The stage was carefully set for Tucson Unified School Superintendent H.T. Sanchez to make his attack on the district’s substitute teachers, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, and the Arizona Legislature at Tuesday night’s Board meeting. As he took to the podium to address the Governing Board, a member of the crack public relations team sprinted into action to catch the action on video.
At issue was Sanchez’s claim that the Legislature passed Governor Ducey’s budget leaving the District in the red. However, after making it clear that he did not support Ducey’s budget, board member Mark Stegeman, pointed out that Sanchez’s own elaborate Power Point presentation did not reflect cuts, but in fact showed that the district will receive approximately $100,000 more than expected.
Stegeman urged the Superintendent to be honest about the numbers. “After we’ve lost enrollment it is almost breakeven,” said Stegeman. “We have not experienced a bunch of cuts.”
According to one district insider, the net changes in state budget funding for TUSD for the upcoming fiscal year, compared to last year are, roughly:
Inflation-based increase in base level: + 3.5 million
Down payment on 301 litigation settlement: +3.2 million
Loss of Brewer’s student success funding: -0.8 million
Reduction in DAA (capital funding): -5.8 million.
Essentially it is a wash, but the district is paid per child and children are fleeing. The cost of flight is approximately $4.6 million. The district currently has a $6- $7 million operating deficit, which is depleting the district’s cash.
Controversy erupted in the district after Sanchez unilaterally decided that the district would contract out the hiring of substitute teachers in order to avoid requirements by the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). Despite the fact that her father Congressman Raul Grijalva is a staunch supporter of Obamacare of Sanchez’s scheme, TUSD Board President Adelita Grijalva ran interference for Sanchez when he was challenged by board members Stegeman and Michael Hicks.
For years, the district has used long-term substitute teachers due to problems with the hiring process. The use of substitutes keeps some costs down due to the fact that they are cheaper than highly qualified teachers.
During a video review of his “strategic plan,” Sanchez boasted about the district’s performance on Facebook and other social media applications.
Michael Hicks said after the meeting, “So the district lost $4.6 million in declining enrollment and received $3.5 million in inflation money and is proposing $6 million in cuts in addition to the $3.2 million in outsourcing savings. That’s in addition to using more than $5 million in deseg. Add all these numbers and that equals Mr. Awwad’s projections last fall. Sanchez is admitting that Mr. Awwad was right by saying that Ms. Soto had been planning for it since last October. Why is no one else calling him on it? He has been saying the district had millions in surplus.”
The district’s former Superintendent, just two and a half years ago asked the board to consider exploring the cost to outsource some positions. At that time, the board majority expressed opposition to even the thought of outsourcing, now Sanchez is doing it without board approval. Board member Kristel Foster said she would like to avoid using the word “outsourcing” as it has negative connotations.
With tight control of the Board, Sanchez appears to be confident that he will go unchallenged by the majority of the board. They will approve anything he proposes and question nothing he says.
According to Stegeman and Hicks, in this year’s report from the external auditors (Heinfeld Meech) includes interesting employment trends. In the four years from FY 2010 (Fagen’s last year) to FY 2014, there has been a dramatic change in the number of TUSD employees in different categories:
Central administrators: +36%
Teachers: -17%
Facilities maintenance: -21%
Custodians: -27%
Counselors: -35%
Librarians: -69%
