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Catalina Foothills board reviews new budget policy and regulation tightening posting and deadline rules
Summary
At a first reading, the Catalina Foothills Unified School District board reviewed consolidated Policy DB and a new regulation that formalize annual budget schedule, require specific posting of teacher-salary and Auditor General pages, and set public-deadline timelines; members asked for clearer wording and edits before a second reading.
The Catalina Foothills Unified School District Governing Board on Monday held a first reading of a consolidated annual-budget policy and an accompanying regulation that would formalize the district's budget schedule, format and public-posting requirements.
Superintendent Dr. Denise Bartlett said the change consolidates previous policies and aligns the district with state guidance: the draft requires the district to use "the budget format developed by the Arizona Department of Education in coordination with the Auditor General" and to post the average teacher salary for the current and prior year, the dollar and percentage increase in average teacher pay, and "the most recent Auditor General profile pages showing the percentage of funds spent in the classroom." Bartlett said the regulation also lays out calendar steps the district must follow in most years, including posting a proposed budget to permit a 10-day public posting period, holding a public hearing and adopting the budget by July 15, submitting the final budget electronically to the Department of Education by July 18, preparing the annual financial report by Oct. 15 and publishing it on the district website by Nov. 15.
"It requires the district to use the budget format developed by the Arizona Department of Education in coordination with the auditor general," Bartlett said. "We are required to post the following information on our website: the average teacher salary for the current year, the average teacher salary for the prior year, the dollar increase in the average teacher salary, and the percentage increase in the teacher salary."
Board members raised line-edit and clarity issues during discussion. One member noted several passages were "muddy" and suggested reordering paragraphs so posting requirements appear in a clearer sequence. Another asked for a correction to phrasing that currently reads "no later than July 5 and not less than 10 days before," arguing the sentence should reference the date of adoption rather than creating an ambiguous deadline. The member emphasized the regulation should read "not later than July 5 and not less than 10 days before adoption" or otherwise clearly state the reference point.
"I think what they're saying here is, rather than not less than 10 days before [putting a date there], it says not less than 10 days before the adoption," one board member said. "Better than July 5, but not less than 10 days prior to the date of adoption." (Board members spoke in the meeting but did not always identify themselves by name in the record.)
The regulation also expands procedures related to override elections, including timelines for distributing informational reports to households and ordering election materials, and calls for an affidavit confirming online posting when the Department of Education hosts the materials.
Members suggested a number of editorial fixes — swapping paragraph order, clarifying parentheticals, fixing missing sub-items and minor typos — and agreed Bartlett will incorporate the edits and bring the policy and regulation back for a second reading in two weeks.
The board did not take a final vote; both the policy and the regulation remain at first reading. The regulation cites state law requirements and cross-references standards from the Arizona Department of Education and the Auditor General.
