Mesa Unified staff lay out budget choices as enrollment falls; multiple programs flagged for review

Mesa Public Schools officials told the Governing Board on Nov. 13 that projected enrollment declines mean district leaders are planning now for the 2027–28 budget cycle and have begun identifying programs and costs that may need change.

Chiefly, district staff said the enrollment outlook — with larger graduating cohorts and smaller kindergarten classes — reduces state formula revenue and will likely require difficult choices in future years. “This presentation is about being proactive for 27–28 planning and beyond,” a presenter told the board. Staff emphasized there are no board decisions required for 2026–27, but that the district is modeling options now so the board can act early if needed.

Why it matters

Board members heard a series of program-level examples that show how interlinked district spending is with student counts and with one-off grants or policy choices. Officials said some lines of spending are largely fixed (for example, staff salaries and certain site overhead), while other items were selected programs that could be reduced, reconfigured or paid for by other funding streams. The presentation framed the exercise as a way to preserve classroom resources where possible by making targeted changes in central and optional programs.

Key findings and examples

- District administrative redesign: staff said current-year actions reduce district office staffing by about 40 full-time equivalents and approximately $3,600,000 in recurring cost reductions. That reduction is part of a plan staff said is intended to protect school-level services.

- Compensated absences: staff reported an unaudited liability of about $25,000,000 for unused leave accrued by employees (vacation/sick payout liability if employees separate). Staff said that reserve explains part of the need to carry forward general-purpose funds.

- Performance pay: the district pays roughly $3,500,000 in performance pay to non‑certified staff out of Maintenance & Operations (M&O) funds; certified staff performance pay is funded from Classroom Site Fund dollars, staff said.

- Propane-powered buses: Mesa’s school-bus fleet is primarily propane. Staff described federal grants and rebate programs — about $750,000 in a clean-school-bus grant in 2023 and nearly $1,000,000 in federal rebates to date — that have supported the choice of propane. Officials cautioned those rebates may not continue indefinitely and that future cost comparisons between propane, diesel and electric buses will change if federal…