West-Mec governing board will hold its next meeting at 4 p.m. July 9 at its district office, 4949 W. Indian School Road. It is a public meeting.

At the meeting, the board will vote on the fiscal year 2008-2009 budget. The gross budget is $32.665 million. That figure includes $19.288 million for maintenance and operation - support that goes back to participating districts and day to day operations. The remainder, $10.290 million, is for unrestricted capital program, which pays for equipment and buildings.

West-Mec is a career and technical education overlay district that provides programs to 12 school districts within its boundaries. The governing board is composed of seven members, who represent the geographic subdistricts in which they live.

West-Mec District Superintendent Greg Donovan, appointed April 2003 at the board's inception, said, “Part of what is looked at in this whole process is that each seat has constituents in multiple school districts.”

The board member in Subdistrict 5 represents four school districts: Dysart Unified, Buckeye Union, Agua Fria Union and Glendale Union.

“The piece that makes it nice is there's no financial detriment for attending a CTE program in partnership with West-Mec,” Donovan said.

Of the $19.288 million maintenance and operation budget, $16.5 million rolls back out to program support, Donovan said, for satellite programs in school districts to pay for equipment, supplies and upgraded facilities.

Each governing board member serves a four-year term. There are presently two appointed members who are serving two-year terms.

There are four four-year terms up for election in November. One is in Subdistrict 3, which represents the mid-section of Peoria Unified and a great portion of the Glendale Union High schools districts. District 3 Board Member John Mulcahy has indicated he will not seek re-election. Governing Board Member Pat Galbraith said she is not seeking re-election in the Peoria Unified School District, but is planning to run for Mulcahy's seat.

Subdistrict 4 Governing Board Member Doris Flax is seeking re-election, and Randy Jackson has taken out nomination papers to challenge Flax.

Subdistrict 5's Garry Taylor, a founding board member, is not seeking re-election, and there is no word of anyone taking out nomination papers to take his place.

Subdistrict 7 Governing Board Member Frank Straka is seeking re-election, but there is no challenger thus far.