Amphitheater Unified School District

At $603 per pupil, Amphitheater Unified’s fiscal year 2004 administrative costs were 20 percent higher than the comparable districts’ average of $503. Higher staffing levels and significant payments for its early retirement plans were the primary contributors. The District’s food service program was self-supporting and its $1.95 cost per meal was a penny lower than the comparable districts’ average. The District subsidized its student transportation program by $383,000, and its $553 per-pupil costs were 12 percent higher than the comparable districts averaged. These high costs resulted primarily from special needs transportation contract costs. Because it did not have enough drivers and buses, the District spent about $4,290 per rider to contract out transportation for 75 special needs riders. Additionally, the District had high repair and maintenance costs, its fuel pumps were not properly secured, and it did not accurately report to the Arizona Department of Education the number of route miles driven. Further, two driver-related incidents placed students’ safety in jeopardy. The District’s plant operation and maintenance costs were high primarily because it operates and maintains facilities that are 16 percent larger than the comparable districts’, and it employed more security and campus monitoring staff. The District spent its Proposition 301 monies for purposes authorized by statute, but it varied from its performance pay plan by giving partial payments to teachers in schools that did not fully meet student achievement goals. The District’s fiscal year 2004 classroom dollars percentage of 55.9 percent was almost 3 percentage points below the state average. Finally, during fiscal year 2004, the District spent approximately $4 million, primarily for teachers’ and instructional aides’ salaries and benefits, to address two past findings by the Office of Civil Rights.