RURAL VOTERS WARY ABOUT UNIFICATION

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1:38 am | 71°
October 06, 2008 |
Valley & State

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Rural voters wary about unification
Critics fear the affects of move on finances at various schools

2 comments by Greg Lindsay - Oct. 6, 2008 12:00 AM
Cronkite News Service

STANFIELD - Olivia Rodriguez graduated from Stanfield Elementary School in this farming and ranching community. Her four sons graduated from the school. Now three of her grandchildren go there.

It's the only school in the Stanfield Elementary School District, although the district is expected to grow in coming years along with the rest of Pinal County. Like Rodriguez, the school's 786 students move on to the Casa Grande Union High School District.

NOTE: STANFIELD IS A WELL RESPECTED ELEMENTARY SCHOOL.

The arrangement works for Stanfield, said Rodriguez, president and longtime member of the school board.

"Our kids are doing just fine," she said.

But things could change in November, when voters decide whether to endorse a proposal to combine the Stanfield Elementary School District with a piece of the Casa Grande Union High School District. It's part of a larger plan that would create seven unified districts out of seven elementary-school districts and two high-school districts across Pinal County.

The 13-member School District Redistricting Commission, created by the Legislature, presented Gov. Janet Napolitano with a plan that will have voters in 76 elementary and high-school districts around Arizona deciding whether to create unified districts. If all of the plans are approved, there would be 27 K-12 unified districts instead.

Forty-two of the districts in which voters are deciding on the question are outside of Maricopa County. Besides Pinal and Maricopa, counties in which voters are considering unification are Cochise, La Paz, Mohave, Pima, Santa Cruz, Yavapai and Yuma.

Gary Emanuel, an associate professor in educational leadership at Northern Arizona University, said many of the elementary districts considering unification were formed at the turn of the century, when fewer than 5 percent of the population attended school beyond the sixth or eighth grade.

"Elementary districts were formed first; some of the later districts formed unified districts," he said. "High schools were a late-19th century idea."

Proponents of the unification plans say combining districts can put more money toward instruction by reducing administrative costs. Opponents say it isn't clear how the plans will affect the finances of districts.

Rodriguez said a key issue in Stanfield was who can best serve the needs of students. She said most residents agree that the district as it's structured is doing that well.

"The needs of kids in rural districts are different than they would be in bigger districts," she said.

Like most districts facing unification votes, the Stanfield Elementary School district and the Casa Grande Union High School district were urging voters to defeat the plan.

Nancy Pifer, superintendent of the Casa Grande Union High School District, which would join with three elementary districts, said combining districts would require money the state hadn't provided. Her concerns include how to deal with differing pay scales and tax rates in different districts.

NOTE: PIFER IS A WELL RESPECTED PERSONALITY IN CASA GRANDE UNION HIGHSCHOOL.

She said her district already provided a seamless transition to high school for students from the various districts.

"Don't get me wrong; we're not perfect," Pifer said. "But we're working on that, and we don't need unification to do it."

Jay Blanchard, a member of the School District Redistricting Commission and an Arizona State University professor of psychology in education, said the biggest issue facing districts was fear of the unknown.

"These school districts have been around for 100-plus years, and most generations have an allegiance to their school district, an allegiance to their sports teams, an allegiance to their schools," he said. "And sometimes change can be scary."

But Chris Thomas, general counsel for the Arizona School Boards Association, said voters should be concerned about how much unification could cost because the state hasn't committed money to help districts make it happen. Thomas said merging salary schedules and dealing with contracts for duplicate services were two examples.

"My real problem is the uncertainty that will happen with the plan," said Thomas, who also serves as president of Madison Elementary School District, a Phoenix-area district considering unification. "Instead of a financial saving, there will be a financial burden."

The school-boards group is supporting the decisions of the local boards regarding unification.

Martin Shultz, chairman of the School District Redistricting Commission, said school districts are trying to throw people off by contending that the unification plan is incomplete.

"The resistance to change, you can cut it with a knife," Shultz said. "It's very thick. While I know it's meaningful to them, we're trying to improve education for Arizona students. This is very important to the future of education."

But for residents of Stanfield, Rodriguez said, the issue comes down to how to serve the community's children.

"We're not afraid of change," she said. "We want the best for our kids."

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* Ann16
* Oct-05 @ 11:42 PM
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The utility lobbyists controlled that commission. Someone needs to ask APS how much their taxes will go down while everyone elses goes up!
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* ReturnOfLongCat
* Oct-06 @ 12:19 AM
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I wouldn't get worried about this POS passing as it's so ridiculous I can't see that happening. There is absolutely no advantage to do this on a statewide scale and there is no advantage to do this to most of the districts they want to combine.
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More on this topic

Learn more about unification

Voters will have opportunities to learn more about the school district unification proposals this month.


• The Arizona School Redistricting Commission is hosting a public forum about the redistricting proposals from 2 to 4 p.m. Tuesday at the State Capitol, Hearing Room 3, 1700 W. Washington St.


• The Arizona Business and Education Coalition will host a public forum about school district unification at 3 p.m. Oct. 20 at the SGI-USA Phoenix Culture Center, 1930 E. Myrtle Ave. in Phoenix. Panel members will present both sides of the issue.


• Publicity pamphlets for the six plans in Maricopa County are posted at the Maricopa County School Superintendent's Web site, maricopa.gov/schools.

Campaign groups

In favor


• Maricopa County Unified for Student Success: www. yesonthequestion.com.

Against


• Preserve Madison: (Phoenix) www.preservemadison.org


• Preserving Phoenix School Districts: www.preserving phoenixschooldistricts.org


• Citizens for Quality Education: (Glendale) citizensfora qualityeducation.com


• West Valley Citizens for Schools: (Litchfield Park and Avondale) notomegadistricts.org


• Preserve Kyrene: (Phoenix and Tempe) www.preserve kyrene.org
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