Kyrene board adopts FY25 budget revision, approves 1% raises for staff and a $1,000 retention stipend

At a May 13 regular meeting, the Kyrene Elementary District governing board adopted a final revised fiscal year 2025 budget at a public hearing and approved several personnel and procurement actions intended to stabilize staffing.

Budget revision adopted Brian Loughrey, the district’s director of finance, presented the proposed final FY25 revised budget and said it represents “the maximum budget capacity allowed by law.” He told the board the net change from the adopted budget is approximately $5.8 million, driven by adjustments across the general budget limit, unrestricted capital (DAA) and federal projects. Specific points Loughrey highlighted included: - General budget limit (maintenance & operations and transportation): net increase of about $2,500,000, with the base support level reduced by about $247,000 because of lower student counts and updated special-education weight estimates. - District Additional Assistance (DAA): staff returned funds to the DAA capital account (rather than transferring them to maintenance and operations) because those dollars are expected to be needed for future capital work; that decision added about $1.7 million to the DAA balance. - Carry-forward true-ups and other adjustments: final carry-forward and override true-ups increased capacity by about $3.8 million. - Grants and federal awards: final allocations and carry-forward for federal grants, plus a new multiyear grant to fund 16 school counselors (about $2.6 million over FY25–26), raised federal and state grant budgets by about $5.0 million from adopted projections.

Loughrey cited Arizona Revised…