By Brian Joseph Lesinski
I am Brian Joseph Lesinski and I am a former teacher at Paradise Valley high school and currently running for State Senate in LD 15. My current project is to defeat Paradise Valley Unified School District (PVUSD) M&O Budget Override election held Tuesday, November 7th 2017.
In PVUSD alone, the average homeowner would save $192.50 per year or $77 per $100,000 assessed valuation. PVUSD takes in $330,000,000 per year to teach 33,000 students. In just over 3 years that amounts to a BILLION dollars. Tax revenue collected in the PVUSD would be better spent in the classrooms and not wasted on bureaucratic overhead.
Total annual per-pupil funding for PVUSD from all sources was $10,004 per pupil for the 2015-2016 school year; according to the latest available Annual Report from the State Superintendent of Public Instruction.
PVUSD allows 40 students per teacher for a total of $400,000 per classroom per year. Currently PVUSD teacher’s beginning pay is $34,000 per year. The balance of funding per classroom is $366,000 each YEAR – wasted on bureaucratic overhead.
Our district’s families and teachers would benefit more when less is spent on bureaucratic overhead and a larger portion of funding was directly spent in the classroom – specifically into teacher’s compensation and supplies. No more will parents need to send their kids to school with a backpack full of school items that should be provided for with school funds.
If the district limited administrative overhead and other programs to a generous 33 percent, teachers’ starting pay could be increased to $60,000 and top out at $80,000 over 10 years.
Additionally, if a teacher has a Master’s Degree or dedicates the many hours necessary to sponsor a club or student organization, then they should be paid a $10,000 to $20,000 stipend.
These numbers may seem unreachable without raising taxes, but not only can we move the money into the classroom but we can do it and give taxpayers a rebate on their property tax.
For more information on how to raise teachers’ pay visit my website VoteBrianJosephLesinski.com or my campaign website at VoteBJL.com.