School Districts

In FY 2025, districts spent nearly $53 million less on instruction than the prior year, and for the third consecutive year, the State-wide instructional spending percentage (ISP) fell to a new low—52.1%. Although the State average teacher salary increased slightly to $65,613, average teacher salaries declined at 95 districts. Additionally, one-third of districts are potentially at higher financial risk because of declining student enrollment and related funding.

As part of their responsibility to prevent and detect fraud, Deer Valley Unified School District (District) officials took appropriate action by reporting to us alleged financial misconduct by Michelle Haworth...

This is an analysis of Arizona school district financial risk using the most current data available for 10 financial risk measures. We monitor each district’s overall financial risk of not...

District’s student assessment scores far exceeded peer and State averages, but the District lacked some internal controls related to cash handling and purchasing, and did not comply with IT security...

State’s $26 million investment in interoperable communication systems, which reportedly involve about 20% of public schools State-wide, has not yielded anticipated benefits, and their continued use is in doubt because of a lack of assured funding and, in some cases, poor system functionality

District compensated some employees contrary to USFR requirements and/or employment agreement terms, including improperly paying $31,000 to 4 employees that may be considered improper bonuses under State law; additionally, it did not follow some cash-handling, purchasing, and conflict-of-interest requirements and allowed some users too much access to accounting system functions

District provided its superintendent with unauthorized and/or potentially excessive vehicle-related benefits, likely resulting in gifts of public monies and waste, and failed to establish statutorily required performance-based pay. It also did not follow some cash-handling, travel, and critical IT requirements, putting public monies and sensitive computerized data at risk.