The Glendale Union High School took drastic steps to manage its budget this year and kept cuts as far away from classrooms as possible.  Still the district lost all of the following:

·In all over 74.4 positions were cut from the 2009 budget to offset anticipated reductions in State funding.  The following is a list of positions lost:
  Central Office:
            Administrator                       1.0
            Clerical                                1.0
            Information and Technology  2.0
            Curriculum Coordinators       2.4

  District Programs
            School within A School          3.0

  Local Schools
           Teachers (increased class size)  20.0
           Instructional Aides                   20.0
           Media Center Assistants             9.0
           Counselors                                2.5
           Equipment Managers                  9.0
           Counseling Center Assistants      4.5

·The district froze salaries at the 2008-2009 salary schedule rates giving no increases for longevity or inflation. 
·The district reduced all Maintenance and Operation Budget supply lines by 20%.
·The district eliminated Maintenance and Operation travel budgets.
·The district cut memberships to professional organizations.
·The district assessed all employees a $100 charge for their individual medical benefits.
·The district froze all soft capital expenditures.
·The district froze all non emergency building renewal projects.
·The district has implemented a utility reduction program
·The district has developed internal sub program using administrators, social workers, mentors and coordinators as instructional subs to reduce sub costs to the district.
·The district has developed internal sub program using administrators, social workers mentors and the GUEA President as instructional subs to reduce sub costs to the district.

The next round of cuts will impact our schools and their communities even harder.  These new cuts will be made on top of reductions already made to district programs.

Using the District’s Mission Statement and Core Values as its guide and through an open process of discussion with stakeholder groups, the district has developed the following draft list (Not in Priority Order) of possible program and budget cuts to offset further state aid losses. The extent of cuts needed and the priority of cuts are yet to be determined as this list continues to be expanded and refined through these discussions.

Central Office
   Reduce DO Administration                             1.0 FTE
   Reduce DO Support staff                               1.0
   Computer Coordinator Reorganization
All Employees
   Change to Insurance Benefit (Reduce Chiropractic Service)
   3 Furlough days across the board
   3% Salary decrease across the board
Programs/Fees/Revenue
   Graduation Fee/Tickets (Charge Admission/Graduation Fee)
   AP tests
   Pay to Participate
   Raise Parking Fees
   Raise Gate Fees
   No longer offset Dual Enrollment course fees

Cost Reduction Measurers
   Fixed Sub cost per year (2 days per year - 1378 subs)
   Teachers
   Additional 20% Supply Budget Reduction (2 year Total 40%)

Jobs
   Increase Staffing 27.7 to 1                  10.0  FTE
   Eliminate Sweeps                                 9.0
   Eliminate School based clinics                 .6
   Eliminate bookstore helpers                  9.0
   Increase Counselor Ratio 450:1              4.0
   Reduce 1 maintenance position per school      9.0
   Local Support Staff 3-4 hour positions    4.5
   Eliminate Ed Techs                                 9.0
   Increase Counselor Ratio 475:1               4.0

Please support GUHSD by voting YES on Prop 100 on May 18, 2010. Please be sure to turn in your early ballots. EVERY VOTE COUNTS!

Like other Arizona school districts, Glendale Union was called upon in 2009 to reduce operating expenditures to make up for a State Revenue shortfall.  The district was able to save over $2 million in costs through a hiring freeze, soft capital cuts and other program modifications to its maintenance and operations budget for the 2009 school year. Prior to 2009 the district has lost in excess of $27 million in building renewal funding as a result of state budget reductions. The district has relied for over a decade on limited resources from its declining unrestricted capital fund and bond proceeds to maintain its nine high schools.

Fiscal Year 2010 state budget cuts force Glendale Union High School District to cut programs

Budget cuts force Glendale Union to cut programs and increase class size at all nine district high schools.

Glendale Union made significant reductions to its 2010 budget in response to growing concerns over state funding.  In all over 74.4 positions were cut from the 2009 budget to offset anticipated reductions in State funding.  The following is a list of positions lost:

Central Office:

            Administrator                                           1.0

            Clerical                                                   1.0

            Information and Technology                       2.0

            Curriculum Coordinators                            2.4

District Programs

            School within A School                             3.0

Local Schools

            Teachers (increased class size)              20.0

            Instructional Aides                                 20.0

            Media Center Assistants                          9.0

Counselors                                              2.5

Equipment Managers                               9.0

            Counseling Center Assistants                   4.5

In addition to the above staffing changes, the district took the following actions:

·         The district froze salaries at the 2009 salary schedule rates giving no increases for longevity or inflation.  

·         The district reduced all Maintenance and Operation Budget supply lines by 20%,

·         The district eliminated Maintenance and Operation travel budgets,

·         The district cut memberships to professional organizations

·         The district assessed all employees a $100 charge for their individual medical benefits.

·         The district froze all soft capital expenditures

·         The district froze all non emergency building renewal projects.

·         The district has implemented a utility reduction program

·         The district has developed internal sub program using administrators, social workers, mentors and coordinators as instructional subs to reduce sub costs to the district.

·         The district has developed internal sub program using administrators, social workers mentors and the GUEA President as instructional subs to reduce sub costs to the district.

The 2011 school budget is being built now and will be decided upon in the next several weeks. The numbers appear alarming.

Education, from kindergarten to the state universities, could take the biggest hit as lawmakers try to resolve the state’s looming budget deficits.  A temporary 1-cent-per-dollar increase in the state sales tax will be presented to the voters on May 18. If not approved, an alternative budget plan will cut an additional $918 million from the state’s budget, with education - from K-12 to universities - absorbing 60 percent of the cuts.

For Glendale Union additional reductions will amount to approximately 8 million more in program cuts including:

• Loss of all of Soft Capital funding (an additional cut of approximately $1.3 million)
• Loss of all Capital Outlay Revenue Funding (CORL)  (cut of approximately $5 Million)
• The Base Level will be reduced by approximately a 2% reduction in the Base Level (cut of approximately $1.5 Million)

These new cuts will be made on top of reductions already made to district programs.

What can we do to insure that the quality of education does not decrease during these difficult times? 

We are asking parents, teachers, administrators and all concerned community members to join us in getting proposition 100 passed.  Please visit the YES on 100 website today (www.yeson100.com).  Sign up with Citizens for Quality Education at www.citizensforaqualityeducation.com, email your friends, and tell your neighbors.

As we have proven in the past, together we do make a difference.  We cannot afford to allow any further cuts to K-12 education.  Arizona already ranks at the bottom in state per pupil funding.  Show elected officials that you care about the quality of your schools.

The heaviest burden a child can carry is a second rate education.  Don’t let our children pay the price of Budget Cuts. 

Vote YES on 100

Proposition 100 is a temporary tax increase that will be shared by all of us. Not only will the passage of this ballot measure help fill in the budget gaps that threaten the quality of an Arizona education, it will also help keep our neighborhoods’ safe and our frail cared for.

We all understand how hard it is to contemplate even a few dollars’ increase in our tax burdens, but this short-term sacrifice in the present will help us protect what every Arizonan values in the long term –the future of our school children and the future of our state.

On May 18, please join us in voting Yes on 100.

For more information and to check out those supporting Prop 100, visit http://www.yeson100.com/

Please help us get the word out by:
     -Asking your neighbors to vote yes
     -Texting all your friends in the district and ask them to vote yes
     -Email all your friends in the district and ask them to vote yes
     -Ask your friends to talk, text, email and phone their friends

Remember - a YES vote for GUHSD will NOT RAISE TAXES!!

Will you place a Vote Yes sign in your front yard? Call Don DeBusk at 602-418-3250 and he will arrange to have the sign delivered and placed in your yard.

Thank you for your continued support!

www.citizensforaqualityeducation.com
www.guhsdaz.org

• Help place election signs
• Make phone calls
• Place mailing labels on postcards
• TALK TO YOUR NEIGHBORS
• VOTE YES on November 3, 2009

To receive e-mail updates, meeting dates and information from Citizens for Quality Education, click on the link below.

 https://app.expressemailmarketing.com/Survey.aspx?SFID=61766

Per Pupil Funding:

• Arizona ranks dead last among the states in per pupil funding for education. The states current financial crisis has placed even more stress on school budgets as our state legislature has cut education funding to the bone to balance state funding and will do nothing to either increase or replace local funding such as overrides.

District Spending:

• The district faces the same increases in fixed costs like insurance, utilities, pensions and taxes that we all face.
• Additionally, public education and our district are legally obligated to meet state and federal mandates, many of which are unfunded.
• Our districts have already reduced millions from their budget and reduced programs and services.

What’s been cut?

• Teachers, administrators and support staff positions have been eliminated. More than 120 positions have been cut, including administrators, secretaries, teachers and custodians.
• GUHSD has cut 20% from every supply budget in the district.
• The district has implemented a new utility guideline to severely reduce the districts utility consumption.
• All travel has been reduced from the district operating budget.

What’s at stake if the override does not pass?

• If the override does not pass, severe cuts will be made to academic, athletic, and extracurricular programs. The Blue Ribbon Citizen’s Committee has recommended $7.2 million in program reductions; reducing administration, increasing class size, reducing and eliminating athletic and extracurricular programs. The loss of the override will affect the quality of our schools, the safety of our neighborhoods and the value of our homes.

How will the renewal of the Maintenance and Operation Override affect the district tax rate?

• The renewal of the override will not raise the tax rate for the district. This is the continuation of an override already funded on the tax rate. The only effect will be the continuation of the current tax.

We need your support. Please Vote YES on November 3, 2009 for the renewal of Glendale Union High School District’s M & O override.

The need for override funding stems from a lack of adequate state resources as evidenced by research on the states per pupil funding and the overwhelming number of Arizona districts operating under override programs. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, Arizona ranks 49th in per pupil funding among the states. This lack of commitment on the part of our legislative body has forced Arizona schools to depend on the use of overrides to supplement state funding and offer competitive programs. Approximately 80% of all Arizona school districts and virtually every major district in the state are operating on existing overrides.

MAJOR OVERRIDE DISTRICTS:
-Tempe Union
-Phoenix Union
-Mesa Unified
-Scottsdale Unified
-Peoria Unified
-Deer Valley Unified
-Washington Elementary
-Glendale Elementary
-Paradise Valley Unified

In conclusion, we don’t have a spending problem, we have a revenue problem!
-Arizona spends at the bottom on per public funding
-Our students deserve a comprehensive education program
-Our quality neighborhood high schools increase our property values
-Finally, maintaining our safe schools is critical to maintaining our safe neighborhoods

The district believes that the sound fiscal management demonstrated combined with the outstanding instructional and support staff contributes directly to the district’s 7 excelling and 2 highly performing schools. We believe that the 2008-2009 budget reductions will be managed with travel reductions, capital and hiring freezes, foregoing current capital needs, reduced professional development, and expenditure of carryover funds. Proposed 2009-2010 reductions will more substantially impact district operations and staffing.

Legislative Reductions:

The Arizona legislature has enacted the following cuts to 2008-2009 school district funding:

-Reduce state funding for the base support level by $98,198,000.
-Reduce state funding for the soft capital allocation limit by $21,000,000.

The Glendale Union High School District specific funding reductions are:

-Reduce state funding for the base support level by $1,658,583. This is a 1.7% reduction to our maintenance and operation budget. The maintenance and operation budget provides for day to day operating expenses such as staff salaries, benefits, professional development, utilities, repairs, transporation, printing, private school tuition, and supplies.
-Reduce state funding for the soft capital allocation limit by $351,088. This is a 10.5% reduction to our soft capital allocation. The soft capital budget is used to purchase technology, textbooks, library resources, instructional aids, pupil transportation vehicles, furniture, and equipment.

In January the House and Senate Appropriations Chairmen presented legislative options to further reduce 2009-2010 school funding by almost 900 million dollars. We have estimated these options could reduce GUHSD operating and capital budgets by 10-13 million dollars.

Another funding concern is the unfunded building renewal formula. State building renewal funding is used for major renovation and repairs of buildings, upgrading systems, extending building useful lives, and infrastructure costs. Since 1999 the district has received approximately 20 million dollars less than the statutory formula. In 2008 the district received $1,171,265 of the $5,164,322 formula. The state has not provided any funding for 2008-2009 and is not expectd to provide any funding for 2009-2010.

Financial Analysis (4-year history):

To promote accurate discussion we are providing an additional analysis of the district’s maintenance and operation (M & O) funding and how it has changed from 2004-2008.

Financial Highlights from 2004 to 2008:

• Total M & O revenues have increased approximately 17 million dollars or 21.6%. The increase comes from the weighted student count (includes adjustments for high school support level and special education students) that increased 7% and the base support level that increased 14% (funding for inflation and benefit costs).
• State equalization funding has increased approximately 12.5 million. Some of this is due to the state suspending the county equalization tax and providing the funding through state equalization. Additionally, legislative action has reduced the property taxes for businesses, electing to replace this funding with state equalization.
• District M & O expenditures have increased approximately 16 million dollars or 20.3%.
• The district expenditure increases are primarily due to higher benefit costs, additional plant costs (utilities and maintenance), special education, and transportation costs.
• Higher benefit costs reflect a 66% increase in the Arizona State Retirement Contribution rate and higher medical insurance costs.
• General (district office, board and superintendent) administration and school administration (principal’s office) has increased only 1.68%.
• Group B Add On weight has increased 30%. This reflects the district’s special education population severity and results in additional funding and costs.