Higley board reviews 2024–25 M&O override spending; parents urge renewal to protect programs

Higley Unified School District officials presented a public accounting of how the district spent funds from the 15% maintenance-and-operations override voters approved in 2019, and public commenters urged the board to support continued override funding to protect teacher pay, elementary specials and the Mandarin dual‑immersion program.

The district’s finance presentation noted that fiscal 2025 — the most recent complete year ending June 30 — was the last fully funded year of the override and that the district spent a little over $14 million from the measure in that year. “We went through and looked and said what percentage of the override was spent to those categories that matched what was in the pamphlet,” the presenter said, summarizing the district’s review of spending against the 2019 voter materials.

The presentation attributed the largest share of override spending — 34% — to increased teacher compensation, and listed other categories and shares: maintaining and improving elementary specials (22%), maintaining average class sizes (21%), supporting gifted services, special education and all‑day kindergarten (13%), and educational resources for classrooms (10%). The district…