Tempe Elementary faces significant budget challenges next year–in part related to the state budget. Now it would have been far worse if the Maintenance and Operations override had failed in November. As is, however, the district has already identified $1.3 million in cuts for this academic year–largely based on declining enrollment–these haven’t hurt kids, but next school year a resource allocation committee has recommended $2.2 million in cuts, including many that will directly impact kids. The Governing Board may vote on this as early as March 5.
My wife, Rochelle, has concerns (she’s on the board), but really needs parents and other residents to speak up on behalf of kids. The $2.2 million in cuts is to free up money for all employees to receive a 3.5% percent raise (that includes upper administrators as well as teachers and custodial staff-Dr. Tate, Tempe Superintendent, has indicated that the raise doesn’t apply to him-his compensation is determined separately by the Board). In general, I feel this raise needs to be both scaled back and restricted due to the tight budget times–because kids shouldn’t be impacted to give someone a raise-even if we’d like to pay them more.
The District’s web site also has link to information. http://www.tempeschools.org/community/tempe.htm