Alpine Elementary School District

At $2,161 per pupil, Alpine Elementary’s fiscal year 2005 administrative costs were slightly higher than those of the comparable districts’. However, the District inappropriately paid an administrative employee $5,000 in bonuses that were not properly included in the employee’s fiscal year 2004 and 2005 employment contracts. While the District did not operate a food service program, it provided milk for its students. If the District chooses to participate in the federal Special Milk Program, it could be reimbursed for over half of its milk costs. The District’s $2,189 per-rider transportation costs were two and one-half times the comparable districts’ average costs, primarily due to the high costs of open enrollment students’ transportation. Further, based on guidance from the Arizona Department of Education, the District over-reported open enrollment route mileage, resulting in $125,000 of extra transportation revenue. Per-square foot plant costs were 35 percent higher than the comparable districts’, primarily due to higher salary and benefit costs. The District spent its Proposition 301 monies for purposes authorized under statute, and eligible employees received pay increases totaling $4,250 each. The District’s fiscal year 2005 classroom dollar percentage of 50.7 percent was almost 8 percentage points below the state average. However, because the District spends more total dollars per pupil, it spent more dollars in the classroom than the state and national averages.