District pays most in county, 5th in state, auditor general says

The Clarkdale-Jerome School District Governing Board approved an average raise of 3% to its teachers, who have had the highest average pay in the county, from $75,022 to $77,209.

Last year’s budget showed a higher average salary, $79,880, but CJSD Business Manager Kristy Aston said this year’s lower average was because two long-time teachers retired and their pay was replaced with beginnerteacher salaries.

According to a Feb. 26 Arizona Auditor General report, CJSD was the fifth-highest paying out of 208 public school districts in the state in fiscal year 2025.

The state average teacher pay was $65,613, according to the report.

Mingus Union High School District was close behind at 20th out of 208, Camp Verde Unified School District was 54th and Cottonwood-Oak Creek School District was the lowest in the Verde Valley and 194th in the state.

The state-wide spending report won’t be available for the current fiscal year until early 2027, and the FY27 report will be available in early 2028.

One reason for the higher pay is the experience of the teachers. The state’s average is 12 years, but CJSD’s average years of experience was 19.4.

Budget

The overall maintenance and operation budget is $4,404,660, with a limit set at $4,936,176, down 3.2% from last year’s $5,099,064. The capital expenses budgeted for FY27 is $410,585 and the Classroom Site Fund expenditures are budgeted at $496,408.

The budget presentation meeting came after the state budget was approved late June 12. Aston said the amount appropriated for public schools was about what she expected.

“The budget in instruction is going up 2%, most of it is going up to 2% – that we knew,” Aston said, “because the majority of our budget is salaries and benefits, and we get a 2% increase with our staff, so most of that is pretty standard.”

She said the district saved money because legal fees are down and CJSD isn’t seeking an override, which would have cost election fees.

Land Sale

The school district originally bought the eight acres of land to the south with the idea of some day building a high school there, CJSD Superintendent Matt Schumacher said. With declining enrollment in the region and a lower demand, it seemed better to have something else there.

The board approved Schumacher to enter discussion with the Verde Valley Fire District to possibly sell all or part of the land for a new fire station, which VVFD is looking for in the near future anyway.

“They still are looking at soil samples,” he said. “We do have some historical records from the mine that suggest that the land is good.

“Utilities will still be a factor, and so we had no real negotiations beyond the sort of the acreage that they would be looking for, which would be probably somewhere around three to three-and-a-half” range.

He said the district has to work with the county assessor to figure out the actual plot of land that could be used and what its value would be.

“Other than that, we’re just treading water while they do their due diligence to see and to assure that the property is viable,” Schumacher said.