Scottsdale Unified adopts FY25-26 $404M expenditure budget; board approves personnel, contracts and policies

Scottsdale Unified School District’s governing board adopted the proposed fiscal year 2025–26 expenditure budget and approved a series of personnel, contract and policy items at its June 24 meeting.

The board voted unanimously to adopt the expenditure budget — described in the presentation as “just over $400,000,000” — after a staff presentation on projected revenues, staffing and program impacts. The board also approved personnel actions, an umbrella leave-buyout plan for district employees, multiple intergovernmental agreements (IGAs) including with Maricopa County Head Start and EVIT, and several board policies; the association agreements passed on a 2–1 vote.

The budget presentation from district finance staff noted the district is using legacy budget forms because a state budget was not yet available. Shannon (staff member) told the board the district anticipates a drop in average daily membership of about 380 students and a roughly $2.3 million reduction in the student-weighted funding account, offset in part by a 2% increase in the amount allocated per student. Shannon said the district plans to move $4.2 million from capital funds into the Maintenance & Operations (M&O) fund to cover staff increases and a payment toward employee medical insurance premiums. She also said the classroom site fund per-student allocation would increase from $792 to $842, an estimated additional $714,000.

Why it matters: M&O is the district’s largest fund and supports day-to-day operations. Shannon’s slides showed 83% of the M&O budget is for salaries and benefits and reported that roughly 85% of the M&O budget is spent directly at school campuses. The presentation broke salary allocation down further: certified staff (teachers) account for about two-thirds of M&O salary…