The Sedona-Oak Creek School District will be moving forward to renew its existing 15% maintenance and operations budget override on the Tuesday, Nov. 7 ballot.
“The state of Arizona sets their [education] budget, and then allocates that back out to the school districts, and tells us what our base level support is. This year, that increase is 2.92%,” SOCSD director of finance and human resources Stacy Saravo said. “Then the M&O override is funding that we will be asking for our community to support in order to augment some of these programs, which would be an addition to the budget that the state has approved.”
The override requires voter approval and the requested override amount is estimated to be $841,695. This would be funded by an estimated annual tax rate of $11.72 per $100,000 valuation, which is approximately equal to the current tax rate levied for the existing override.
This is not an additional tax or levy and the board estimates it will represent about $53.39 in taxes on a home with an average value of $455,500. According to local Realtor Roy Grimm, the May 2023 median listing price of a home in Sedona is $1.13 million, so the override would cost $132.44 per home.
M&O overrides can be authorized for up to seven years. If the override passes at the November election, it would take effect in fiscal year 2024-25. If the override is rejected by voters, the current override would be phased out over the next two years, with a 33% reduction in the first year followed by a 67% cut the next year.
SOCSD Superintendent Dennis Dearden said working to get an override approved by voters was among his first tasks when he took over the district in 2018. The override passed by 57.2% for the amount of $832,464. His eventual successor, who is anticipated to be selected during the summer, will be responsible for seeing the next override to the polls.
“[It] basically means you can go to the public, which we have every six years, to request an override of up to 15% of our budget,” Dearden said. “We use it for full-day kindergarten, our arts program, music, attracting and retaining teachers, technology initiatives and physical education. Without that, it’s about $860,000, which would be a huge impact to our district.”
SOCSD’s total 2022-23 budget is $6.68 million.
“Eighty-five percent of our budget as a whole goes directly to salary,” Saravo said. “That leaves not a lot on the table left to pay for the day-to-day operations. So in order to give ample increases to our staff, that’s mainly where we need the budget override, to keep our salaries appealing to staff and to prospective teachers.”
While the district has filled nearly all of its teaching positions for the fall of 2023, it is still interviewing for an English language learner teacher and a behavioral intervention specialist. District-wide, SOCSD is looking to hire coaches and school bus drivers and has begun accepting applications to fill the district superintendent position.
Saravo attributes the near-full staffing to high morale, low turnover and few retirements this school year. The average salary of all of SOCSD’s teachers is $45,882, an increase from an average of $44,022 last year, which helps keep classroom size low.
The override also supports full-day kindergarten for Sedona children, which fills a budget gap because the state of Arizona only provides funding for half-day kindergarten.
“Then programs such as art, music and physical education, those are curricular activities, we are able to fund those positions out of the override,” Saravo added. “[And it also] supports a one-to-one Chromebook per student ratio, ensuring that we have up-to-date computers and technology for our staff to use as well.”
The deadline to submit arguments for or against the override to the Yavapai County School Superintendent’s Office is Friday, Aug. 11.