A. The superintendent of public instruction in conjunction with the auditor general shall prepare and prescribe a budget format to be used by all school districts.

Terms Used In Arizona Laws 15-903

  • Adult: means a person who has attained eighteen years of age. See Arizona Laws 1-215
  • Budget year: means the fiscal year for which the school district is budgeting and that immediately follows the current year. See Arizona Laws 15-901
  • Charter school: means a public school established by contract with the state board of education, the state board for charter schools, a university under the jurisdiction of the Arizona board of regents, a community college district or a group of community college districts pursuant to article 8 of this chapter to provide learning that will improve pupil achievement. See Arizona Laws 15-101
  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Current year: means the fiscal year in which a school district is operating. See Arizona Laws 15-901
  • Governing board: means a body organized for the government and management of the schools within a school district or a county school superintendent in the conduct of an accommodation school. See Arizona Laws 15-101
  • including: means not limited to and is not a term of exclusion. See Arizona Laws 1-215
  • Property: includes both real and personal property. See Arizona Laws 1-215
  • School district: means a political subdivision of this state with geographic boundaries organized for the purpose of the administration, support and maintenance of the public schools or an accommodation school. See Arizona Laws 15-101
  • Subject: means a division or field of organized knowledge, such as English or mathematics, or a selection from an organized body of knowledge for a course or teaching unit, such as the English novel or elementary algebra. See Arizona Laws 15-101

B. The budget format shall be designed to allow all school districts to plan and provide in detail for using available monies. The budget format shall contain distinct sections for, but need not be limited to, maintenance and operation, debt service, special projects, capital outlay, adjacent ways and classroom site fund. The maintenance and operation section shall include, but need not be limited to, separate subsections for regular education programs, special education programs and operational expenditures for pupil transportation. Each subsection shall clearly distinguish classroom instruction expenditures. The special education program subsection shall include a subtotal for the disability classifications as defined in section 15-761 and programs for gifted, vocational and technical education, remedial education and bilingual students. The total expenditures for each of these programs shall be included on the budget form. The pupil transportation subsection shall include all operational expenditures relating to transporting pupils, including all operational expenditures within a contract if the school district contracts for pupil transportation.

C. The capital outlay section of the budget shall include a subsection for unrestricted capital outlay. The unrestricted capital outlay subsection shall include budgeted expenditures for acquisitions by purchase, lease-purchase or lease of capital items as defined in the uniform system of financial records and shall include:

1. Land, buildings and improvements to land and buildings, including labor and related employee benefits costs and material costs if work is performed by school district employees.

2. Furniture, furnishings, athletic equipment and other equipment, including computer software.

3. Pupil and nonpupil transportation vehicles and equipment, including all capital expenditures within a contract if the school district contracts for pupil transportation.

4. Textbooks and related printed subject matter materials adopted by the governing board.

5. Instructional aids.

6. Library books.

7. Payment of principal and interest on bonds.

8. School district administration emergency needs that are directly related to pupils.

D. The budget format shall contain distinct subsections for the following:

1. Special programs to improve academic achievement of pupils in kindergarten programs and grades one through three as provided in section 15-482.

2. School plant funds.

3. Capital outlay budget increases as provided in section 15-481.

4. Property taxation, including the following:

(a) The primary tax rates for the school district for the current year and the budget year.

(b) The secondary tax rates for maintenance and operation, K-3 and capital overrides for the school district for the current year and the budget year.

(c) The secondary tax rates for class A bonds for the school district for the current year and the budget year.

(d) The secondary tax rates for class B bonds for the school district for the current year and the budget year.

5. A description of any corrections or adjustments made to the budget pursuant to section 15-915.

E. The budget format shall also contain:

1. A statement identifying proposed pupil-teacher ratios and pupil-staff ratios relating to the provision of special education services for the budget year.

2. The prominent display of the average salary of all teachers employed by the school district for the current year. The school district shall also prominently post this information on its website home page separately from its budget.

3. The prominent display of the average salary of all teachers employed by the school district for the previous year. The school district shall also prominently post this information on its website home page separately from its budget.

4. The prominent display of the dollar increase in the average salary of all teachers employed by the school district for the current year. The school district shall also prominently post this information on its website home page separately from its budget.

5. The prominent display of the percentage increase in the average salary of all teachers employed by the school district for the current year. The school district shall also prominently post this information on its website home page separately from its budget.

F. The special projects section shall include budgeted expenditures for state special projects, including special adult projects, career education, deficiencies correction fund projects and new school facilities fund projects, such federal special projects as ESEA title programs, vocational education and title IV Indian education, and other special projects.

G. A school district shall not make expenditures for campaign literature associated with school district or charter school officials. If the superintendent of public instruction determines that a school district has violated this subsection, the superintendent of public instruction may withhold any portion of the school district’s apportionment of state aid.

H. The budget format shall include an electronic format that shall be submitted for each proposed, adopted and revised budget.

I. On or before November 30 of each year, the department of education shall electronically submit to the joint legislative budget committee and the governor’s office of strategic planning and budgeting a report that compiles the information required by subsection E, paragraphs 2 through 5 of this section for all school districts statewide.