On Jan. 22, the Education Committee of the Arizona State Senate held its first hearings on Senate Bill 1073. Proposed by Education Committee Chair Sen. Sylvia Allen, who represents the Verde Valley, the bill would affect school district consolidation, easing some of the processes that could apply to a potential consolidation effort between Mingus Union High School District and Cottonwood-Oak Creek School District.
According to Allen, the main focus of this bill is to deal with some of the potential problems of consolidation that arose in the debate over a consolidation vote in 2018. It follows on the heels of the bill passed by the Arizona State Legislature last spring, which allowed for a public vote on school district unification in certain school districts, if only one of the relevant districts voted in favor, as opposed to requiring all of them.
Among the many aspects of the consolidation process that became controversial in last year’s consolidation fight was the potential effect on Valley Academy for Career and Technology Education. Under the current setup, Mingus Union and Cottonwood- Oak Creek represent two of the five seats on VACTE’s board. A consolidation between the two districts would remove both from their agreements with VACTE, effectively ending their programs. Allen’s bill aims to fix that, allowing the new consolidated district to seamlessly keep previous arrangements with VACTE.
Furthermore, the bill would provide state funds for the consolidation process. Under current law, most school district consolidations require state funds to pay for expenses like changing marquees, websites, letterheads and school bus lettering to reflect the new consolidation district. However, the Mingus-Cottonwood consolidation would be a unification — combining a high school district with a kindergarten through eighth grade school that feeds into it — and under current law would not be eligible for those funds. Allen’s bill would allow $50,000 to go toward unification.
“Last year we left off language to incorporate the [Career Technical Education District] into the new district,” Sen. Allen wrote in an email. “Also, we need to add money, $50,000 to help with the consolidation election and transition.”
Whereas the Mingus Union High School District Governing Board — who have repeatedly expressed opposition to consolidation, including suing over last year’s planned vote — felt that the 2018 bill passed by the Legislature had been done over their objections, to the point where they were not informed of it until after it passed, members expressed a much more conciliatory view of this legislation, while still opposing the potential consolidation plan.
“It is a step in the right direction, but the bigger step in the right direction is to make a plan with the district you want to consolidate with,” said MUHSD Board President Lori Drake. Drake said she is happy that this bill would improve the process for consolidation but also said that she thinks it still does not fix many of the issues with consolidation that the Mingus board has opposed.
“This bill is about how the election takes place,” said Yavapai County School Superintendent Tim Carter, who maintains a neutral position on consolidation and would admin- ister the process if it came to pass. “It’s not about what happens after the election.”
“We’ve all done the work,” Drake said. “It destroys programming in our school and it destroys programming in their school.”
Both members of the MUHSD board — along with other anti-consolidation activists from among the community — and the Committee for Better Upper Verde Valley Schools spoke at the Jan. 22 hearing in Phoenix. Representatives of the committee did not respond to requests for comment.
The only aspect of the proposed bill that received heavy opposition from any of the parties or the Legislature was language that removed voters in Clarkdale-Jerome School District [whose board have voted against consolidation] from being able to vote in a consolidation elec- tion, despite being within the bounds of the Mingus district. An amendment has been proposed that would ensure that this language is changed, giving Clarkdale- Jerome residents the opportunity to have their votes count in a consolidation election.
“In clearing up language on how the vote would be counted in the election we left out Clarkdale-Jerome voting so that had to be corrected with an amendment, which will be presented this Tuesday and then the bill will be voted on,” Allen wrote in an email.
Jon Hecht can be reached at 634-8551, or email jhecht@larsonnewspapers.com
