Kyrene School District has authorized a special bond and district additional assistance override election this fall.
On May 23, Kyrene School District Governing Board met with district staff in study session and at the regular board meeting to discuss the district’s capital master plan for fiscal year 2023-24, its annual budget and an election for its override and special bonds.
Kyrene will ask district voters for $8.5 million in its district additional assistance override and a $161 million bond in a November election.
One financial measure that the district takes to ensure proper and sufficient funding is the use of special bonds and district additional assistance override, which has largely supported Kyrene’s maintenance and operations capabilities including improvements to curriculum, technology and other areas since 2017 when it was first approved.
The board is now officially asking voters to approve or deny the bond and override to create additional funding.
At the May 23 meeting, the board — with Board Member Margaret Wright absent — all voted in favor of calling for another special bond and district additional assistance override election. The district will hold its election on Nov. 7, and if the measure fails, another election can be held in November 2024.
Community members are able to submit arguments for and against the election to the county superintendent’s office until Aug. 11 at 5 p.m., city documents explained.
Courtesy Kyrene School District
As part of the process of calling for an election, the district engages with its Citizens’ Budget Committee to come to that decision. The 2023 committee made its recommendation to hold the bond and override election at the board’s May 10 meeting.
In its discussions, the committee made up of Kyrene community members was educated extensively about the total impact that the bond and override measures have on the district and where the money goes. Kyrene is seeking $8.5 million in its district additional assistance override and a $161 million bond this year — both an increase from what was approved in 2017.
Board Vice President Michelle Fahy spoke at the meeting about how much the override would end up costing district families if approved, comparing the cost to that of buying one Dutch Bros drink.
“I just went to Dutch Bros recently, kind of shocking how much just one little cup of coffee is, but it’s about that per month,” Fahy said.
The November election will be part of an all-mail ballot that will include other municipalities seeking bond funding.
New budget details
Since the board’s last regular meeting, Arizona’s state budget was passed on May 12. District documents detailed that estimated funding impacts from the budget to Kyrene would entail:
A 2% inflation increase in base funding,
The repeal of results-based funding and its addition to base funding (a loss of about $700,000 in results-based funding and an $800,000 increase to base funding),
A roughly $600,000 increase in district additional assistance capital funding,
$3.5 million in one-time funding (part of a statewide $300 million payout).
Additionally, the district noted that there would be no changes to the Arizona Department of Education’s Empowerment Scholarship Account voucher program.
With district additional assistance funding in the capital plan, previous discussions suggested that the district would move away from its previous practice of allocating a portion of that to maintenance and operations funds.
However, Kyrene’s Chief Financial Officer Chris Herrmann noted at the meeting that about $1.8 million of the override funding will be needed in M&O to maintain “the balanced budget” for next year, with roughly $5.6 million remaining for capital purposes.
“This amount could be adjusted up or down once we are able to see a consolidated picture for our total budgeted revenues and operational expenditures across the district, which would probably take place in early June,” Herrmann said.
He said that the long-term strategy for district additional assistance is to prioritize and preserve those funds for curriculum and for school capital needs, but in fiscal year ‘24, all school capital allocations and curriculum capital needs will use district additional assistance funding.
This is because the district is focusing on a number of school improvement projects in the next fiscal year, making renovations to school grounds, investing in educators and updating curriculum materials among other initiatives.
Kyrene is set to approve its proposed budget on June 27 along with calling for a public hearing on the document. The hearing and tentative adoption of the budget are scheduled for July 11 and the deadline to adopt and submit it to the state is July 15.
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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