Fountain Hills Unified Board approves May revision to 2022–23 budget; adopts preschool and Title I summer fees

The Fountain Hills Unified School Board on May 15 adopted a revised budget for the 2022–23 school year after a public hearing and voted to approve preschool and Title I summer-school fees.

Board members suspended the regular meeting to hold the required public hearing on the May revision, then reconvened and approved the revision by voice vote. The board earlier approved the agenda and, by separate voice votes, adopted the preschool and Title I reading summer-school fees.

At the hearing, the district's budget presenter (S7) outlined the fiscal timeline and said the May revision is the final revision that "locks in" how funds are allocated between capital and maintenance and operations (M&O). "When you look at a fiscal year, typically we'll kick off a fiscal year with a proposed budget... and then, by July 15, you have to have your adopted budget," S7 said. He told the board the May revision is the point at which the capital vs. M&O allocation cannot be changed later in the year.

S7 explained why average daily membership (ADM) — the state's funding measure — differs from enrollment. "An average daily membership is what we get funded off of... reflective of how many students are with you throughout the first 100 days of your school calendar," S7 said, adding that kindergarten counts as "half ADM" for funding purposes.

The presenter described the state budget package that includes one-time funding and a base-level increase: "300,000,000 that's going out for one-time funding. Your share of that should be about 336,000," S7 said, and noted the state raised the base per-student amount by 2%, plus an additional increase from eliminating results-based funding that brings the effective increase closer to 2.9% for some districts.

Board members pressed staff on notice and timing. S6 said the board should do more outreach when a revision requires an extra meeting outside the regular schedule. "This is just one of those things where I feel like we can do... be on top of it to make sure that our public knows," S6 said. Staff (S2, S8) replied that the revision materials were posted to the district website and emailed to staff; S1 said Tyler (district finance staff referenced in the hearing) was only available on the Thursday date that required the extra meeting.

Trustees also questioned several line-item shifts in the revision. S3 asked about a roughly $1.4 million increase in purchased services and a near-$500,000 uptick in the classroom site fund; S7 and S5 (Doctor Jay) said those changes can arise from moving positions between federal funds, contracting out services, or correcting prior-year coding, and pledged to provide a detailed explanation. S5 said the district will post a full breakdown on the website for public review.

On staffing and federal funds, S7 cautioned that ESSER and title funding moves can alter FTE reporting and that ESSER has extensive reporting requirements. "When you move between federal funds, that's the easiest move to make," S7 said, and noted ESSER spending is tracked in additional reports outside the May revision document.

Votes at a glance: by voice votes during the meeting the board approved the agenda; approved preschool and Title I summer-school fees for 2023; suspended the regular meeting for the public hearing; reconvened the regular meeting after the hearing; and approved the May 15, 2023 revised budget for the 2022–23 school year. Motions were made on the record and adopted by voice vote; individual roll-call tallies were not recorded in the transcript.

The board requested staff post the detailed line-item explanations online and set upcoming meetings for June 7 (business meeting) and June 28 (budget meeting). The meeting adjourned following the confirmations of future meeting dates.