Enrollment down slightly, state funds up $125K on 11.2M budget

After Mingus Union High School District received multiple one-time funding opportunities, the budget saw $125,110 more than it expected the last time the budget was revised in December.

The one-time funding was a state aid supplement of $91,214 and a Free and Reduced Lunch Program supplement of $42,497.

“That one time, it should be permanent,” Finance Director Lynn Leonard said. “I go to business meetings throughout the year, and we have been told to expect it again this time of year.”

The total budget for FY 2026 was $11,292,981 for maintenance and operations, which includes things like salaries and athletics events. The capital budget, which was originally proposed at $1,166,871 last year, ended $37,502 higher than proposed at $1,204,374.

The state won’t release the funding for the end of FY26 until the end of June, but considering school’s out for summer and Average Daily Membership, the primary metric which Arizona funds its schools through, can’t decline, it should be the final revision. Ending with an ADM of 1,129, MUHS lost 23 students from its original adopted budget estimate.

“I always love to bring this up,” Leonard said. According to the Census Bureau 2024, “the [national] average per pupil spending is $17,609 per student. In Arizona, it’s $12,000; we’re only ahead of Idaho and Utah. Based on current ADM, if we received just the average, we would get another $6 million.”

Next year’s budget proposition will begin in the governing board’s Thursday, June 11, meeting, with the budget adoption in the Thursday, July 9, meeting.

“This year, I’m going to do it a little bit differently, I am going to actually probably raise our ADM over what I anticipate, because I want to capture that tax,” Leonard said. “We’re not capturing taxes, this is the third year in a row that we propose a budget and our tax rate is based on the proposed budget.”

Teacher Salaries

Leonard said MUHS ranked 20th in the state for Fiscal Year 2024-25 based on average teacher salary. In Yavapai County, Clarkdale-Jerome and Seligman school districts are the only ones ranking higher in teacher pay.

The average salary at Mingus Union High School for FY 2025 was $72,710, according to Leonard.

“If you look at it year over year, salaries have in fact increased … and that looks great on paper,” board member Will David, Ph.D., said. He said he recently looked at research from the National Education Association.

“But here’s the reality: A 2026 salary, because of inflation, equates to a 2017 baseline. And that is lost when we constantly say, ‘look, it’s rising.’”

Nationwide, he said only Washington state is keeping up with inflation.

In FY27, what will be proposed in June and adopted in July, the meritbased pay scale will begin its first year. Pay will not be decreased, but possible raises will vary based on classroom performance and teacher participation in district events.

MUHS’ classroom site funds ranked No. 5 in Arizona for FY 2025.