The Tucson Unified School District’s governing board voted unanimously on Tuesday night to approve more than $4 million in budget reductions for next year.
This second round of cuts will leave the district an estimated $720,000 short of its $10 million target slash for next year. The reductions come as TUSD projects a $27 million deficit by 2030. A previous set of reductions approved in February eliminated substitute teachers, merged multicultural curriculum and instruction and eliminated several leadership positions.
The recommendations presented to the board this week were based on financial sustainability assessments and also used feedback from 950 staff, students and family members. The feedback survey found that most respondents wanted to protect student-facing services, ensure transparency and prioritize central office reductions.
“We know that not every decision aligns perfectly with the perceptions that we have in the community, but our proposals have to engage a delicate balance of both those priorities and our operational reality,” said Ricky Hernández, the district's chief financial officer.
Transportation Services will take on the greatest slash — 32% or about $1.4 million — of this reduction package. Plant maintenance takes the second biggest reduction, with central services like finance and human resources following.
The Transportation Department will eliminate the equivalent of 25 full-time driver and monitor positions next year, which Transportation Director Martha Zamora said will have a limited impact on schools. Bus routes offered for out-of-district students are not being used enough, and will therefore be merged as stops within the in-district routes.
TUSD plans to cut no more than 3% from special education, facilities, fine arts, sports and school safety.
District Superintendent Gabriel Trujillo [has said](
the deficit is a result of declining enrollment. In February, he told AZPM the district is experiencing the effects of suburban sprawl, low birth rates and private school vouchers.
Board president Dr. Ravi Shah acknowledged the effects of lower enrollment, but said there are other factors at stake.
“We can’t let our state legislators off the hook,” he said, speaking to TUSD Superintendent Gabrial Trujillo. “When inflation was increasing 8% a year and our budget was only going up by one or two percent — the state is cutting our budget. And that’s a big piece of why we are where we are.”
While school closures were not yet on the table, Trujillo said, in February, “It is inevitable that at some point within the next three years, the physical reconfiguration of this district has to be reimagined.”
