It is 6:45 a.m. and like most days, Emily Narducci waits for her bus in her Chandler neighborhood.

While she enjoys her free ride to and from school every day, she may not realize that if the Chandler Unified School District’s attempt to get a 15 percent override approved by Valley voters this November fails, her favorite bus route, along with her class sizes, may change immensely.

An override is an allowance from taxpayers that grants a school district to increase its budget for a five year period. These funds can be used for paying salaries to a district’s staff, increased security, and supporting extracurricular activities for thousands of students throughout Chandler.

This year, CUSD is asking for the largest override in its history.
“[The] override will provide an additional $9 million to the district for the 2014-15 school year,” Terry Locke, Director of Community Relations said. “If it fails we would have to begin cutting $20 million out of our existing budget including $7 million in 2014-15.”

The effect will show around schools if it does not pass.

“What you could see at school is your student to teacher ratio could change,” principal Dan Serrano said. Other ramifications could include cuts in teachers and support staff, “Pay for Play” going into effect, and more.

“This November’s override is very important. It was defeated last November – the first time in the history of this district it was defeated,” Serrano added.

According to yesforchandlerstudents.com, a successful CUSD override “promotes top-level student achievement by sustaining effective programs and services, maintains favorable student-teacher ratios and current class sizes for more individual student attention and enhances school safety by hiring 15 additional school security officers.”

Although this is a good option for students, some taxpayers may disagree. School overrides are funded through property taxes, which means citizens will have an increase in their taxes to pay for a new budget.

“Taxpayers are currently paying for an override and have since 1989,” Locke said. “The increase from 10% to 15% would mean an additional cost of $46 per $100,000 annually or less than $4 monthly.

“[It] will help us to recruit and retain great teachers,” Locke explained, “provide additional safety for our schools and give us a chance to manage class sizes.”