MUSD moving toward new ELA curriculum

New curriculum for English-Language Arts could be in local classrooms next school year.[quote_box_right]Curriculum Price Tags
“Company A”: $1,208,514
“Company B”: $1,319,500
“Company C”: $1,741,289[/quote_box_right]

The Maricopa Unified School District Governing Board approved the creation of a curriculum committee during a meeting Oct. 25 to aid teachers and the district with related decisions.

The ELA Adoption Committee will consider the purchase of a K-12 curriculum set in fiscal years 2018 and 2019. MUSD last adopted ELA curriculum in 2004.

Professional Development Coach Stephanie Rhinehart presented figures of three proposed textbook vendors Wednesday night.

Curriculum from the anonymous vendors ranged from $1.2 million to $1.7 million.

Superintendent Steve Chestnut said district Business Services Director Aron Rausch recommended the proposed K-12 adoption be made in separate purchases between 2018 and 2019.

The first order would be approximately $1 million in July 2018 and another $1 million in the next fiscal year. The schedule would mean only certain grades would receive curriculum at a time.

Board President Patti Coutre, Vice President AnnaMarie Knorr and Board Member Torri Anderson said they preferred the district adopt and pay for the curriculum all at once.

It’s not the first, pricey curriculum adoption proposal this year.

The district adopted math K-12 curriculum earlier this year for over $1.03 million from its reserve funds.

“When we first did this with math, we did it all out of the reserves, and when we talked about doing ELA, we also talked about it coming out of the reserves,” Coutre said. “If we have the money in the reserves, what difference does it make if we do it in one fell swoop versus two?”

Chestnut said Rausch’s recommendation was based on conservative, future spending.

“I know Mr. Rasuch’s concern is that we will be spending $3.5 million to $4 million in reserve funds in the next couple years so being fiscally conservative, he’d like to make sure we have reserves to cover any unforeseen expenses,” Chestnut said.

Rausch clarified in a conversation later this week that the district has not yet designated what fund reserves they will be pulling from, but it would not be its Maintenance and Operating fund where all of the override money is budgeted.

“This purchase will have to come out of a fund that supports accounting and budgeting laws for the purchase of capital and has reserves and budget available,” Rausch said. “The ‘M and O’ fund where most of the override is budgeted for operations and staff cannot be used for capital purchases by law.”

Knorr requested a budget breakdown from Rausch to be discussed in a future meeting. She said despite his concerns she would prefer the district adopt the curriculum simultaneously and possibly before 2018, citing poor student test scores in the subject area.

“I would rather take a little risk and invest in our children so that they get the ELA curriculum that they need as we go forward then sit back and let it continue on as is,” Knorr said.

Anderson and Coutre agreed.

“I don’t think we can wait, we’ve waited too long for curriculum,” Anderson said.

The board approved the creation of the ELA adoption committee unanimously. The debate regarding the curriculum purchasing schedule is expected to be on the board’s Nov. 8 agenda.