GESD administrative spending drops

Despite what you may hear from Gov. Doug Ducey, school districts across Arizona have done a lot to adjust budgets to falling state revenues, and that includes reductions in administrative spending.

You can count GESD among them.

A report from the Arizona Auditor General released last week shows that GESD spends 10 percent on administration. Between 2013 and 2014 the District reduced its administrative spending by more than $375,000, or $41 per student. The District’s administrative cost are lower than comparable districts by $42 per student, lower than the Arizona average by $73 per student, and $476 per student lower than the national average.

According to Director of Finance and Purchasing Sara DiPasquale, there were two main factors for the decrease:

• a reduction in benefits expenditures of $229,363); and
• a reduction in purchased services expenditures of $172,848, which was the result of transferring software renewals from the maintenance and operations budget and E-rate to capital (a total of $481,209).

Due largely to state cuts, GESD also saw a reduction of per pupil spending of $118 per student from the previous year. District funding per pupil is $573 less than comparable school districts, $737 less than the state average, and $3,826 less than the national average.

Instruction, student support and instructional support make up 67.9 percent of GESD’s. Plant operations, food service and transportation make up 22.1 percent of spending, while administration accounts for 10 percent of spending.

The report on GESD’s spending was part of a larger report issued by the Auditor General’s office for all school districts. The report shows that Arizona lags behind the national average in per pupil spending in almost all categories.

“I find it inspiring that our schools have continued to strive for excellence given the restraints placed upon them by limited budgets,” said Diane Douglas, Arizona superintendent of public instruction. “The dollar-to-dollar comparisons of Arizona expenditures to national averages are truly sobering when we consider how much less our schools have to work with. Our schools are doing a miraculous job in comparison.”

Check out GESD’s budget information page
Governing Board President Mary Ann Wilson on governor's budget
GESD legislators