School District Names Roselle to New Community Outreach Position : South Mountain News | Phoenix Arizona Local News | Phoenix Newspaper Joe Roselle to a new position on the district’s administrative staff to serve as a liaison for the community and to improve funding sources through grants, business partnerships and other opportunities.

Dr. The new position, director of community partners and grants, encompasses grant writing as well as building relations between the district and the community.

“We recognize that our community, our parents and our business leaders have a really valuable and important role to play in our school district,” Johnson said. “

For several years the amount of money Arizona spends per child on education has been dropping steadily, which puts Arizona at 48th nationwide in a 2013 ranking of per capita spending for education, according to numbers provided by the Census Bureau.

Laveen Elementary School District, like many others in the state and elsewhere, looks to other resources to supplement the meager state and federal dollars that comprise their budgets.

“There’s no question about it that schools in Arizona in general are perpetually short of resources and the financial revenues to meet the needs of the students,” Johnson said.