At its March 20 meeting the Fountain Hills Unified School District Governing Board reviewed the District’s 2017-18 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report and voted on the issuance of new contracts for staff.

The meeting, which was led by Board Vice President, Dr. Wendy Barnard, in President Jill Reed’s absence, began with updates from Superintendent Dr. Robert Allen about developments within the district since the board’s last meeting.

During this portion of the meeting the board also heard a report from Fountain Hills High School Principal, Dr. Cain Jagodzinski, giving an update on school activities.

Jagodzinski highlighted the high school’s results on last year’s AzMerit test, which ranked as one of the highest in the state, as well as the school’s strong AP test scores.

Along with academic success, Jagodzinski pointed out how positive the campus culture at FHHS has become.

This year the administration has had to deal with zero alcohol issues, zero fights and only two minor drug issues that involved vaping, according to the report.

A portion of Jagodzinski’s report was also focused on highlighting projects from recent Rotary Club teacher of the month, Sierra Anway, and her life skills class.

After Jagodzinski concluded his report the board approved the consent agenda and moved on to the informational and discussion portion of the meeting.

Dr. Allen presented to the board the Annual Financial Report and the USFR compliance questionnaire results.

The annual audit of the district’s financial statement was done by the accounting firm, Henry & Horne. In their audit process the firm found no deficiencies in FHUSD’s financial statements.

The last time the District reported deficiencies was in the 2014-15 fiscal year.

ARS 15-271 requires districts to establish and maintain finical requirements from the Uniform System of Financial Records (USFR) in 20 areas.

Of the approximately 200 items on the questionnaire, only four items resulted in a finding or deficiency.

This continues the District’s four-year decline in deficiencies and findings found in the USFR questionnaire, a marked improvement for FHUSD.

After Allen finished his report the board voted to approve the issuance of new contracts for teachers, classified staff and the renewal of administrator contracts.

The new contracts will provide returning teachers a 5 percent raise, classified staff a 4 percent raise and administrators a 3 percent raise.

The school board’s next meeting will be on April 10.