House speaker saves elections
Cactus League season angst
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An edition of the East Valley Tribune
INSIDE
This Week
BUSINESS................20 Original East Valley store sells a lot of bones.
SPORTS...................... 26 Mesquite coach Tom Hare is stepping down.
Hear ye, hear ye: The Renaissance Fest returns.
COMMUNITY........................................17
BUSINESS.............................................20 OPINION................................................24
SPORTS..................................................26
GETOUT.................................................28 CLASSIFIEDS........................................31
Sunday, February 6, 2022
Doomsday clock ticks for Gilbert schools BY CECILIA CHAN GSN Managing Editor And HOWARD FISCHER Capitol Media Services
L
ayoffs, class size increases and pay freezes are in order for three school districts serving Gilbert this school year if the state Legislature fails to override a constitutional spending cap by March 1. The Aggregate Expenditure Limit, approved by voters in 1980, jeopardizes school districts’ budgets in the state to a tune of $1.2 billion total. Charter schools are not included in the spending limit because they did not exist in 1980. For GPS, the fifth largest district in the
state, it would have to cut its spending by $40 million while Higley Unified School District is looking at a $16 million reduction. Chandler Unified would have to cut $54 million. “This could be fairly catastrophic,” said Bill Parker, Gilbert Public Schools Governing Board member at its Feb. 1 meeting. “My concern is the impact on students and our employees. We already have a teacher shortage in the state, a significant shortage. If we have to lay people off we might not have them back. “This is very serious and takes a lot of people with their heads together to figure this out in this room.” Chandler Unified spokesman Terry Locke
said, “If the Legislature doesn’t act, we would have to reduce our budget and eliminate any expenditures that don’t impact our student learning directly and also shift expenditures into other funds,” The 1980 measure puts a ceiling on how much K-12 schools can spend in a fiscal year with the cap fluctuating annually, depending on the previous year student enrollment. Most school funds are counted in the limit with the exception of funds such as pandemic relief money, federal grants and budget overrides. GPS Superintendent Dr. Shane McCord said the limit has typically been a technical
Controversial Morrison Quilts for Kids Ranch project is dead
BY CECILIA CHAN GSN Managing Editor
GETOUT..................... 28
FREE ($1 OUTSIDE OF GILBERT) | GilbertSunNews.com
T
he controversial proposal to increase the density of an apartment project at Morrison Ranch that led to charges of ethics violations against Mayor Brigette Peterson is no more. The Morrison Family threw in the towel and instead sold the 15 acres at the northeast corner of Higley and Warner roads to Texas-based Leon Capital for $9.5 million in December. The private invest-
ment firm has agreed to keep with the original footprint for the apartments. “It’s great news,” said resident Brandon Ryff, who’s been leading the opposition efforts. “What makes this different from before is they are not seeking any modification to the General Plan and has agreed to accept the original acreage and keep it low density.” Ryff and a few other residents last week individually met with the new landown-
see MORRISON page 6
see SPENDING page 3
The Quilting Club at Trilogy at Power Ranch recently delivered quilts to Sunshine Acres. Showing them off before they got there were, from left, Linda Egner, Judy Langolf, Janet Fox, Barbara Dierberger, Pat Parker and Susan Haga. But they and their counterparts in the club also have made some for sale at their annual show. For details, see page 17. (Photo by Jean Perin)
