Juarez Passes Through Tunnel Of Love On His Way Off The TUSD Board

After passing through the “tunnel of love,” earlier in the evening, Cam Juarez gave a sad farewell to his soon-to-be former Tucson Unified School Board members last night. In the last two minutes of the marathon meeting, Juarez could not help taking his final cheap shots at, what he characterized, as members of the public with flawed data and facts.

Of course, those members of the public, as well as board members, Mark Stegeman and Michael Hicks have been complaining on a regular basis that it is the district administration that continues to churn out flawed data and few facts.

Data and facts were hard to come by during last night’s meeting.

The board did vote to pay out Prop 301 monies to teachers finally. Under Superintendent Sanchez the district had been hoarding the case. Due to the diligence of residents, the hoarding of funds was exposed and the district was forced to act on Tuesday.

After the initial pay out to teachers, whatever surplus remains will be distributed to teachers at a later date.

The true amount in the fund has been a subject of dispute. Sanchez has claimed the fund has approximately $9 million, however records show that it is closer to $15 million.

Sanchez is claiming the $5.5 million difference is being paid out in the 2016-17 performance plan along with the $7.? million TUSD is getting from the state this year. That rounds to about $13 million. TUSD would have to pay 3,714 teachers the maximum $3,500 pay. That’s impossible; TUSD has about 2,500 teachers and every teacher won’t get the maximum performance evaluation.

Sanchez  claimed the surplus built up because it’s not possible to know exactly how many teachers will qualify for performance money.

According to one retired educator, if you look at the amount of performance money TUSD has held back each year it is almost the same as the amount of 301 money TUSD has “borrowed” to cover overspending in other accounts. The amounts of the loaned 301 money are shown in the Comprehensive Annual Reports (CAFR’s) prepared by TUSD’s external auditors. In the year when the loan from the 301 money was bigger than the surplus 301 performance money, TUSD used money from the other two 301 funds, which have smaller surpluses, but enough to make up the difference.

Year Total Unspent 301 Performance Money 301 Money Borrowed To Cover Deficits In Other Funds
2015-16 $15.0 million TBD 2015-16 CAFR is not
available from TUSD
2014-15 $12.7 million $12.2 million
2013-14 $ 9.8 million $10.0 million
2012-13 $ 6.3 million $ 6.0 million

The board also voted to accept the recommendation from the Special Master to remove the magnet status from several schools. In keeping with the provisions of the Special Master’s recommendation, the decision will not affect the programs students are currently enrolled in and will have no immediate impact on funding.

In a merely symbolic vote, the board voted 4-1 on a resolution to support students enrolled in the district who are in the country illegally. Currently schools cannot inquire as to the legal status of any student, so the resolution brought forth by board member Kristel Foster, was only a partisan political statement.