Chandler Unified likely to seek override vote next year
Nov. 6—In the summer of 1980 a group of Arizona voters was hot over taxes. There was an anti-tax movement spreading across the U.S., inspired by the passage of Prop. 13 in California in 1978.
That law limited the increases in assessments of their property and cost the Golden State's cities and schools nearly $7 billion.
In Arizona, citizens decided to put their own measures on the ballot to limit government spending. Propositions 107, 108, and 109 aimed to cap how much cities, towns and school districts could spend. They all passed easily, in each case by about a 4-to-1 margin. About 250,000 people voted in that special election.
Arizona's population in 1980 was about 2.7 million people. Today, the population is about 7.5 million.
To cap spending, the amendments to the state constitution used formulas to come up with a number. However, those formulas were based on 1979 spending.
The formulas did allow for some increase because of population growth and inflation, but critics claimed it was not enough in the face of such rapid growth. It also did not account for changes in technology, which has increased costs for everyone.
Chandler's population in 1980 was about 30,000. Today, it's 280,000.
The actions of those 250,000 voters 44 years ago is why Arizona voters must return to the polls and grant permission for cities, towns and school districts to exceed those limits.
Chandler Unified School District residents will likely be asked for that authority next year in an override election.
Lana Berry, CUSD's chief financial officer, presented a state-mandated briefing to the Governing Board on where the district stands on bonds and override at the Oct. 23 study session.
There's a bond election in a few days where voters are being asked to approve borrowing $487 million in their names. What's new, Berry said, is that district officials will recommend the board approve an override election for 2025.
It's a new request, but not unexpected. The district has asked voters to approve the override every four years since 2013. Before that, they asked every fifth year starting in 2003. Voters have approved all the previous overrides.
The override election gives the district authority to exceed the limits by 15%. The authorization is good for seven years. However, districts ask voters to approve it every four or five years, because if they don't, cuts would be phased in during the sixth and seventh year.
In year six, they can only spend two-thirds of the override money. In year seven, it would be only a third of the override authorization.
"We do it every four years, and the reason for that is because if it fails, you do not have to immediately cut 5%, and then the following year another 5, and another 5," Berry said. "You have one more year to go back out to your voters."
The override is to the district's maintenance and operations budget. CUSD would have the money, but without voter approval, they could not spend the money.
Once the override is approved by voters, it replaces the previous override authorization. So the seven-year clock starts again. That is why the district returns every four years to ask again.
It's a similar problem for cities and towns, which must conduct a home rule election every four years so that they can exceed the limits placed by 1980 voters.
Arizona has been among the state's ranked lowest for funding education. Consumer Affairs ranked all 50 states and the District of Columbia for education funding for this year.
Arizona was ranked 51st based on four categories. K-12 performance; school funding and resources; higher education quality; and school safety.
Utah and Idaho spend less than Arizona per student, but ranked higher in the other categories in Consumer Affairs' ranking.
Across the country, the average per student spending for public elementary and secondary schools is $12,612. Arizona spends, on average, $8,770 per student.
New York spends the most per student at $24,040, about $15,000 more per student than Arizona.
