School budget tops $29M

<District hires 40 more teachers after local vote

The Sahuarita Unified School District board has approved a combined operating and capital budget of nearly $29 million, up about $4 million from last year’s budget.

Capital spending that voters approved last fall fueled the increase.

The new budget includes salaries for about 270 teachers, or 40 more than last year. There also will be about 35 replacement teachers for those leaving.

The district employs nearly 600 people in all positions, including substitute teachers and part-time employees.

The Governing Board on July 9 approved an operating budget limit of $24,921,940 and a capital budget limit of $3,996,880, for a combined total of $28,918,820. The budget for fiscal year 2008 included a $21.4 million operating budget and $2.6 million in capital spending, for a total of $24 million.

The big difference is that voters in November approved four spending measures and the state did not cut soft capital funding in its 2008-09 budget.

“It makes us very happy. The state didn’t mess with us. We got our allocation of soft capital of $928,000; unrestricted capital is $1.1 million and we have $1 million in our capital override. All together, we have $3.99 million for capital, so that’s good news,” Superintendent Jay St. John said.

Capital funding is vital for the district because enrollment has been growing rapidly and the district must pay for buses, computers, desks, textbooks, lab equipment and other items necessitated by additional students. St. John has said the local infusion of capital money is needed because the state provides only $550 per student, based on the funding levels set in 1999, and sends it up to 18 months after new students begin attending school.

A K-3 override approved by voters will yield varying amounts, starting with $895,000, and will remain in effect for seven years, with the goal of hiring about 20 additional elementary school teachers.

The voter-approved spending measures also include a capital override that will allow the district to spend an additional $1 million a year for seven years; a bond issue for $14.7 million over 14 years, and authorization to spend interest income earned on bond funds on education.

The bond money is to include: $4 million for an elementary/middle school, about $5.7 million for a list of individual projects and $5 million for the district’s second high school, which now may not be open until 2010, because of state budget problems.

pfranchine@sahuaritasun.com | 547-9738