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Alpine Elementary School
District (October 2006) |
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At $2,161 per pupil, Alpine
Elementary’s fiscal year 2005 administrative costs were slightly higher than
those of the comparable districts’. However, the District inappropriately paid
an administrative employee $5,000 in bonuses that were not properly included in
the employee’s fiscal year 2004 and 2005 employment contracts. While the
District did not operate a food service program, it provided milk for its
students. If the District chooses to participate in the federal Special Milk
Program, it could be reimbursed for over half of its milk costs. The District’s
$2,189 per-rider transportation costs were two and one-half times the comparable
districts’ average costs, primarily due to the high costs of open enrollment
students’ transportation. Further, based on guidance from the Arizona Department
of Education, the District over-reported open enrollment route mileage,
resulting in $125,000 of extra transportation revenue. Per-square foot plant
costs were 35 percent higher than the comparable districts’, primarily due to
higher salary and benefit costs. The District spent its Proposition 301 monies
for purposes authorized under statute, and eligible employees received pay
increases totaling $4,250 each. The District’s fiscal year 2005 classroom dollar
percentage of 50.7 percent was almost 8 percentage points below the state
average. However, because the District spends more total dollars per pupil, it
spent more dollars in the classroom than the state and national averages.
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