JTED appears good to go

The recent wrangling over education spending in the state budget had no impact on joint technological education district funding, said Western Arizona Vocational Education District Superintendent Betsy Parker.

“It looks like all systems are still ‘go’ and the first round (of funding) should arrive July 15,” Parker said.

At its monthly meeting Wednesday in Parker, the WAVE JTED Governing Board voted unanimously to adopt a proposed 2009-10 budget that was unchanged from the version introduced at a special June 23.

The joint district has budgeted nearly $2.8 million in revenues for the year, including an estimated $1.543 million in funding from the state. The remainder, about 45 percent of the total, is expected to come from a secondary property tax approved by voters in November.

When the JTED was proposed last year, funding from the state was expected to comprise as much as 87 percent of total revenues. Parker said she has been unable to determine conclusively why the actual ratio is so far off the estimate.

“I don’t know how they reached the 87 percent/13 percent ratio. The only thing I can think of is perhaps some districts wind up being that way,” Parker said.

One explanation, Parker said, is that the state’s JTEDs are being funded at 91 percent and have been for two years.

“That could be part of it,” she said.

Parker said JTED funding differs from regular K-12 school funding because JTEDs were created by their own legislation; therefore, proposed cuts to education funding and that funding’s subsequent restoration didn’t affect the WAVE JTED’s budget.

The proposed $2.686 million budget includes $2.237 million for maintenance and operations expenditures. Of that $2.135 million is designated for “purchased services” in order for WAVE JTED to reimburse its affiliated school districts for equipment, supplies and other resources that support career and technical education programs.

Nearly $220,000 is designated for unrestricted capital outlay and $18,934 will go to soft capital expenditures.

In other business Wednesday, the board voted unanimously to adopt a resolution allowing an alternative structure for the joint district’s permanent governing board. That board will be selected by voters in the November 2010 general election and seated in January 2011.

The alternative board would consist of two representatives each for the Lake Havasu and Kingman unified school districts and the Colorado Union High School District and one representative for the Parker Unified School District. State statute calls for a JTED’s permanent board to be composed of five members, although other JTEDs in the state have adopted alternative structures.

The governing boards of the participating school districts must approve the resolution. The boards are expected to vote on the measure at their respective August meetings, Parker said.

You may contact the reporter at dparker@havasunews.com.

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