The Imperfect Storm

Is their a financial storm for school districts on the horizon?

There are three items on the horizon that will affect school finances. First, Prop.301 which was passed in 2000 will take away the ability for school district to get assistance with their utility costs. This is known as Excess Utilities. The proposition requires that this funding be taken away as of July 1, 2009. The funding school districts use to pay for some of their utilities will be taken away and schools will have to absorb this cost into their budgets. For some districts this totals millions of dollars per year.

The vote on unification also looms on the horizon for school districts on November 6, 2008. Many studies have shown that this type of unification does not result in cost savings and most likely will result in the increase in administrative costs for districts. (Goldwater Institute Study, Other Research) The Arizona State Department of Education School Finance department has estimated that the school district portion of the property tax rate for tax payers in Litchfield Elementary would increase by 8.7% if unification where to pass. (Memo from Department of Education School Finance department)

Finally, as explained above, the vote on overrides has the potential of also cutting millions of dollars from school district budgets. All of these events may take place over the next year leaving school districts with no choice but to make major cuts to student programs, services, and teachers.