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Chandler/Tempe Edition
INSIDE
This Week
NEWS............................... 7 Corruption somewhere in Arizona, Mesa senator says.
COMMUNITY........... 11 Chandler students rocket into space.
SPORTS........................16 Mesa ballplayer shows true grit after losing home.
Chandler Children’s Choir will sing what you like.
COMMUNITY..................11 BUSINESS........................14 OPINION.........................15 SPORTS ...........................16 GETOUT........................... 17 CLASSIFIED.................... 22
PAGE 3 Sunday, April 28, 2019
Nearly 150 EV schools at risk for measles BY JORDAN HOUSTON Tribune Staff Writer
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t a time when state vaccination rates are on the decline, almost 150 elementary schools in the East Valley are at risk for a measles outbreak. Using data from the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS), the East Valley Tribune found that 148 schools in the cities of Chandler, Gilbert, Mesa, Ahwatukee, Queen Creek and Tempe have less than 95 percent of their kindergartners vaccinated for Measles Mumps Rubella. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says coverage rates below that number no longer protect those who can’t be vaccinated – such as babies, people with certain medical conditions and pregnant women. Those rates come at a time when measles – once all but eradicated – has become a world-
see MEASLES page 4
Former state public health chief Will Humble still monitors vaccination trends and tries to educate people on the need to have their children vaccinated at a time when disinformation from anti-vaxxers is creating a return of diseases once thought all but eradicated. (Tucson Sentinel)
$28.8M deficit looms as Mesa schools seek override OK BY JORDAN HOUSTON Tribune Staff Writer
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EAST VALLEY
EV says farewell to a landmark
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esa Public Schools (MPS) is giving voters a second chance to approve a 15 percent budget override that, if unsuccessful again, could leave the district $28.8 million in the red next year. The school board voted last week to move forward with a special override election on Nov. 5, emphasizing a critical need for the property-tax funded increase. Although MPS has been operating under a 10 percent override since 1995, it needs an additional 5 percent in order to stay afloat, according to Assistant Superintendent Scott Thompson. Thompson explained that the district’s big-
gest challenge has been meeting the requirements of the 2016 voter-approved minimum wage referendum. “The primary thing for us is that the minimum wage increase is making it hard for us to maintain a minimum wage for our classified employees, such as bus drivers and cafeteria workers,” he said. “If we’re unsuccessful in making this happen, we will be facing millions of dollars of cuts.” While the current override covers only 8.7 percent of the district’s employees, the district – which serves more than 63,000 students – is struggling to recover from the ripple effect of Proposition 206. Superintendent Ember Conley has already imposed a hiring freeze for all positions except teachers, and a hold has been placed on
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all capital projects and expenditures. On top of tackling the wage increase, the school district hopes to funnel more money toward increased school security staffing, attracting and retaining quality teachers and preventing increases in class sizes, said Thompson. “We’re going to focus on other areas that people seem to identify with more, like attracting and retaining good teachers,” he stated. “We’re going to try to change the way we speak bout it so that people can connect a little better about what it is and why it’s better for us.” If the override is approved, Mesa homeowners can expect to pay an extra $14.76 per
see OVERRIDE page 8
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