Community

Override – Basic Facts

• The Vail School District Governing Board has called for a 10% override election (Proposition 405) to be held in November 2011.
• An override is an authorization from local voters to use property taxes to provide additional funding for their specific school district. The funds are not a loan or for building facilities. 100% of additional funding stays within the local school district.
• For the past 17 years the Vail School District has operated on a voter-approved 10% override. Last year, a 15% override failed by 99 votes. Based on community feedback the Vail Governing Board decided to ask for a renewal of the 10% this year.
• Override funding will be used for the following:
  Continue programs that have successfully increased student achievement
  Restrict growth of class sizes
  Restore and continue programs for academically advanced and gifted students
  Preserve art, music, and physical education classes

Budget and Tax Facts

• $8.4 million: The amount in the last two years that has been cut from the Vail budget (even with the benefit of Prop 100). An average of 5 students have been added to each classroom; over 40 teaching positions have been eliminated; programs have been cut, and compensation for teachers and administrators has been decreased.
• $5.42: The amount per month a successful override will reinstate in property taxes for the average homeowner in Vail. The average assessed value of a home in Vail is $169,960. $5.42 represents the monthly tax amount saved by the average home as a result of the override loss last November.
• If the override is defeated this November, property taxes for the average home-owner in Vail will decrease about $5.42 per month for each of the next two years.
• Vail’s per pupil expenditure is $794 per student less than the AVERAGE in Arizona. Arizona’s average per pupil expenditure is ranked 49th in the nation.
• Vail’s administrative costs are the lowest of any district in Pima County and half the national average ($525 per student in Vail versus $1,050 per student nationally).

District Performance Facts

• Recipient of 2011 Arizona Department of Education Excellence Award
• All eligible schools are A+ schools.
• All regular Vail schools have labeled “excelling” by the state of Arizona 4 consecutive years – the largest district in Arizona to make that claim.

The Combined Property Tax Rate in the Vail School District is decreasing for the 13th consecutive year despite the fact that real and assessed home values have fallen. The rates have not been this low since the 1993-1994 school year.

Local realtor Rebecca Schulte stated, “In my 21 years of real estate experience, I have learned that the schools make or break an area and the value of homes! The quality of the schools in Vail has most definitely affected Vail property values in a positive way. In our current economic struggles, the quality schools are the reason Vail’s assessed property values have only dropped by an average of 10% compared to the state average drop of 19% over the last year. Further, VSD is the draw to the community for prospective home buyers and even renters.”

Read more here.