Deer Valley Unified School
District (December 2006)
Deer Valley USD’s fiscal year 2005 per-pupil
administration costs were slightly higher than comparable districts’ due to
higher staffing and salary levels. The food service program was self-sufficient
with a cost per meal similar to comparable districts’. However, the District
served more meals per student and, therefore, spent a higher portion of its
current operating dollars on food service expenditures. The District spent more
per pupil on transportation than the comparable districts and subsidized the
program with $1.4 million that potentially could otherwise have been spent in
the classroom. These higher costs were primarily due to its large geographic
size, inefficient routes, bus storage locations, and higher staffing levels. The
District had lower plant operation and maintenance costs than the comparable
districts, mainly due to having newer buildings, an extensive preventative
maintenance program, and more in-house technical expertise. Deer Valley USD may
have used Proposition 301 monies to supplant about $1 million in other monies
and spent $116,000 of its menu monies for expenditures not allowed by law. After
adjusting for accounting errors, Deer Valley USD’s classroom dollar percentage
was 60.2 percent, which is still 1.8 points above the state average. However,
its total per-pupil spending was lower than the comparable district, state, and
national averages. The District received less state funding than the comparable
districts because it did not have desegregation monies, a K-3 override, or a
Career Ladder program, and it had fewer English Language Learners and special
needs students, for whom a district receives additional funding.