Chandler Unified board approves proposed 2025–26 budget for publication, greenlights superintendent search RFQ and several contracts

The Chandler Unified School District Governing Board on June 25 approved publication of its proposed fiscal year 2025–26 expenditure budget, authorized issuance of a request for quotes (RFQ) to hire a superintendent search firm, approved a set of digital resources for 2025–26, renewed a grant agreement with First Things First that will route $250,000 to the Chandler Care Center, and voted to continue the district’s existing intergovernmental agreement (IGA) with Southwest Behavioral Health Services while staff and legal counsel finalize a replacement agreement.

Budget publication and hearing

The board voted to publish the proposed FY2025–26 expenditure budget for public review and to submit it to the Arizona Department of Education. Mrs. Marion Barry, the district’s business official, told the board the proposed aggregated expenditure budget reflects declines in carryover and capital spending: “Our aggregated school district budget went down mostly due to carryover,” she said, noting a projected decrease in maintenance and operations of roughly $7 million and a capital reduction of about $12 million. Barry also said the district is projecting a 2% state increase in base funding worth about $5.4 million but expects a loss of students that reduces funding capacity.

Barry provided several headline figures the board will present again at the July 9 public hearing: the district’s calculated average teacher salary for the report is $68,899 and projected changes to tax rates include a proposed adjacent-ways levy estimate of roughly $4,000,000 (the board noted that translates to about $9.92 per $100,000 of assessed value). The board must publish the Truth in Taxation notice and allow at least 10 days between publication and the public hearing; the adoption…