Ballot Math / School districts / Paradise Valley Unified
School board race and measures: Paradise Valley Unified School District

Paradise Valley Unified: three educators for two seats, and two override renewals

November 3, 2026 general election. Nonpartisan, at large: vote for up to two for the board. Paradise Valley Unified School District No. 69 has no incumbent on this ballot; all three candidates come out of education. The district also asks to renew both of its overrides: the 15 percent maintenance and operations override and the district additional assistance override.
How this race works: two of the board's five seats are up, both for four-year terms. Three candidates are on the ballot; vote for up to two and the top two win. Board service is unpaid.

Catherine Barrett

Twenty-five years in education, including classroom teaching and state-level leadership at the Arizona Department of Education. She campaigns explicitly on nonpartisanship: she holds a Forward Party endorsement and argues the board is a public service job, not a party prize, while characterizing the opposing side as party endorsed.
  • Stated priorities: keeping students at the center of decisions, using her knowledge of how education funding works and how state dollars reach districts, teacher retention, and measuring success by reading scores, math proficiency, graduation rates, and student safety rather than party alignment.

Richard "Rick" Ross

Thirty-four years as an educator inside Paradise Valley Unified itself: he created the choral program at Greenway Middle School and later served as Dean of Students at Shadow Mountain High School, working on attendance and positive behavior support. He was involved in 19 contract negotiations.
  • Stated priorities: maximizing resources, positive and safe learning paths, and better communication and collaboration with community stakeholders.

Kea Carota

A district parent and a volunteer inside the district for the past 14 years.
  • Stated priorities: well-supported schools where students can learn and grow, rigorous education and opportunities for all learners, and stability for the district.

The overrides: renewing both, at the same rates

In one sentence: Paradise Valley Unified may keep exceeding its state operating budget by 15 percent for seven more years (an estimated $29,400,000 in the first year), and may keep exceeding its capital budget under the district additional assistance override by the lesser of $6,730,000 or 10 percent of its revenue control limit per year, also for seven years.

Overrides are operating and capital budget authority, not borrowing. The maintenance and operations (M&O) override funds salaries, class sizes, and programs. The district additional assistance (DAA) override funds capital items such as buses, technology, and building needs. Both are renewals: the district estimates both tax rates stay approximately where they are now, the M&O override at an estimated $0.58 per $100 of net assessed value and the DAA override at an estimated $0.13 per $100. If an override is not renewed, the authority phases down over its final years and then ends, and the district budget falls by that amount.

The math for your household

About $178 a year combined, on a home with $25,000 of net assessed value

The M&O override at $0.58 per $100 works out to about $145 a year, and the DAA override at $0.13 per $100 to about $32.50 a year, on a home with $25,000 of net assessed value (roughly a $250,000 market value home at the 10 percent residential assessment ratio). Because these are renewals, a yes keeps roughly that amount in your tax bill; a no removes it gradually as the overrides phase down.

A YES vote (each question)

The override continues at its current level for seven years, funding the operating and capital budgets at the amounts above.

A NO vote (each question)

That override phases down and then expires, and the district cuts or absorbs roughly that amount from the corresponding budget.

The strongest case for YES

  • It is a renewal, not an increase. The district's own estimates hold both rates at current levels; a yes votes to keep funding the district already budgets around, including teacher pay support that retention focused candidates on this same ballot call the district's core challenge.
  • Phase-downs are blunt. Operating cuts land on class sizes and programs because salaries are the operating budget.

The strongest case for NO

  • Renewal should not be automatic. Opponents of overrides generally argue that seven more years at the same rate deserves a showing that the money produced results, and that a no is the only leverage taxpayers have to demand one.
  • "No increase" still means keep paying. Without renewal these amounts come off the tax bill over time; a yes chooses to keep paying them.

Verification notes

  • School board campaigns file finance reports with Maricopa County. No raised or spent totals for these campaigns appeared in the coverage we reviewed; we print no totals rather than guess.
  • No proposition numbers for the two Paradise Valley questions were found in the district or county sources we checked; the district presents them unnumbered.
  • No organized opposition arguments for these two renewals were found in the sources reviewed; the case against above is stated in the general terms override opponents use, and is labeled as such rather than attributed to a named local campaign.

How to vote without getting your ballot rejected

  • Mail it by Tuesday, October 27, 2026. After that day, do not mail it: use a drop box or a vote center instead.
  • It must be received by 7 p.m. on Election Day, Tuesday, November 3. Postmarks do not count.
  • Sign and date the affidavit envelope, and write a current phone number on it.
  • Leaving any item blank is allowed. The board race and each override are separate items; answer any, all, or none.

Sources

Ballot Math: analysis only, no endorsements. Every candidate in this race got the same template: background, stated priorities, the record that exists, and honest notes where the record is thin.