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Wednesday, March 9, 2022
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Labor crunch threatens Phoenix pool season BY PAUL MARYNIAK AFN Executive Editor
ON THE BIG SCREEN
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ST. PATTY'S IN AHWATUKEE
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hoenix has taken a big step to save summer at city pools from the labor shortage that has hobbled business and governments across the country. In a desperate effort to recruit nearly 650 lifeguards within a matter of weeks and open all its 29 public pools Memorial Day, City Council last week authorized $2,500 in “executive pay” for lifeguards payable in two installments – $500 in their first check after they’re on the job and $2,000 when the season ends. That would raise lifeguard pay this year to about $21 an hour from the current $14 an hour if thy work the usual 360 hours during the summer pool season. But Aquatics Director Beck Hulett said that rate actually could be higher for lifeguards who don’t put in all that time, since they would still get the $2,000 incentive in their final paycheck.
City officials need to fill hundreds of lifeguard positions to open Phoenix’s 29 public pools this summer and even to open 12 pools, like Pecos Pool was opened last year, they still need more than 100 bodies.
see POOLS page 12 (AFN file photo)
Report details TU, Kyrene spending last school year . 27
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THE BIRD IS BACK
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BY PAUL MARYNIAK AFN Executive Editor
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yrene School District spent more money on student instruction in 2021 than the statewide average for all 205 public school systems while Tempe Union’s average per-pupil instruction expenditure was slightly less, according to a new report by the Arizona Auditor General. The report on the 2020-21 school year – the first full year crippled by the pandemic – shows that Kyrene School District exceeded
the statewide instructional spending percentage of 70.2% by spending 74.6 percent of every dollar on instruction. That included 61.9% of its budget in the classroom, 8.3% on student support such as counselors, nurses, social workers and speech therapists and 4.4% on instructional support such as librarians, teacher and curriculum development and technology. Of the 69.6% of every dollar Tempe Union spent on instruction, 53.4% went to the classroom, 8.6% to student support and 7.6% went to instructional support.
The report also shows that while Kyrene’s per-pupil spending for administration was below the state average, Tempe Union’s administration spending exceeded that benchmark as well as the average spent per pupil on administration by districts of comparable size. However, Tempe Union had more pupils per administrator than the statewide and peer district averages. The statewide average instructional spending of 70.2% broke down to 55.3% in the class-
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see SPENDING page 4