Two items before voters in the Higley Unified School District were approved in the Nov. 5 mail-only ballot, according to unofficial early results posted by the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office.

The district had two questions: asking voters to modify the purpose or list of capital projects authorized by previous voter-approved bond authorization and authorizing the district to continue a maintenance and operations 15% budget override.

With 9,531 votes cast, continuing a budget override has 5,807 (63%) “yes” votes and 3,430 (37%) “no” votes; and changing capital improvements has 6,110 (65%) “yes” votes and 3,241 (35%) “no” votes, according to recorder.maricopa.gov/electionresults.

The tax rate needed to fund the full override the first year was estimated to be $1.53 per $100 of assessed valuation. The owner of a home with a limited property value of $180,753 would pay about $23 a month to fund the override, according to a 2015 fact sheet at husd.org.

On the bonds question, a “yes” vote would allow the district to apply funds already approved by voters to the most important capital needs of the district. Because the bonds have previously been approved by the voters and the Governing Board, there is no tax impact associated with the bond repurpose, according to husd.org.

“Specifically, approval of the repurpose will apply funds no longer needed for land acquisition and a transportation support facility to ongoing pupil transportation and technology needs. Additionally, the repurpose enables the district to better fund school — and administrative — renovations and improvements to properly maintain a quality learning environment for Higley students,” the website states.

The override is used to increase teacher compensation; maintain and improve elementary specials such as arts, athletics, music and physical education; provide staffing to maintain average class sizes; support gifted, special education and all-day kindergarten; and provide education resources to classrooms, according to the district website.