Kyrene School District Governing Board went over its bond and override spending from the 2022-23 school year, covering where money has gone and what to expect in going forward concerning district-wide improvement projects and their funding.
At the board’s Oct. 10 meeting, the board members received a presentation on the district’s last year of bond and override spending from Chief Financial Officer Chris Herrmann, who explained that the annual report is an element of transparency that the district provides to the community.
Financial transparency is a value the district aims to uphold through presentations that cover Kyrene’s budget numbers, bond spending, maintenance and operations override spending, District Additional Assistance Override spending, audits and the Arizona Auditor General’s classroom spending report.
“State statute make sure that the public always has an easy access to that information. Every single dollar that Kyrene spends is recorded and available for the public to see,” Herrmann said.
Kyrene has received a number of awards and recognitions for its finances in areas like its Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, bond credit ratings and annual budget report, which was also discussed at the meeting.
Bond and override funding, the main focus of the presentation, supplements state funding that Kyrene receives in order to support operational expenses at district schools. Kyrene is set to renew its bond and DAA override in the Nov. 7 election for coming capital projects.
Override dollars
As for spending in the 2022-23 school year, Herrmann explained that the M&O override provides staff, support and services that would otherwise be unavailable relying solely on state dollars. Specifically, M&O funding goes toward attracting and retaining educators, special area instruction like arts and languages and student support services.
Although M&O override funding changes each year based on enrollment, $14.9 million was spent in the last school year.
“This amount is roughly equal to the salaries and benefit costs for 200 teaching positions, and that is significant for a district of our size and equates to roughly 20% of teachers that work across the district,” Herrmann said.
Of that total, $5.7 million went to class size reduction and pay, $4.9 million went to special area instruction and $4.3 million was allotted to student support services.
Looking to the DAA override, Herrmann said that the planning for how to use the dollars is similar to the process used in managing bond funding, given that the two funding types both support capital projects.
In total, Kyrene spent $7.4 million in DAA expenditures during the 2022-23 school year, with a majority going to instructional technology like new computers for students. This amount includes both DAA override funds and state DAA funds.
“Historically, before the state began to restore its capital funding levels, things like instructional technology had no other option than to be paid out of the DAA override,” Herrmann said.
As of the $7.4 million spent, only $1.9 million were override dollars compared to the $5.5 million used in state dollars. These override numbers are low compared to previous years, Herrmann noted.
Last school year, a number of capital projects that were expected to use DAA override funding got deferred due to insufficient staff and hiring difficulties, and as a result their start dates were pushed to be completed over the next 18 months.
“So you’ll see that override expenditure amount return to historical levels that are near that $7 million amount every year very soon,” Herrmann said.
Bonds
Moving onto bond money, Herrmann explained that the bonds are debt securities used for financing capital projects like building maintenance, new furniture, technology, transportation and safety or security systems among others.
In the 2022-23 school year, Kyrene spent $15.8 million in bond dollars, with $15.5 million put toward maintaining schools, around $100,000 to transportation and $200,000 for administrative capital projects. Herrmann noted that administrative projects do not include salaries and support the district’s office facilities.
School maintenance received 78% of the bond funds in the last year as all of Kyrene’s schools are over 35 years old, requiring a lot of upkeep, according to Herrman.
Bonds can only be used for projects laid out in the district’s 10-year Capital Master Plan, which manages all of Kyrene’s capital spending that occurs with bonds to identify and prioritize capital needs.
Bond spending for 2022-23 was focused on district construction projects.
Courtesy Kyrene School District
(Courtesy Kyrene School District)
A majority of maintenance projects addressed by bond funding last year included roofing projects, general renovations, landscaping projects, resurfacing with asphalt and HVAC projects.
In his presentation, Herrmann addressed the upcoming bond election, comparing the last bond authorized by Kyrene voters in 2017.
“A point of pride again for Kyrene is the large amount of bond proceeds that directly benefit students, which is 96% of that total amount,” he said.
Compared to 2017, the proposed 2023 bond amount would also put 96% of its funds toward students by focusing the dollars on construction and transportation projects — areas that directly impact students.
The coming bond would provide Kyrene with $161 million for capital projects, with a priority on replacing Kyrene’s bus fleet. While the proposed DAA override would provide $8.5 million in capital funding that will be focused on supporting technology for innovative learning programs, safety and security and learning technologies and equipment.
If voters do not approve the bond and DAA override this year, the district will not have the funds to address coming capital projects; however, Kyrene can hold another election to try and pass the funding next November.
Reporter Caroline Yu can be reached at cyu@iniusa.org. To voice your opinion on this story, connect with us at AzOpinions@iniusa.org.
Meet Caroline Caroline Yu joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2020 as a summer intern covering Scottsdale. As an intern, she continued her coverage of Scottsdale, Paradise Valley and Tempe. After graduating in 2022, Caroline became a full-time reporter for Scottsdale and Paradise Valley. She is currently reporting for the Tempe market.
Community: She is a supporter of the environment and tries to get involved with related community events.
Education: Arizona State University with a BA in Journalism and Mass Communications, with a minor in French.
Random Fact: She used to be a ballet dancer for 10 years.
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“This amount is roughly equal to the salaries and benefit costs for 200 teaching positions, and that is significant for a district of our size and equates to roughly 20% of teachers that work across the district,” Herrmann said.
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