K-3 Money in Cave Creek Unified Schools

Tonight the board may vote on a call for election to renew the K-3 override. As you may or may not know, the state is now funding all day kindergarten. So where did the state kindergarten money go? Do it go to kindergarten? Do it go to reduce K-3 class size? Did it help pay for more teachers or aides at the elementary level?

No, the district in its infinite wisdom decided that since the budget was already set, they would take the state money earmarked for the kindergarten children and "provide additional salary increases across the board for certified, classified and administration." Yes, they took $600,000 to be spent in the classroom and gave some of it to administrators and non-instructional staff. So now the district is in a position that it must have the K-3 override renewed or teachers will have to be let go.

Brilliant!

Update: Looks like the meeting was last night and the board voted to put the K-3 on the November ballot. Best of luck to CCUSD.


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Excerpt from the CCUSD Governing Board minutes, 3/13/2007

3.1 K-3 Override Presentation – This item has been carried over two times. Copy of pamphlet language is not included tonight. Questions on how K3 Override money is being spent and whether or not it is being spent on items reflected in the election pamphlet was recently questioned. The budgeted amount is $868,039 for this year and it pays for 11.5 full time K teachers, 4.68 teacher aides and 5.0 instructional coaches (teachers). Professional development is also in there, along with $15,229 for capital expenditure. The list of schools and teachers tied to this funding was provided. M&O pays for ½ and K3 pays for ½ of the teacher’s salaries. This assists in the class size reduction. Dollars and how allocated were provided. Group B K weight money was discussed. Legislature at the last minute provided this money and by that time our budget was already decided and adopted. $622,203.31 is amount we are receiving this year. Allocation of that money was used to provide additional salary increases across the board for certified, classified and administration. Discussion: Member Clancy asked if this reduced class sizes throughout the District. Bulk of money is used for full day K, effect on class size overall is minimal. We added two teachers across five schools and six grade levels. The bond language called for paying for full day kindergarten first, reduce class size was second and third was to add additional assistance. Elementary class sizes are reduced to 20-22 students at K-3 level, which is reduced from 26. Ballot language said it “could be used.” As long as we are meeting any of the three, we meet the language of the ballot. K is at 21, some may be a little more if there are only a couple extra kids.