Glendale’s Community Newspaper
Vol. 79 No. 31
FREE SUBSCRIPTION
August 3, 2023
www.glendalestar.com
Inside This Week
Peoria Unified adopts budget for 2024 BY JOE McHUGH
Glendale Star Staff Writer
T
THE VOICE OF BUSINESS
SPORTS .......... 17
Local youth football team finds success
he Peoria Unified Governing Board approved its fiscal year 2024 budget at a July 13 board meeting, allocating approximately $423 million for district use. Michelle Myers, chief financial officer of the Peoria Unified School District (PUSD), presented the proposed total to the board. The new budget of $423 million is over $15.7 million more than the budget for fiscal year 2023. Over $307 million of this year’s total is allotted to the maintenance and operating budget, a $5 million increase from last year. This will be used on the majority of the expenditures put forward by the district. The unrestricted capital fund for 2024 is
$58.6 million — a $16.5 million increase set to be spent on safety, technology and new buildings and repairs. The district is also receiving $57.1 million in federal projects other than impact aid. As the largest portion of the overall funding, the maintenance and operations budget is set to be the foundation on which the district can cover its costs. Including fiscal year 2023 carryover, the fund will include an abundance of changes in employee salaries and wages, as well as new positions and programs. Myers later explained there were a number of topics to be addressed in the fund. These included an increase of bus driver hourly pay from $17 to $19 an hour, classified hourly salary schedule adjustments,
merit and performance pay increase, a Spanish immersion stipend, and aid in funding new positions or reclassifications across the district. The maintenance and operations fund will also help increase base compensation pay based on years of service to 4%, 4.5% and 5% — a $7.4 million projected cost. The capital fund is where the district will see the majority of physical changes to its schools. The largest expenditures from the capital fund are two new education buildings at Lake Pleasant Elementary School and Liberty High School. The district is also planning to invest $5.3 SEE PUSD PAGE 6
Missing Glendale teen reappears after 4 years BY JOE McHUGH
Glendale Star Staff Writer
FEATURES ....... 20
Chicken N Pickle set to open doors in Westgate
OPINION ......................8 BUSINESS ................... 11 SPORTS ......................17 CALENDAR................. 18 FEATURES.................. 20 RELIGION ................... 22 YOUTH ....................... 24 CLASSIFIEDS ............. 26
J
essica Nuñez reported that her 14-year-old daughter, Alicia Navarro, went missing from her Glendale home on Sept. 15, 2019. Only one thing was left behind — a note to her family. “I ran away,” the note read. “I will be back, I swear. I’m sorry. — Alicia.” In a panic, Nuñez did everything in her power to find her child. After taking the case to the police, she made flyers, took to social media and even hired a private investigator to bring the girl back. Nearly four years later — long removed from any updates on the case — a young woman en-
Dude, it’s free!
tered a police department in Havre, Montana, asking to get an ID and to remove herself from a missing person’s list. Local officers asked her name to search their database, getting the response “Alicia Navarro.” Now age 18 and located more than 1,300 miles away from her Arizona home, Navarro was unharmed and in good spirits, according to the Glendale Police Department — ending a near-half-decade search. SEE TEEN PAGE 4
Alicia Navarro was reported missing at age 14. Now 18, she turned up in Havre, Montana. (Glendale Police Department/Submitted)
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