SPRING TRAINING IN JEOPARDY
$19M SOUGHT FROM CITY
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From Uptown to Downtown, covering Chandler like the sun.
An edition of the East Valley Tribune
INSIDE
This Week
NEWS ................................ 3 Mental health calls rising in Chandler.
COMMUNITY............ 25
A Chandler teen suffering cancer got a big surprise.
FREE | chandlernews.com
February 6, 2022
Fiscal doomsday clock ticks for Chandler schools BY PAUL MARYNIAK Arizonan Executive Editor and HOWARD FISCHER Capitol Media Servcies
A
financial doomsday clock is ticking for most school districts in Arizona and unless the Legislature acts to stop it by March 1, Chandler Unified, Kyrene and Tempe Union school districts face making a combined $88 million in immediate spending cuts before the end of the current school year.
In all, Arizona school districts face $1.2 billion in immediate cuts if the Legislature does not raise or postpone what’s called the Aggregate Expenditure Limit that dates back to the 1980s, when Arizona voters approved a spending cap for K-12 schools that the Legislature could override with a simple vote. As that harsh prospect moves closer to reality, only a few school officials in the East Valley are even talking about it, though officials in both Gilbert school districts and Kyrene School District have begun calling the looming crisis to the public’s attention.
Kyrene Board member Michelle Fahy was one of the few school officials to make note of the impending crisis as most East Valley governing boards met the last week of January. “We are going to experience devastating financial impact,” Fahy warned. “I think the number is around $17 million that we would have to cut from our existing current year budget. That means our fourth quarter budget would be reduced by $17 million. “Now, it’s important to understand that in
see SPENDING page 8
City mulls rate hikes, Laptop liberation alley pickup’s future BY KEN SAIN Arizonan Staff Writer
BUSINESS ................... 28 Things are just ducky for this Chandler bakery.
NEWS .............................................. 03
COMMUNITY .............................. 25 BUSINESS ..................................... 28
CLASSIFIEDS .................................. 31
M
ost Chandler residents who have spoken out about the proposed rate hikes for their utilities are not upset about an increase. It’s the option to end alley collection of solid waste that has received the most attention. And most people who have commented so far want to keep putting their trash in the alley and not in front of their homes. The city plans to increase the rate that homeowners and businesses pay for water and solid-waste collection starting July 1. Chandler Budget Director Matt Dunbar said even with this increase, the city will still have among the lowest utility
see UTILITIES page 12
Chandler Unified School District education technology coach Sophany Tibke hands Chandler High sophomore Abigail Hernandez her laptop while Ryland Douglas during an event held Jan. 26 as part of a pilot program aimed at ending the district’s digital divide. For a look at how it went, see page 16. (David Minton/Staff Photographer)
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