By J. Graber
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When Scottsdale Unified School Board members drove up to Coronado High School for their April 1 board meeting, they were greeted by concerned picketers.

They were district employees upset with the projected pay increase in 2025-26 school year budget and increases in insurance premiums.

And some of the picketers used their voices inside the school’s board room during the meeting’s public comment section to express their frustration and concern as well.

Jennifer Liebhauber, a teacher at Kiva Elementary School, read a letter from a fellow teacher who did not feel comfortable sharing the story herself.

“I am leaving teaching at the end of the year,” Liebhaber read. “One of the reasons I am leaving is because I can no longer afford to be a teacher with a young child. I use my husband’s health insurance because if I used my own, my take home pay would be lower than the cost of childcare and not worth me working. I have a master’s degree and have been in this district since 2014 and some newer teachers only make a few thousand less than me. I cannot afford having a child, paying back my student loans and maintaining my household. I also find it insulting that on top of being paid only slightly more than some newer teachers with a bachelor’s degree, the district’s solution to rising insurance premiums was to reduce the general raise to our base salary.”

T.J. Buckley, president of the Scottsdale Education Association, outlined the grim situation in raw numbers.

“The combined impact of soaring healthcare costs and a lack of education funding in the state of Arizona threatens the well-being of our members and the future of SUSD,” Buckley said. “For next year, rising healthcare premiums are forcing some members pay as much as $28,986, or 41% of the average certified salary of $71,260, ... in premiums before even seeking medical care. This is an unsustainable burden and it’s out pacing salary increases.”

Three more speakers also expressed concerns with rising healthcare costs and a proposed 1% across the board pay raise for next year.

It’s a reality that stems from the hard times district officials are coping with while trying to make ends meet in a budget cycle that chief financial officer Shannon Crosier is expected to see a $4.1 million reduction in revenue to the district’s maintenance and operations fund.

That drop is mainly due to a dwindling student population (like many districts across the Valley are facing), a reduction in budget balance carry forward and the possible end of Prop 123 money.

Prop 123 added up to $3.5 billion in education funding across the state over 10 years through the sale of state lands but ends on June 30, 2025.

Salary and benefits make up approximately 80% of the maintenance and operations budget, which means that often is where costs get shaved when the district is facing declining operating revenue, Crosier said.

One area district officials are looking to reduce are 13 full-time equivalencies next year at the administrative level.

But that comes with its own set of challenges. Proposed reductions include turning six assistant principal positions to three part-time positions, a move that board members Amy Carney and Carine Werner do not approve.
“Our community wants full-time (assistant principals) at all of the schools, and quite frankly they deserve it,” Werner said.

One area Carney and Werner would like to see cut is to contracts for legislative lobbying as well as travel budgets, memberships, etc. They feel those are luxuries the district simply can’t afford right now.

“We’re in a position where we have to just make things tighter so we can provide for our support staff,” Werner said.

Please send your comments to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines. J. Graber can be reached at jgraber@iniusa.org.