Peoria Unified Sch�l District APRIL 2016 | MONTHLY NEWSLETTER & MENUS PEORI
A UNIF IED
Calendar Highlights: April 2 | Peoria Arts & Cultural Fes�val, 8 a.m. - 4 p.m., Old Town Peoria April 4 | Superintendent Candidates Forum 6 p.m. - 8 p.m. Centennial HS April 14 | Governing Board mee�ng, 5 p.m. April 21 | Full Day Staff Development, all schools are closed, district offices open April 22 | April Break All schools and district offices are closed April 27 | Na�onal Administra�ve Professionals Day April 28 | Governing Board mee�ng, 5 p.m. April 28 | Elementary Progress Report Distribu�on April 29 | High School Progress Report Distribu�on
Peoria Unified, one of Arizona’s largest unified school districts, prides itself on a 95 percent high school graduation rate, excelling schools, dedicated teachers, award-winning Arts and Career & Technical Educa�on programs, school and student safety and community engagement. WWW.PEORIAUD.K12.AZ.US
PULSE ’ S L AT EST SP OTLIGHT
O N E XC E L L E N C E
Students Compete in Patriotic Speech Contest Four students emerged as �irst place winners in the district’s 29th Annual Patriotic Speech Contest: Jordan Faux from Peoria Traditional, Christopher Rayes from Sunset Heights, Kenan Murtic from Marshall Ranch and Tara Wilson from Heritage. For the contest, students delivered a two-to-three minute persuasive speech, patriotic in nature, before a panel of distinguished judges, including: City of Peoria Mayor Cathy Carlat, Dr. Jim Reed, Dr. Melanie Lehman, Peoria Uni�ied Governing Board members
Matt Bullock and Kathy Knecht, and members of the U.S. Air Force. The contest can be viewed at www.youtube.
com/pusdof�icialchannel, and a list of all students who placed in the top �ive in each division, is on the second page.
As the May 17 special election for Prop. 123 approaches, many Arizona public school districts, just like us, are preparing two budgets: One if Prop. 123 passes and David Jonagan another if Governing Board it doesn’t. Prop. 123 is the result of a compromise Arizona state legislators and public school advocates agreed upon, and Gov. Doug Ducey signed, that
would settle the in�lation funding lawsuit �iled on behalf of all Arizona public schools for money they did not receive during the Great Recession. If Prop. 123 is approved by voters, our district will receive approximately $7.2 million in new funding. Arizona public K-12 schools will collectively receive $299 million of state aid this year and $3.5 billion over 10 years by increasing the percentage of funds public schools receive from the state land
trust fund, as well as additional dollars from the general fund, according to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee’s �iscal impact summary of Prop. 123 released on Feb. 23. If voters do not approve Prop. 123, then the state and the schools will go back to court to settle the in�lation funding lawsuit. Attorneys estimate this would take up to �ive years. To learn more about how this important election will impact education, visit www.azasba.org.
City of Peoria Mayor Cathy Carlat, Jordan Faux, Emily Sielewicki Aleah Silva, Delaney Fowler, Governing Board clerk Kathy Knect and Kristen Haverluck.
Prop. 123: An Important Election for Arizona Schools
EVERY STUDENT, EVERY DAY, PREPARED TO SHAPE TOMORROW