The Queen Creek Unified School District’s nearly $121 million budget for the 2025-26 school year has been approved by the governing board in a unanimous vote.
At its meeting on Tuesday, the board also approved the primary and secondary tax levy for the district.
The proposed budget is $120.8 million, up from $119.7 million in the 2024-25 school year. The budget also includes unrestricted capital funds and federal funding for a total of more than $148.7 million.
Adding a 2% inflation factor, the district’s pupil funding is now at $5,113.26 per student. That number also includes transportation mile amounts.
The budget reflects an estimated increase in the student population of 100 for schools K-6 and 100 for schools 7-12.
“I always like to use a conservative growth estimate because we can always revise up and gain additional budget capacity throughout the year,” QCUSD Chief Financial Officer Jessica Johnston told the governing board. “We’d much prefer that approach rather than having to revise down if we overestimate at the beginning of the year.”
The budget’s unrestricted capital funds are at $16.1 million this year, up from $15.7 million. Federal project funds are at $11.8 million, down from almost $12.8 million last year.
The approved budget does not include the state’s one-time funding for Free Reduced Priced Lunch and District Additional Assistance programs because it was not known whether the Legislature would renew the funding.
“I told you in June that we were hopeful that those pieces would make it into the adopted budget by the Legislature and they were in fact included,” Johnston said. “Tonight’s (budget) adoption leaves those out still because we’re required to adopt exactly what was proposed in June.”
Johnston added that she will return to the board in September with a revised budget that includes funding for the two programs.
The new budget also reflects the announced 3% raise for teachers and staff paid for by the 15% maintenance and operations override voters approved in November.
Under the new budget, the average annual teacher salary will increase to $68,452 from $66,458 during the last school year. The budget also includes the teacher-base salary of $54,500 that was approved this spring by the governing board.
The $15 million in override money for the upcoming school year will also maintain:
Academic programs that prepare students for post-secondary education and workforce success
Art and music classes throughout the district
School security
Class size at the kindergarten through eighth-grade leve
ROTC and gifted programs
The money will also be used for Summer Bridge programs to help elementary to high school students transition to the next level of their academic career and achieve their academic goals.
At same meeting, the governing board authorized a primary tax rate of $3.42 per $100 assessed value, down from $4.11.
The bulk of the primary rate is determined by the state Legislature. Districts can use the portion not set by the Legislature only for road projects related to schools.
“That’s buses and fire lanes. That is traffic signals associated with roadways adjacent to the property and any improvements,” Johnston said. “It could be (street) widening, it could be repaving, it could be striping per the town or the municipalities guidance to make sure that those adjacent roadways are safe.”
Also approved was the secondary property tax rate of $2.23 per $100 assessed value, down from $2.41 last year. The 15% budget override and debt service on bonds make up the secondary property tax rate.
QCUSD boundaries span 48 square miles and include 10 elementary schools, two junior high schools and three high schools. The district’s student population is approximately 15,000.
Schools reopen on July 21.
Please send your comments about this article to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines. Janet Perez can be reached at jperez@iniusa.org.
Janet Perez News Editor | Queen Creek &
San Tan Valley
Meet Janet Janet Perez joined Independent Newsmedia as editor of the Queen Creek Independent and Florence Independent in 2020. She started her career in 1989 with the Gannett-owned El Paso Times. In 1992, she moved to Tempe and has worked in newspapers, magazines, radio and television. She left Arizona for three years to work at New Mexico State University and Baylor University before returning to work at Arizona State University. Missing the business, she went back to journalism in 2017.
Community: A long-time pet owner, she supports animal welfare causes.
Education: University of Texas at El Paso with a BA in journalism and a minor in political science.
Random Fact: She had a head full of random facts.
Hobbies: Reading, watching documentaries, cooking and playing with her dogs.
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