Panel pushes Chandler school budget override

More than three months before the Nov. 4 election, the group backing a school budget override in Chandler is getting to work.

The committee, made up of about 10 supporters and led by Chandler Unified School District governing board member Robert Rice, is looking at what needs to be done to assure the maintenance and operations override stays in place.

The last campaign Rice led was for a district bond election that passed with 72 percent of the votes.

“We felt it had pretty good support so we didn’t do too much fundraising and really didn’t have to do too much campaigning,” he said.

But across Arizona last fall, voters turned down 44 percent of school requests for maintenance and operation overrides, Kindergarten-through-third grade overrides, capital outlay overrides and bonds, according to the Arizona Tax Research Association Web site.

Based on that, Rice said the group will be more active.

“We’re probably a little more concerned this time,” Rice said. “We probably will be a little more active in signs and mailings this year than we have in prior campaigns.”

On Wednesday, the governing board approved a “pro statement” to be placed on the election pamphlet about the override.

Governing boards planning to place a maintenance and operations override or renewal on the ballot have until 5 p.m. Aug. 6 to file a pro statement with the Maricopa County Superintendent of Schools.

In the East Valley, Higley Unified School District is asking voters to renew a maintenance and operations override in the fall. The Tempe Union High School District is asking voters to approve an override voters turned down last November.

Rice said one reason voters may have turned down overrides last fall was because of rising property values and a lack of understanding about how overrides work.

“Our property values have come down a little more so it probably won’t be as much of an issue,” he said.

The maintenance and operations override allows the district to spend up to 10 percent above its state-mandated limit. Those funds help pay for salaries and supplies.

For the 2009-10 school year, the override is projected to add more than $19 million to the budget. It was approved Nov. 3, 2004. An override is in place for seven years, with voters asked after five years to renew it.

The last time Chandler voters turned down an override request was 20 years ago. After that happened, a contingency fund was started. There is now about $10 million in the fund, which could be used the first year if voters reject the appeal, the district’s chief financial officer, Joel Wirth, told the governing board during a meeting last month.

If voters reject a second override request, the district could have to look at cuts in staff, Wirth said.