Chandler Unified Board Approves First Revision to 2024–25 Budget After AFR Reconciliation

The Chandler Unified School District Governing Board voted Dec. 11 to approve the first revision to its 2024–25 expenditure budget after the district finalized its annual financial report and updated current-year funding figures. Chief Financial Officer Lana Barry told the board the revision was required under state procedures after reconciling carryovers and the district's actual average daily membership (ADM).

Barry said the district’s updated ADM is 40,112 students, down from the adopted figure of 40,702, representing a net drop that, together with special-education weight changes, reduced maintenance-and-operations revenue by about $5.4 million before offsets. "So that total decrease is $5,400,000," she said, and later described offsets — including higher carryover and a Proposition 123 adjustment — that narrowed the net change to about $3,550,586, roughly 1 percent of the district’s M&O budget.

The CFO described fund-level movements across more than 70 funding sources. She said district carryover increased to about $9.2 million (one-time dollars) and that federal and state project funds rose by approximately $1.4 million due to carryovers and three newly written grants. The district’s building renewal award was updated to $11,054,508, a decrease of about $445,000 from an earlier estimate.

Board members pressed staff for context on staffing and expenditure drivers. "A lot of our expenditures is for people who work for us," board member Mister Rohrs said, and Barry confirmed that roughly 85 percent of the M&O fund is salary and benefits and highlighted contracted substitute costs and utilities as other large categories.

Barry also framed longer-term pressure points: the district has trended down roughly 1,000 ADM per year in recent years, and the expiration of Proposition 123 at the end of the fiscal year could shift roughly $280 million from the state land trust into the general fund unless legislative changes are made. "When it expires without any further ballot initiatives or approval, it automatically goes into the general fund," she said, describing ongoing lobbying and legislative monitoring.

After discussion, a motion to approve the 2024–25 annual expenditure budget revision No. 1 was made and seconded; the board voted in favor and the motion carried. The CFO said a second revision will return to the board in May before final adoption of the 2025–26 budget.