KYRENE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL DISTRICT GOVERNING BOARD

Plan A

Position statement for unification Plan A combining Kyrene Elementary,
Tempe Elementary and Tempe Union into one K-12 district. 

After careful study and consideration of expected educational impacts, relevant research and parent/community input, The Kyrene Elementary School District Governing Board finds that Plan A, (3 into 1 unification), proposed by the School District Redistricting Commission, would not be in the best interests of Kyrene’s children for the following reasons:

§       While a K-12 system would allow one school district to follow students through thirteen years of school, the current three-district structure enhances school choice by allowing each district to address the specific, unique and age appropriate needs of our children.

§        The relevant academic and scientific research, (see exhibit I), does not suggest that a school district like Kyrene could expect either improved academic achievement or greater efficiency through unification. On the contrary, the disruption and distraction of the process could have the opposite effect.

§        The unfunded cost of aligning salary schedules, (estimated at $8 million), would necessitate increases in class sizes and reductions in educational programs and teacher and student support services.

§        The uncertainty about the future availability of Career Ladder Funds, ($3.9 million/ year), cannot be appropriately addressed by the SDRC.

§        The uncertainty about the future of and tax implication for desegregation funds, ($13 million/year), currently available to TD3 cannot be appropriately addressed by the SDRC.

§        The time allocation of seven months provided for the new unified school district to be operational is not realistic given the size and complexity of the task.

§         The unfunded business/administrative costs associated with a merger of this size, (3 organizations, more than 4700 employees), would drain resources currently spent serving the educational needs of children.

§        The unfunded costs associated with aligning computer software and hardware. Tempe Union and Kyrene are currently PC-based and TD3 is Apple based. All three districts use different business, networking, and educational software.

§         The possibility of a combined health insurance plan was recently explored by a tri-district committee. This committee concluded that the cost to Kyrene would increase mostly due to Tempe Union and TD3 providing health insurance to retirees. Kyrene does not provide this benefit.

§        The Kyrene Community has expressed serious and valid concerns about the very large size of the school district created by this plan, (44,000 students, 56 schools). A district of this size is contrary to the relevant research and the original district size goals of the SDRC.

§        The probable diversion of resources, (Title I funds), from Kyrene schools to TD3 schools due to federal requirements for the dispersal of these funds.

§         The curriculum in Kyrene, Tempe Union and TD3 is aligned with the Arizona State Standards, as required by law. We currently work together to articulate curriculum and ease transitions for students, (see exhibit E).

§        The Kyrene School District is currently one of most efficient school districts in Arizona, based on the Auditor General’s reports for the percent of funding in the classroom and the percent in administrative costs, (see exhibits G and H). We continually strive to maximize dollars spent in the classroom.

§        The two or three school districts in question already have numerous cooperative initiatives in place and continually explore new possibilities to reduce business costs, (see exhibit E).

The years of disruption and distraction from our mission and the reallocation of resources that would be required to accomplish unification would seriously impair our ability to provide the quality education that Kyrene’s children deserve and that our community expects, therefore we cannot support this unification plan.

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Plan B

Position statement for unification Plan B that creates two K-12
districts along the current elementary boundaries.

After careful study and consideration of expected educational impacts, relevant research and parent/community input, The Kyrene Elementary School District Governing Board finds that Plan B, (3 into 2 unification), proposed by the School District Redistricting Commission, would not be in the best interests of Kyrene’s children for the following reasons:

§        While a K-12 system would allow one school district to follow students through thirteen years of school, the current three-district structure enhances school choice by allowing each district to address the specific, unique and age appropriate needs of our children.

§        The relevant academic and scientific research, (see exhibit I), does not suggest that a school district like Kyrene could expect either improved academic achievement or greater efficiency through unification. On the contrary, the disruption and distraction of the process could have the opposite effect.

§        The lack of adequate high school facilities in the Kyrene K-12 district because currently approximately 700 Kyrene students attend Marcos de Niza High School that would be part of the TD3 K-12 district.

§        The disruption to high school communities, particularly Marcos de Niza, created by the need to change high school boundaries.

§        The unfunded cost of aligning salary schedules, (estimated at $3.5 million), would necessitate increases in class sizes and reductions in educational programs and teacher and student support services.

§         The uncertainty about the future availability of Career Ladder Funds, ($3.9 million/ year), cannot be appropriately addressed by the SDRC.

§         The time allocation of seven months provided for the new unified district to be operational is not realistic given the size and complexity of the task.

§         The unfunded business/administrative costs associated with a merger of this size,
(2 organizations, approximately 2900 employees), would drain resources currently spent serving the educational needs of children.

§        The unfunded costs associated with aligning computer software and systems, Tempe Union and Kyrene are both currently PC-based but use different business, networking, and educational software.

§         The curriculum in both school districts is aligned with the Arizona State Standards, as required by law. We currently work together to articulate curriculum and ease transitions for students, (see exhibit E).

§         The Kyrene School District is already one of most efficient school districts in Arizona, based on the Auditor General’s reports for the percent of funding in the classroom and the percent in administrative costs (see exhibits G and H). We continually strive to maximize dollars spent in the classroom.

§        The two or three districts in question have numerous cooperative initiatives in place and continually explore new possibilities to reduce business costs, (see exhibit E).

§        The possibility of a combined health insurance plan was recently explored by a tri-district committee. This committee concluded that the cost to Kyrene would increase mostly due to Tempe Union and TD3 providing health insurance for retirees. Kyrene does not provide this benefit.

 The years of disruption and distraction from our mission and the reallocation of resources that would be required to accomplish unification would seriously impair our ability to provide the quality education that Kyrene’s children deserve and our community expects, therefore we cannot support this unification plan.

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Exhibit A

Elements Considered Regarding the Impact of  Redistricting Schools

Download printable PDF:  Exhibit A

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Exhibit B

 Kyrene School District Redistricting Overview

Kyrene School District is one of many school districts throughout the state of Arizona that is being considered for redistricting by the School District Redistricting Commission (SDRC). According to the SDRC web site, the role of the commission is to review all current common school districts that are not part of a unified school district and consider combining these common school districts into a new unified district or combining common school districts with a union high school district to create unified districts that offer instruction to students in programs for preschool children with disabilities and kindergarten programs and grades one through twelve. The Commission’s recommendations may include enlarging or diminishing the size of affected school districts but shall also include unorganized territories within recommended unified districts where practicable. The Commission may also determine that an existing common school district should remain a common school district and not be included in a new unified school district recommendation. The Commission shall consider the recommendations of the governing boards of the affected school districts and then design and submit to the Governor on or before December 31, 2007.

Current Plans affecting Kyrene School District

Plan A - This plan combines Kyrene School District, Tempe Elementary School District and Tempe Union High School District into one unified district. This plan would have a total enrollment of 44,425 (enrollment from the Auditor General’s Report).

Plan B - This plan creates two unified districts. The boundary would be drawn along the current elementary boundary, which is Guadalupe Road.

« District “A” would include Tempe Elementary School District and Tempe, McClintock, Compadre, Marcos de Niza and Peggy Payne Academy High Schools. This district would have a total enrollment of approximately 19,207 (enrollment from the Auditor General’s Report and the Tempe Union web site.)

« District “B” would include Kyrene School District and Desert Vista, Mountain Pointe and Corona del Sol High Schools. This district would have an enrollment of approximately 25,548 (enrollment from the Auditor General’s Report and the Tempe Union web site)

Research and related links can be found at www.ade.az.gov/sdrc

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Exhibit C

Kyrene School District Redistricting: Frequently Asked Questions

Some questions are not able to be answered at this time.  Many issues surrounding this topic will require the attention of the newly configured district’s Governing Board.

Q.   What size will a three-into-one consolidated district be?

A.   Approximately 48,000 students (based on current enrollment), and geographically it will
range from south Scottsdale to Levine.

Q.     Will there be any additional funding for these initiatives?

A.   Currently, the only funding that will be made available is to assist with signage and letterhead.

Q.   What percentage of the budget is spent on current administrative costs for the three districts?

A.   Kyrene = 7.3%, Tempe Elementary = 9.4%, Tempe Union = 8.9% (from the Arizona Auditor General’s report — Administrative costs include all district office personnel, information technology services and school administration)
 

Q.   What percentage of the budget is in the classroom?

A.    Kyrene =64%, Tempe Elementary = 55.5%, Tempe Union = 59.6% (from the Arizona Auditor General’s report — This includes classroom personnel, supplies, textbooks, software, films, fieldtrips, athletics, choir, band and orchestra)
 

Q.   What is the state ranking for classroom dollars?

A.   Kyrene = 8, Tempe Elementary = 109, Tempe Union = 52
 (from the Arizona Auditor General’s report)
 

Q.   Where will the money come from to equalize salary schedules?

A.   This will be determined by the new Governing Board/s. Money could come from increasing class size or cutting programs.

Q.   What will happen to Career Ladder funding for Kyrene teachers?

A.   Although the answer is uncertain, it can be presumed that Kyrene would either lose career ladder funding or have current funding spread out over more teachers, resulting in less funding per individual teacher.

Q.   Will Kyrene’s Title I schools see a decrease in funding?

A.   In the unification of three districts into one, it is assumed that the schools receiving Title I funding in Kyrene would no longer receive it because the funding would be shifted to the schools with greater need currently within Tempe Elementary boundaries.

Q.   What will the new Governing Board look like with the 3 into 1 plan?

A.    For the first two years there will be a 15 member Board. Nine will be from within the boundaries of the Tempe Elementary School District and six from within the Kyrene School District.  After two years, a new five member board would be elected.

Q.     What are the current boundaries between the two elementary districts?

A.      Guadalupe Road serves as the current boundary between Tempe Elementary and Kyrene Elementary. Tempe Union has high schools in both elementary districts. In a three-into-two district scenario, the districts would be divided along the current elementary school boundary.

Q.   What high school would be a part of the Kyrene system?

A.    In the event of a 3 into 2 unification, the high schools would be Corona, Mountain Pointe and Desert Vista High Schools.

Q.   Would new boundaries be established due to the crowded high schools?

A.    The new Governing Board would make this decision. It is important to take note that enrollment in grades K-8 is declining and this would be passed along to the high schools as the students move through the system.

Q.   What size will a Kyrene three-into-two consolidated district be? 

A.    Approximately 25, 548 students (based on current enrollment).

Q.    What will the new Governing Board look like with the 3 into 2 plan?

A.    For the first two years Kyrene will have a six member Board, the members of the current Kyrene board and Mr. Don Kueth from Ahwatukee who sits on the Tempe Union Board. Tempe will have a nine member board consisting of the five current members of the Tempe Elementary board and the four members of Tempe Union who reside in north Tempe.

Q.    Will there be a change in the diversity at any of the schools?

A.    99% of the schools will maintain their current demographics. Corona High School is the exception and will see a more diverse student population.

Q.    Why don’t the three Governing Boards (Kyrene, Tempe Elementary and Tempe Union) join forces to figure out how redistricting can work?

A.    Currently, there is no statute that allows Governing Boards from separate districts to reach a collective or aggregate decision. Each Governing Board exists only as a separate and distinct public body.  The School District Redistricting Commission work plan specifies that each individual Governing Board should provide a response about the proposed plans.

Exhibit D

Kyrene School District Redistricting Financial FAQs

What happens to the ability to use Career Ladder?

The State has indicated that if existing school districts are unifying and they had participated in the career ladder program, the state board of education must expedite the processing of, and may approve an updated application for, program re-approval for the new unified district that includes the former school district that was participating in the program (ARS 15-458g9). This assumes that the State would increase the amount of Career Ladder funding across the state. All indications from the state demonstrate that no additional funding will actually be provided to the Career Ladder program. Further, the state board will require that a strong majority of teachers in the new unified district support the Career Ladder program and would be required to continue without additional funding.  This would mean that the same funding would be spread out over a much larger group of teachers, resulting in a considerably less per individual teacher.

 How much does Kyrene receive from the Career Ladder Program?

          FY 2007: $3,920,541

How much additional compensation do teachers who currently participate in
Career Ladder receive?

           Level 1: $1,038-$2,075 (Residency Level)
           Level 2: $3,925-$4,425 (Experience Level)
           Level 3: $5,450-$6,350 (Career Level)

**85% of all Kyrene teachers participate in Career Ladder

If Career Ladder is lost, how much will Kyrene’s M&O and K-3 override decrease?

           Kyrene Override Totals:

           K-3 Override: $196,027
           M&O Override: $392,054
           Total Override Loss: $588,081
           Equivalent to the funding cost of 11.40 FTE Teachers.

What happens to existing overrides?

On formation of a unified school district, any existing override authorization of the former high school district and the former common school district or districts continues until expiration based on the budget limit of the school district or districts that had override authorization prior to unification.  The unified school district may request new override authorization for the budget year based on the budget limit of the new district after unification.  This will replace any existing override for the budget year.

Why do teacher salary schedules have to be ‘unified’? How will this be accomplished and
what will it cost?

In Arizona, all school districts have different salary schedules for teachers and teachers within a given school district are paid according to the same schedule, regardless of what grade level they teach.  By statute teacher pay cannot be reduced, so all teacher salaries in the new unified district would have to be brought up to the highest salary schedule in the unifying districts.  

The new Governing Board, for the unified school district, would have to approve a transition plan to a new ‘unified’ salary schedule. It is not unreasonable to expect that there would be considerable pressure for this to be handled expeditiously.  Without knowing exactly what the transition plan will be it’s difficult to determine exact cost, but some reasonable assumptions can be made to estimate costs.

Assumptions: It will cost $354 to bring Tempe Elementary starting schedule to KSD multiplied by 1006 teachers for a total estimated cost of $356,124.  Then it will take an additional $3,252 to bring each of the Kyrene and Tempe Elementary teachers (2,056) to the starting point of Tempe Union’s salary schedule for a total of $6,686,112.  The estimated total cost to equalize all salary scheduled based on these assumptions plus the required 17.77% for benefits is $7,042,236 + $1,251,405 = $8,293,641.  This would assume that teachers on the Tempe Union High School District salary schedule, currently the highest schedule, would remain frozen until all teacher pay is equalized.
Estimated cost to equalize salary schedules: $8,293,641.

Of course there are many other ways that could possibly be utilized to equalize the salary schedules.  
This is one example based on starting teacher pay for each salary schedule.

What would happen to Kyrene’s Title I funding and program?

The school district receives its Title I allocation based on 5-17 year old community poverty data. Once the allocation is made to the school district, then the district determines which schools qualify for Title I services then allocates resources based on a per pupil allocation.  Schools are considered ‘eligible’ if their poverty data (free/reduced lunch percentage) is equal or greater than the district wide average. Currently, Kyrene allocates to the top six schools with the greatest percentage of free and reduced lunch students. In the unification of three districts into one, it is assumed that the schools currently within Kyrene’s boundaries would no longer receive Title I funding because the funding would be shifted to the schools with greater need currently within Tempe Elementary boundaries.  Because the northern Tempe schools have a greater poverty rate, resources currently dedicated to southern Tempe, Chandler and Ahwatukee schools would no longer be available.  Below is a break down of the Title I allocations made by school.
 

What are the business costs associated with unification?  Will the state provide additional, short term funding to offset these costs?

We are working to estimate these costs.  Since the three districts use different systems for human resources, financial accounting, network infrastructure, transportation management, and textbook/library management tracking, considerable resources will be required for software acquisition, implementation and training to unify the entire organization with common systems. In Kyrene, the annual cost for maintenance agreements for such programs exceeds $1,300,000 a year.  It is assumed that to unify these systems there would be much greater costs.

The Redistricting Commission asked the legislature to provide additional, short-term, funding to offset some of the costs associated with unification. At this writing, the legislature has not demonstrated any inclination to provide additional funds.

Administrative Costs:

With Kyrene currently well below state and national averages for % of dollars used for admin, it is anticipated that any unification plan will INCREASE dollars spent for admin to educate the same Kyrene students. You can draw this conclusion by comparing Kyrene’s admin cost % with that of current, large unified districts. These current large unified districts spend anywhere from .6% to 1.8% more for admin than Kyrene. Another way to draw this conclusion is to see what a “blended” admin % would look like with the three Tempe districts.  Currently the range of admin % for the three districts is 7.3% to 9.4%.  A proportional admin cost average for a unified scenario is 8.4%. Based on these historical spending rates for large unified districts and the three Tempe districts, it is estimated that the admin costs to educate the same Kyrene students will increase by 1%. This increase equates to spending $1 million more dollars on admin costs to educate the 17,000 Kyrene students.

Health Care:

The three Tempe districts completed an analysis of pooling the employees into one health care plan.  The result did not show a significant cost savings for a unified plan. The study concluded that because most of the plan costs were from claims and a very small % from administering the plan, the estimated efficiencies were minimal. The unified plan was a cost savings for TUHSD but showed an increased cost for Kyrene and Tempe Elementary districts.  Further, TUHSD and Tempe Elementary currently provide health insurance to many retirees at considerable costs to their district (estimated at $1,000,000 for TUHSD and $1,500,000 for Tempe Elementary)

Where can more information about unification be found?

www.ade.az.gov/sdrc/

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Exhibit E

Tri- District Articulation

▪   Curriculum

▪   Performances (band, chorus, orchestra) 

▪   Clubs, Athletics and Activities (groups form, high schools routinely visit the middle schools to educate students about extra curricular activities) 

▪   Calendars

▪   Print Shop Resources

▪   Copy Repair 

▪   CASS Writing with Tempe Elementary District

▪   Training individuals to provide staff development to teachers in the area of six
Traits of Writing

▪   Coordination with Spanish teachers to revise test that is used to place students at the
appropriate level

▪   Math teachers meet regionally

▪   Music articulation group has been formed with a goal of program expansion

▪   Combined training (MAX teaching, combining literacy and content)

▪   Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment for Tempe Union High School District is a member of the Kyrene Music and Fine Arts Association

▪   Director of Curriculum and Assessment for Kyrene School District is a non-voting member of the Tempe Union High School Curriculum Council

▪   Members of the Curriculum and Assessment Department for Kyrene School District have regular meetings with their counterparts in Tempe Elementary and Tempe Union High School Districts in the area of Language Arts

§   Members of the Curriculum and Assessment Department in the area of Math/Science for Kyrene School District meet with their counterparts in Tempe Elementary and Union High School District 

Tri- district articulation began in Mathematics many years ago and has been ongoing. The original purpose of the articulation was to ensure proper placement and identification of Algebra students. Since that time Geometry has been added to the course taught by the Kyrene School District for high school credit. The Kyrene Elementary School District has an articulated agreement for awarding credit and class rank points for individual students. The articulated agreement also determines the placement level of the subsequent math class. The articulation meetings have expanded in scope to include discussion about the transition if all eight graders to the Tempe Union High School District. Meetings are generally held once per year. These meeting are organized by Suzi Mast along with a high school counterpart.

Language Arts articulation began several years ago due to the successful communication between the Math Departments. These meetings occur annually and are scheduled by region. The discussions at these meetings tend to focus on curriculum, resources and achievement. There is no credit offered for Advanced Language Arts. Tempe Union High School District has an in-house procedure for placing students in Honors classes. These meetings are organized by Nancy southern along with a high school counterpart.

Formal Spanish Articulation began several years ago. These meetings have been more frequent in nature due to the revisions of the High School Spanish Test. The Kyrene Elementary School District has an articulated agreement for awarding credit for Spanish ½. The articulated agreement also determines the placement level of the subsequent Spanish class. These meetings are organized by Theresa Sweeney, the Kyrene School District Spanish Mentor along with a high school counterpart.

In the advent of the new Social Studies State Standard articulation began last year. Discussions at the meeting focused on curriculum. These meetings are organized by Joy Fogarty along with a high school counterpart.

Fine Arts articulation specifically for band, chorus, and orchestra began last spring. The purpose of the fist meeting was to develop agreements on high school access to students and ways to increase student enrollment. The first meeting was organized by Theresa Sweeney and Cecilia Johnson, Director of Curriculum and Assessment for the Tempe Union High School District.

It is expected that all groups will continue to meet during the 2007-2008 school year. In addition, Theresa Sweeney meets monthly with Cecilia Johnson for ongoing communication regarding all transition issues.

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Exhibit F

Breakdown of Maintenance & Operations Dollars

Budget Year 2005-06*