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Catalina Foothills board adopts FY2026 budget; district projects $42.1M M&O limit and $10M in capital spending
Summary
The Catalina Foothills Unified School District governing board adopted the fiscal year 2026 expenditure budget following a public hearing; the adopted budget includes a $42.1 million maintenance and operations budget limit, $10 million in DAA/unrestricted capital and a classroom site fund allocation of $842 per weighted student.
The Catalina Foothills Unified School District Governing Board adopted the district’s fiscal year 2026 expenditure budget on June 24, voting 5-0 to approve the plan after a public hearing that drew no public speakers.
The board heard a staff summary of the adopted expenditure budget, which staff said was built from a “straw budget” with a 2% inflationary adjustment and used the district’s fiscal year 2025 average daily membership (ADM) for state formula calculations. The district cited an estimated FY26 ADM of 4,574.
Key figures and assumptions presented by district staff included: a maintenance and operations (M&O) budget limit of approximately $42,100,000 (a decrease of about $642,000 from FY25 revision #3); an unrestricted capital/DAA budget of $10,000,000 (including $2,000,000 of new override funds and carryforward); a classroom site fund allocation budgeted at $842 per weighted student (up from $792 in FY25); projected FY26 contingency of $1,360,000 labeled as “maintained for spending after FY26”; and salary and benefits increases budgeted at 2% for classified staff and administrators and an average 2% for teachers.
Staff also noted specific program changes: transportation projections assume a 3% contractual increase for outsourced transportation services and the budget reflects increased food-service matching requirements; DAA capital spending includes structured cabling and core fiber switches at school sites; and federal project funding was budgeted lower at the start of the year due to timing and carryforward usage.
After questions from board members about specific line items (examples: transportation software/subscription coding, 1:1 student device plans and the district’s planned device replacement/lease strategy), a board member moved to adopt the FY26 expenditure budget as presented. The motion carried 5-0.
Next steps: Staff noted the board may need to adopt revisions if the state legislature’s final budget changes revenue assumptions, and staff will bring forward any required adjustments in future meetings.
