The Tucson Unified School District Governing Board voted 4-0 with one abstention Tuesday night to let the voters decide this fall to raise teacher pay and fund district programs.
A $45 million budget override funded by property taxes will go before voters on the Nov. 4 ballot.
At Tuesday night’s meeting, Superintendent Gabriel Trujillo and board members Ravi Shah, Sadie Shaw, Natalie Luna Rose and President Jennifer Eckstrom all spoke in support of the override package. Board member Val Romero expressed worry and said while he agrees with his colleagues, he has heard public concerns, which led to his abstention.
Trujillo made the case to the board as he broke down the override.
“We are struggling to compete,” Trujillo said. “Our first charge is to invest in our people. … This is a transformational package that can change the face of this district like never before.”
Trujillo cited other districts including Flowing Wells, Marana and Catalina Foothills, which all offer higher average teacher pay than TUSD. The average TUSD teacher salary pay was $56,898 for this past school year, according to its website. That’s up 3% from 2024 – but it’s 21% below the national average.
The override proposal includes a 4% raise for certified teachers and combines two key priorities from the district and the Tucson Education Association, the labor union which represents teachers and most other classified employees: Provide immediate raises to make teacher pay more competitive, and increase long-term career earnings with increases to steps in the salary schedule to retain educators.
It also aims to preserve and expand programs like art, music and PE and increase reading and math specialists, counselors, librarians, social workers and add new pre-K classrooms and career and technology specialists.
TUSD, with about 40,000 students in 88 schools, is the third-largest district in the state and the only one in metro Tucson without a current override in place. It last had one over 30 years ago. The TUSD override will cost the district $1 million to conduct the all-mail election.
Overrides are typically approved for seven years and funded with property taxes. Under the TUSD override, the average homeowner within the district would pay about $200 a year more on a home valued at $200,000, based on a proposed increase of $1.02 per $100 of net assessed valuation.
The proposed override package equals 15% of the district’s revenue control limit — the maximum budget calculated by state funding formulas. It would generate a maximum of about $45 million a year in the first five years, followed by $30 million in year six and $15 million in year seven. Districts typically go back to voters to renew an override in years four or five.
From sculpting, drawing and crocheting to the moon
Four questions with: Valedictorian Roselyn Dorrell of Morenci High School and the first ever Flinn Scholar from Greenlee County. Morenci is about 175 miles northeast of Tucson. The high school has about 400 students. Roselyn, is one of 20 Flinn Scholars across the state, earning a full four-year tuition and fees scholarship. The 18-year-old will attend the University of Arizona next fall.
Q: What do you aim to study at the UA? Why?
A: I am aiming to study aerospace engineering and astrophysics at the UofA. I love space, and I love building things. I want to be able to streamline space travel, making it more efficient and affordable! I also want to make significant bounds in understanding space physics.
Q: What does earning the Flinn mean for you?
A: Earning the Flinn means so much to me. With the Flinn, I am given the opportunity to pursue my dreams and passions in ways that were never allotted to me in my rural town. Already I have met so many new people, discovered new things, and found myself planning for a future that I wondered was possible. With the Flinn Scholarship, I am able to chase my dreams to new heights, and I have found endless support in the Scholar community in doing so.
Q: Best piece of advice you’ve gotten and from whom?
A: The best piece of advice that I have gotten is from my grandpa when he said, “Do the hard things, because those are the things that really count.” His advice echoes a quote from President Kennedy that I have hanging up on my wall, which says, “We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.” It is a reminder that the things that are worth the most in life are hard to get. Hard work is the most important ingredient in success. I will choose to do the hard things, to do the things that challenge me, because they are worth so much to me.
Q: What do you do for fun/to escape/as brain candy?
A: I love to draw and crochet for fun! I draw as often as possible, essentially every moment that I am free. I do anything that I can create something with! I sculpt with clay, carve wood, make stamps, paint, play guitar, etc.. Creating and building things is something that I enjoy very much.
Flowing Wells makes history
The Flowing Wells High School class of 2025 made history this month, when more than 160 students earned scholarships totaling more than $9 million.
The $9,079,162 is the highest scholarship dollar total in the school’s 71-year history.
The Caballeros will have scholarship students at schools across the state, including the University of Arizona, Northern Arizona, Arizona State, Grand Canyon and Pima Community College.
Read the white board
School bond vs. school overrides: A budget override must be approved by school district voters, and the override allows that district to increase property taxes to generate a specific amount of money for a specified amount of time — seven years — to be used for a distinct purpose.
Override money cannot be used for capital costs, like buildings or equipment.
When voters approve a budget override, they’re agreeing to pay higher property taxes so schools have more money to spend than they would under the state’s regular school budgeting formula. Almost all school districts in Pima County currently have an override in place, some for decades, while others have gone to voters for more money and been denied.
Bond money comes from bond sales and is repaid over time. They can fund new schools, building and safety improvements, technology and buses. In November 2023, voters approved TUSD’s 10-year, $480 million bond measure to renovate aging schools and update security and safety systems, technology and vehicles.
Learn more about the override
TUSD may ask voters to decide on teacher raises, other funding this fall
When Jessica Ramirez-Perea stepped into a first grade classroom nearly 25 years ago, a new world awaited her. She spoke Spanish only. She had moved hundreds of miles to Tucson from her native California, where her parents were migrant farm workers. What she discovered… Keep reading
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