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Did You Know?
These suggestions, submitted by TUSD staff, parents,
students, and community members, can help the district
save money and improve services:
- Every cubic yard of recycling costs 40% less for
disposal than each cubic yard of trash! Assign a site
recycling coordinator to help your site achieve the
goal of 50% recycling of waste material.
- PACE
provides a mechanism that allows students to work
through debilitating factors in their lives while
achieving their academic and personal goals. Special
programs include school-to-work mentorships and student
portfolios.
- Savings to Taxpayers vs M&O: Revenue generated
not returnable to M&O must be applied to a reduction
of the tax rate for the following year. This applies
to the sale of land, excess utility savings and auctioning
of furniture & equipment.
- During 2004-2005, 59 million dollars (10% of the
budget) were secured in grant funding. Each grant
must be used for specified purposes with strict limitations,
which rarely include Maintenance and Operations (M
& 0).
- Eighteen million dollars were received in Title
I funds under the No
Child Left Behind Act to be used to help disadvantaged
children achieve state academic standards. Some schools
have extra staffing through Title I, Desegregation
and Magnet funding.
- 301 funds are currently distributed in this way:
60% for TEA certified personnel and remaining 40%
for site goals payments, $700 per certified person
for staff development, $1,000 stipend for underperforming
schools, $650 for School Council Facilitator, and
$3,000 for a National Board Certification.
- Food Services receives 70.6% of its revenue from
the federal government and 29.4% from sale of student
meals and a la carte.
- We have reduced overtime to minimum levels.
- The three principal coaches at TUSD evaluate principal
and work on district school issues for all 116 schools.
Three principal supervisors work with principals on
their administrative skills and to assist with curricular
development.
- The Professional Development Department is being
restructured to provide more one-on-one assistance
with improved delivery of instruction through master
teachers and instructional coaches.
- Six elementary schools will be adding sixth graders
to offer an alternative to middle school this fall.
- In 2003, TUSD adopted the Early Severance Package,
which will take 8 years to pay off. Therefore, it
is unlikely that TUSD will offer another early severance
package prior to 2011. For more information, see Jim
Kiser's article in the Arizona Star.
- State law prohibits schools from receiving funds
for sale of naming rights.
- Fundraisers at the school sites must have principal
approval and a portion goes to the student activities
fund. Student activities monies must not be used to
defray any District expense. For more information,
see Administrative Regulation 1241 (Available
in MS Word | Available
in Adobe PDF).