Voters can have an official say about financial items on the ballot prior to the election for the Marana and Amphitheater school districts.
Proposition 411 in Marana is a proposed 15% maintenance and operations override set for the upcoming election in November.
The proposed 15% budget override amount for the proposed continuation of the first year and increase is estimated to be $15,399,404. It would be funded during that year by an estimated $1.19 tax rate per one hundred dollars of net assessed valuation, used for secondary property tax purposes.
The proposed November 2024 override would be a continuation of the existing authorization approved by the voters in November 2020.
Fifteen percent is an increase from the originally proposed 10% override. According to Dan Streeter, MUSD Superintendent, the district gauged support in multiple ways, including a phone survey among Marana voters. The consensus, he said, was supportive.
The override will help fund school aides; counseling; full-day kindergarten; library; athletics; physical education; fine arts; extracurricular activities; remedial education; elective courses and advanced classes.
The 5% addition will go strictly towards staffing and classes, including teacher recruitment. It will not fund additional or new programming.
The MUSD Governing Board approved the increase last month. Arguments โforโ or โagainstโ Maranaโs special budget override will be accepted by the Pima County School Superintendentโs Office until 5 p.m., Aug. 9.
In the Amphitheater school district, Proposition 413 is a maintenance and operations override, while Prop. 412 is bond issuance.
Amphitheaterโs proposed 13.5% maintenance and operations override will amount to more than $12 million during the first year of continuation. It would be funded in that first year by an estimated $0.62 tax rate per one hundred dollars of net assessed valuation. This is approximately equal to the current secondary tax rate for the existing budget override.
The districtโs proposed bond issue would net about $84 million. The average annual tax rate for the authorization is estimated at $0.29 per one hundred dollars of net assessed valuation.
The Pima County Superintendentโs Office is also accepting arguments โforโ and โagainstโ the two measures until August 9.
Go to the Pima County School Superintendentโs election page โ www.schools.pima.gov/elections โ for more information on school district elections in the county, including how to submit arguments regarding the measures in Amphi and Marana.
TUSD recognizes bond project progress
Tucson Unified School Districtโs Blenman Elementary School, 1695 N. Country Club Road, was the site of an official gathering to recognize the districtโs bond project progress.
The Friday morning event featured the installation of Blenmanโs new HVAC system, which includes $270,000 worth of electronic HVAC controls.
Of the $480 million bond issue, which was approved by voters in November, about $265 million is reserved for repairs and upgrades to existing facilities, including those at Blenman.
Back-to-school backpack effort launched
The Salvation Army Tucson is partnering with Fryโs Food Stores to put on the 22nd annual Back-to-School Backpack S.O.S. (Support Our Students) campaign.
From Monday, July 8 to Sunday, July 28, donation bins will be stationed at many Fryโs Food Stores in the Tucson, Oro Valley, and Marana areas.
Supplies collected are given to lower-income families with kids in school.
The school supply drive seeks backpacks, pens, folders, pencils, colored pencils, markers, erasers, glue sticks, crayons, rulers, loose-leaf paper, scissors, pencil sharpeners, and spiral notebooks.
Go to salvationarmytucson.org to give monetary donations for the effort.
