Board adopts final $8.2M budget, plans 606 students next year
The Sedona-Oak Creek School District voted 4-0, with President Randy Hawley absent, to adopt the FY27 budget.
Following the budget vote, the board also approved an additional 2.5% salary bonus for returning staff.
“Our goal is to remain competitive with new hires while also recognizing and rewarding those who continue to invest their talents in SedonaOak Creek Unified School District,” Superintendent Tom Swaninger, Ed.D.,said in an email to staff following the meeting.
This bonus is in addition to staff’s 2% increase in base salary built into the teacher salary portion of the budget.
This overall 4.5% increase exceeds the 3.5% 12-month inflation rate the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported July 14, which dropped from the previous inflation rate of 4.2%, reported in June.
“We remain committed to being fiscally responsible, maintaining relatively small class sizes, expanding opportunities and support for both our educators and students,” Swaninger wrote, “and continuing to increase employee compensation to the greatest extent possible within the budget constraints established by our state.”
Swaninger will also be the interim principal for Sedona Red Rock Jr./Sr. High School, following former Principal Heather Isom’s departure to be principal of Cactus Shadow’s High School in the Cave Creek Unified School District.
Budget
“Although we’re adopting the budget tonight, our work certainly doesn’t end here,” Saravo said during the July 14 meeting. “Throughout the year, we continue to monitor enrollment very closely since student count remains the single largest driver of district revenue.”
The $8,223,471 budget gave an estimate of 606.5 average daily student count, down 22 students from last year.
“The adopted budget reflects the state’s base level increase of $102 per student, bringing the base level support to $5,215 per student,” Saravo said. “As discussed previously, webuilt this budget conservatively, using an estimated decline of 22 average daily memberships.”
Surrounding districts, including Cottonwood-Oak Creek, Mingus Union High and Camp Verde Unified school districts, receive slightly more per average student enrollment. The state decides how much to give each district by creating an “equalized” number and subtracting a number correlating with the local property values of the district.
Because values are higher in Sedona than most of Yavapai County, the amount SOCSD receives from the state per student is less than that of similar districts in surrounding communities.
