The Tucson Unified School District Governing Board voted unanimously Tuesday night on nearly $10 million in budget cuts for the coming fiscal year targeting programs across the district from transportation to fine arts and school safety.
The district says it needs to cut $10 million next fiscal year and $27 million by 2030.
The cuts — across 40 departments include 3% for fine arts, interscholastics (sports), exceptional education, facilities, school safety and 9% for all other departments — were discussed over the last six weeks. Tuesday featured the board’s final analysis after a 12-day public comment period that resulted in about 950 staff, students and families anonymously contributing their views on the cuts via email.
The feedback crystalized public priorities, Chief Financial Officer Ricky Hernández said at Tuesday’s board meeting.
“Ultimately the takeaway is simple,” he said. “Cut the system before cutting services. And that’s frankly how we structured our plan.
“People want not to talk just about cuts, but they want to talk about trust. They want to talk about fairness, and they want to talk about student impact,” Hernández said. “The key takeaway is that acceptance depends more on how we implement, than the plan itself. So they really want us to provide them the process. People also want to know more about transparency in our reduction process.”
The feedback included the voices of about 60 students. And they did not hold back.
The survey asked for a list of specific programs that are foundational. One student replied:
“Fine Arts, Language Acquisition, Student Placement and Enrollment,” they wrote. “These are things that I find very important to both myself and many other students I am aware of. If you were to rid of these, I fear I risk needing to unenroll or might begin to fail my classes…”
A TUSD family used all the survey’s blank spaces to say “Do not reduce school spending.”
The word “arts” appeared 458 times in the survey responses, “sports” only 18 times and “transportation” 176. “Bus” was listed 70 times.
Much of the transportation savings comes from vacancies — positions like bus drivers and bus monitors — which were already open because of declining ridership due to lower enrollment.
Currently TUSD has 158 routes with 166 drivers with 10-15% absent on any given day, TUSD Transportation Director Martha Zamora said Tuesday night.
Preschool scholarships on tap
Funding preschool for up to 90 students is in the first wave of allocated money approved by voters in last November’s $45 million override.
“Tonight kicks off override implementation season,” TUSD Superintendent Gabriel Trujillo told the board, which voted unanimously to fund $600,000 in preschool scholarships.
Between 50 and 90 preschoolers can use the scholarships in TUSD’s programs for about five years, said Reem Kievit, senior director of community schools and preschool programs.
The original override proposal included opening five new preschool classrooms. But the option approved Tuesday can save up to $450,000 in start-up costs and staffing shortages by using existing classrooms, district officials say.
TUSD has about 28 students on a scholarship waitlist and scholarships will vary depending on family need, Kievit said.
TUSD’s community preschools include students from ages 3 to 5 and cost about $140 a week for half-day, $180 for full day and extended day is about $235 a week. Community preschools are at five sites throughout the Tucson area.
Read the whiteboard
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