Higley Unified School District's governing board on Tuesday unanimously approved its annual financial report for the 2025-26 school year, a document that traces how a shrinking budget override, falling enrollment and a run of air-conditioning failures squeezed the district's money last year.
The district's maintenance and operations budget dropped from about $126.4 million in fiscal 2025 to $118.9 million in fiscal 2026, which ended June 30, according to the Gilbert Independent's report on the Oct. 13 meeting. Chief Financial Officer Sharon Rushcamp said the district lost about $4.6 million as its voter-approved override started phasing down and roughly $3 million more because of declining enrollment.
Higley had received the full 15% override, worth about $14 million a year, before it was cut by one-third for fiscal 2026. Total spending across all district funds came to more than $173 million, down from about $175 million the year before.
Cooling towers and classroom share
Plant operations climbed from 11.5% to 12.5% of spending under the state Auditor General's classroom spending method, the largest increase in any category. Rushcamp tied much of it to renting temporary cooling equipment at four schools.
Williams Field High School needed a rented cooling tower for 11 months and Cooley Middle School for about eight or nine, and Higley High and Chaparral Elementary also needed rentals. Because rentals count as operating costs rather than capital replacements, they came out of the maintenance and operations budget.
The share of that spending going to instruction slipped from 58.4% to 57.9%, while administration fell from 9.7% to 9.1%.
The district ended the year with about $21.1 million carried forward in its operating budget, or 17.8%, close to the prior year's $21.4 million. Rushcamp credited cuts and savings, including more than $500,000 on utilities and nearly $200,000 on substitute staffing.
