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The Scottsdale Unified School District may be asking voters to extend the maintenance and bond override on the upcoming November ballot.
The district’s governing board discussed putting an extension of the maintenance and operations override on the ballot during its April 4 meeting.
The override would raise $21.5 million annually for things like maintaining current class size ratios, maintaining full-day kindergarten classes and pay for things like music, arts, world languages, athletics and co-curricular activities. It would also cover the cost of staff to teach technology in the classrooms and provide competitive teacher compensation.
Board member Amy Carney asked if the money could be used to pay for school resource officers.
District Chief Financial Officer Shannon Crosier said it could, but it would mean defunding something the override currently pays for.
“It’s not going to give us additional (revenue) above what we’re already funded at,” she said.
If approved, the new override would take effect in July 2024 and would begin phasing out in July 2029.
At approximately 32 cents per $100 of assessed property value, the new request is expected to cost tax payers virtually the same as the current override, according to Crosier.
The district’s secondary tax rate (which comes from overrides) is about 92 cents per $100 of assessed property value. That is the lowest in the Valley, according to Crosier. That compares to the Valley’s next lowest district, Peoria, which comes in at $2.31 per $100 of assessed property evaluation. The main reason for that is high property values within the district.
The request for the new override, if the board puts it on the ballot, would be a year early, but that would give the district another shot at it in 2024 if the request fails, Crosier said.
Also, the November 2024 election is a presidential election and it has proven more difficult to pass overrides during presidential elections, Crosier said.
The district’s current maintenance and operation override was passed in 2019 and is good for five years. If the new request isn’t passed, either this year or next, the current override would begin phasing out in July, 2025.
The board will have to notify Maricopa County of its intent to call for an election by June 10.
The election would be mail-in ballots only and the district would have to pay for the cost of the election, which Crosier estimates would be about $127,000, primarily for pamphlets to be printed and mailed out to voters.
J. Graber can be reached at jgraber@iniusa.org. We like to invite our readers to submit their civil comments pro or con on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org.
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