Tucson Unified School District has proposed a $660 million budget for the upcoming school year, which the board is set to vote on in July.
TUSD is the third-largest school district in Arizona and serves about 42,000 students.
The governing board approved several budget initiatives over the last few months that are included in the 2021-2022 budget.
One of the initiatives includes raising the minimum hourly rate across the district to $13 an hour.
The district also raised the starting wage for bus drivers and special education teaching assistants, both hard-to-fill positions in high demand. Bus drivers’ new starting wage is $16 an hour, up from $13.35, and the teaching assistants’ new wage is $15 an hour, up from $12.15.
The district also approved an additional $685,000 for raises to bus drivers and special ed teaching assistants who already make more than the starting wage.
And the salary initiative included $175,000 for a rate increase for substitute teachers and $596,000 for a rate increase for retired educators who return to the district.
The budget includes one-time retention stipends for teachers, but teacher raises are still under negotiation, according to Teacher Education Association President Margaret Chaney.
The district is also investing nearly $7 million for a fine arts expansion, interscholastics equipment and facilities and preschool outdoor equipment.
Other budget highlights include:
$333.2 million for maintenance and operations, which includes teacher and staff salaries.
$32.6 million for capital needs, which pays for everything from replacing old desks to buying new curriculum to maintaining buildings. Capital funding will be fully funded this year for the first time in more than a decade since the state slashed that funding source after the Great Recession.
$63.7 million for desegregation programs, a funding source collected from local property taxes in response to the district’s decades-old court case.
$72.4 million from the second federal coronavirus stimulus package for a host of items, including nearly $8 million for school buses, $12.3 million for counselors and social workers, $6.16 million for academic interventionists, $8.16 million for summer school and $2.4 million for Tucson Unified Virtual Academy — the district’s new online school.
The governing board is expected to vote to officially adopt the budget at the July 13 governing board meeting following a public hearing.
Districts to receive $290M in virus aide
Tucson’s major school districts are set to receive more than $290 million from The American Rescue Plan, passed by Congress in March.
The third federal stimulus package in response to the coronavirus pandemic included more than $2.3 billion to be allocated directly to school entities based on the percentage of their student body who come from low-income families.
Tucson Unified is set to receive nearly $173 million, which is more than any school district in the state.
Schools are required to use at least 20% of the funding to address learning gaps using evidence-based academic and social-emotional learning strategies.
School districts are currently deciding how to spend this one-time funding source. They can use the funds through Sept. 30, 2024.
Pima County’s nine major school districts will receive the following amounts:
Amphitheater — $29 million
Catalina Foothills — $2.3 million
Flowing Wells — $11.85 million
Marana — $10.8 million
Sahuarita — $3.4 million
Sunnyside — $53.3 million
Tanque Verde — $959,000
Tucson Unified — $172.9 million
Vail — $5.5 million
