New State Funds Buy 'Authentic Thank You' for Vail Teachers

A classroom in the Vail School District in suburban Tucson.

AZPM Staff

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Schools will see millions of dollars promised by Prop 123 in the next few weeks.

The measure mandates Arizona pay out $454 million to schools for this and next fiscal years. The first payment, totaling $259 million, is expected by the end of June.

Most school districts this spring presented two budgets to the public– one with and one without Proposition 123 funding, said Tim Ogle, executive director of the Arizona School Boards Association.

"Now it's just a matter of adopting one of those so it should be a quick opportunity for boards to have a budget adoption meeting," Ogle said.

The association was one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit that prompted Proposition 123, which voters approved last week as settlement of the case.

Here's how Prop 123 money will change the budget of one district next year:

Vail School District expects $2.4 million of recurring money and $1.9 million of one-time money from the Proposition 123 plan.

"The recurring money is money that we can place into salaries because we're going to continue to get that money," Vail Superintendent Calvin Baker said. "The one-time money we want to avoid spending on salaries because it’s not coming back again.”

The district plans to give all staff a 2-3 percent raise. The one-time money will replace teachers' laptops, which were previously purchased used.

“So we’re really excited about giving teachers the top-level tools they need to do the top-level job that our teachers are performing for us.”

Vail, one of the top-performing school districts in the state, doesn't use traditional textbooks, so the laptops are necessary for teachers' to plan lessons.

Employees who have been with the district can also expect to see retention bonuses for their years of service from the one-time money.

Baker called the bonuses an “authentic thank you" for staff members who have stuck with the district.