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Board approves fiscal 2025 revised expenditure budget after public hearing
Summary
The governing board held a public hearing and approved a second revision to the fiscal 2024–25 expenditure budget to capture updated ADM, revenue-control adjustments and a one-time district assistance supplement; staff said the district’s override provides about $15.1 million to operations.
At a public hearing called under state budget procedures, Queen Creek Unified School District presented and the governing board approved a revision to the fiscal 2024–25 expenditure budget reflecting updated average daily membership (ADM) and other adjustments.
Jessica Johnston, the district’s finance representative, told the board the revision captures the April ADM count and associated "b-weights" and that the district’s revenue-control limit and override calculations were adjusted accordingly. Johnston said the revision also incorporated a one-time district additional assistance supplement tied to free-and-reduced-lunch percentages and an allocation of Prop 123 funding to the capital budget.
Johnston explained the district’s override — a voter-approved operating levy — is calculated using the revenue-control limit and prior-year student counts; for fiscal 2025 she stated the override equates to about $15,100,000 for the operating budget. Johnston said the district’s July adopted budget was conservative and that the August revision had updated forms after the state finalized budget forms, with the current revision representing the second revision of the year. She also noted an increase in the district’s M&O operating capacity of about $4.7 million from July to the present revision, and an adjusted fiscal‑24 carry-forward of about $619,000.
During the public hearing, the board invited questions; no public speakers requested to address the revision. After the hearing the board moved to adopt the revised expenditure budget and approved the motion by voice vote.
Other fiscal items noted in the meeting included a district bond-refunding initiative that staff said saved taxpayers about $2.9 million and commentary from Superintendent Perry Berry on district benefit contributions, which he said increased from $4,979 per employee in fiscal 2015 to $7,949 per employee in fiscal 2026, a 60% increase cited by the superintendent as part of the district’s employee‑benefit narrative.
Johnston said the district will submit the revised documents to the Arizona Department of Education school finance office and will proceed with its proposed budget process for fiscal 2026, with the adoption public hearing expected in July and annual financial reporting scheduled for October.
