like software, maintenance and groundskeeping to help balance the capital budget.
Moore walked the board through the detailed capital budget. A significant portion of the budget, $3.04 million, is allocated to educational services for research, assessment and the district's online learning platform.
That cost also is being driven by an English Language Arts curriculum adoption next year.
Elementary Education Executive Director Jeff Armstong said the district needs an ELA adoption immediately because its current curriculum is moving off the state’s approved list.
One area of related concern raised by board members was the delay in social studies curriculum adoption. Board Member Scott Glover questioned when the last social studies adoption had occurred, to which the answer came as 2012.
The capital budget also includes $1.3 million for student technology, specifically to provide new Lenovo laptops for incoming high school freshmen. Moore noted the district operates on a replacement cycle for student devices, taking advantage of the transition to high school to equip students with updated devices.
Safety and security measures also are a priority, with $125,000 budgeted for camera replacements and upgrades as part of phase 3 of its security camera project.
The board also discussed the district's plans for the Williams Field School traffic flow improvements, which have faced delays because of negotiations with the town of Gilbert. Moore acknowledged the project's timeline is uncertain, but the district remains committed to addressing the safety concerns.
As the district prepares to finalize the capital budget in June, Moore emphasized the importance of maintaining a higher contingency fund to address any unexpected needs that may arise during the school year.
"Ultimately, if there is a need that's emergency, we will look to tap that contingency piece of the budget,” he said.
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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