The leaders of the Tucson Unified School District complain bitterly about school funding while continuing to hoard millions of dollars in Prop 301 monies. With less than 50 percent of taxpayer dollars historically making their way into the classrooms and teachers’ pockets, TUSD leaders have over $10 million stashed away.
The $10 million revelation stunned education activists on Tuesday during the Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) Governing Board meeting. Staff presented the Annual Financial Report, due October 1 to the Board in accordance with Arizona law.
Although TUSD did pay out a total of $28. 8 million in base, performance and menu Prop 301 funds during fiscal year ending June 30, 2017, they are still carrying forward way too much in comparison to most districts in southern Arizona, according to experts.
Most districts across the state typically will pay out their entire annual Base and Menu Funds, understandably, with some minimal carryover of Performance Pay. It is also noted that the second half payment of TUSD Prop 301 Performance Pay is expected to be made during October 2017. However, that does not explain the large carry forward balances for both CSF Base and CSF Menu fund balances.
According to the Arizona Auditor General website (https://www.azauditor.gov/sites/default/files/Prop%20301%20Highlight.pdf) the 301 Menu fund has a certain amount of flexibility. Districts can use those monies for class site reduction, dropout prevention, teacher development among other matters.
According to sources, the Tucson Education Association which is supposed to zealously represent teachers, in conjunction with TUSD, formed a “301 Performance Pay Task Force Committee” and held meetings to arrive at a recommended payout to the teachers. However, the minutes to their meetings were not made available to the general public, as apparently they debated those minutes were not subject to the Open Meetings Act. Members of the public could not arrive at some understanding as to how they tabulated their numbers and thus, completely failed their membership.
When given the opportunity this year to commit to a greater than 50 percent spending priority in the classroom, the Governing Board, during the June 27, 2017 board meeting under the leadership of Michael Hicks, did in fact propose a 50.1 % instructional budget for the 17/18 year . So now it is the public’s turn to turn up the heat and demand those monies get to teachers and classrooms.