At the March 5th Governing Board meeting, the Paradise Valley Unified School District (PVSchools) Governing Board unanimously voted to approve Resolution No 390, which opposes the governor’s proposed executive budget and the Arizona State Legislature’s proposed budget in regards to K-12 funding because it will negatively impact students.
“What constitutes classroom versus non-classroom spending is the issue and school districts’ hands are tied when it comes to the definitions used,” Anne Greenberg, PVSchools Governing Board President, said. “But non-classroom spending does not mean non-essential spending.
Students being able to rely on counselors and nurses and speech therapists outside the classroom makes them more successful inside the classroom and provides support to our teachers as well. Reading specialists – considered part of administration – clearly make our students more successful inside the classroom.
What’s more, much of the expenditures in non-classroom spending pertain to services provided to special needs students that cannot be cut or changed. So this piece of non-classroom pie grows smaller and smaller, meaning the areas that could be cut are more and more limited. And this is from a state that ranks at nearly the bottom of funding in the U.S.”
PVSchools Governing Board President Anne Greenberg: “Students being able to rely on counselors and nurses and speech therapists outside the classroom makes them more successful inside the classroom and provides support to our teachers as well.”
The governing board at PVSchools works diligently to ensure students receive the highest quality education and are safe on our campuses.
Over the past seven years, PVSchools has had to make significant cuts to its “non-classroom” expenditures, including custodians, bus drivers, cafeteria staff, counselors, nurses, librarians and instructional aides, as well as maintenance, transportation and other areas that directly impact student safety and academic success.
During this same time period, budgets to operate school districts have shrunk, while the fixed costs to operate our district, such as fuel, utilities and insurance, have increased. This has created a situation that causes a larger percentage of funds to be spent in these areas.
Further cuts will be detrimental to providing the necessary funds to support the facilities, operations, support and administrative staff to continue the high levels of student safety and academic success we have historically provided.
Governing board members are elected in order to have a positive impact on the students in the district and to serve as fiscal stewards to ensure that as many dollars as possible are allocated to the classrooms.
The PVSchools Governing Board urges Governor Ducey and the Arizona State Legislature to further analyze the specific areas involved in “non-classroom” expenditures to more fully understand how any further reductions in this funding will negatively impact our students, teachers and classroom.
