Prescott eNews

 

Chino Valley Unified School District Superintendent Duane Noggle announced the administration is considering a 4-Day School Week due to the pending State Budget shortfall and anticipated reduction in school funding. The Arizona Legislature forecasts a state budget shortfall in excess of $3 billion. School district budgets are heavily dependent on state funding, and many districts have already make cuts in personnel and programs to cover the budget reduction for next year.

 

Chino Valley School District’s M&O budget is $13,986,967. Already this year, the District has had to cut $285,281 from the budget because of cuts in the State funding for the 08-09 budget year. At this point, it is unknown as to how deep the knife will cut into next year’s budget, but estimate range a low of 2% to a high of 30%.

The consideration of 4-Day School Week is an effort to conserve resources by cutting one day of expenses such as transportation, utilities, and food-service. The District’s goal is to avoid laying off teachers and preserve educational programs and limit the increase in class sizes to a manageable number. Superintendent Noggle estimates Chino Valley School District could save 2 to 4 % of the overall M&O Budget by switching to a 4-day school week.

As required by law, two public hearings have been scheduled to gain parent and community input. The first hearing is scheduled on March 30^th at 6:00 p.m. and the second hearing is scheduled for April 13^th at 6:00 p.m. Parent or community members may express their opinion by taking the 4-day week survey which can be found at www.cvsd.k12.az.us. After the March 30^th hearing, a PowerPoint presentation will be posted to the District website and if you want to stay informed of how the District will be addressing the state budget shortfall, you may sign-up for the District Newsletter by sending an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and typing SUBSCRIBE in the subject line.