Scottsdale school board members at odds over cuts to close $7.7 million shortfall

Members of the Scottsdale Unified School District governing board are at odds over how to make necessary budget cuts.

The district is looking for cost-saving options as it faces a $7.7 million budget shortfall. The board has already approved two school closures and was considering cutting the number of guidance counselors, but that raised concerns from students like Vivan Speyer.

“Part of the reason my brother was able to attend a top 10 university was because he and our counselor were able to have a relationship where she could write him a personalized recommendation letter," Speyer said. "If we cut down on counselors, there is no way for the remaining counselors to have enough time to really get to know each student.”

Board member Matthew Pittinsky was also concerned about cutting vital staff members. He advocated for closing more underutilized schools to preserve the resources they offer.

“The fastest way to continue to decline in enrollment is to do what seems fair and spread pain and spread costs and slowly dilute the quality of the experience.” Pittinsky said. “I would rather vote to close another school, again this sounds incredibly harsh [and] I don’t mean it this way, but if I was treating this as a business, in order to maintain the quality of what we’re offering.”

Other board members suggested cutting marketing dollars but some say that’s important to attracting more students. They’ve chosen not to change the ratio of counselors-to-students for now, which leaves the district with a smaller cushion of savings.