On Jan. 16, Arizona State Sen. Sylvia Allen [R-District 6] introduced a bill aimed at dealing with potential issues in school district consolidation.
On Feb. 21, the Senate Education Committee voted 5-3 in favor Senate Bill 1073 and on March 13, the Senate passed the bill by a vote of 17-13. It will move to the Arizona House of Representatives before going to the desk of Gov. Doug Ducey.
The bill is aimed at dealing with one of the possible issues that would arise if Cottonwood-Oak Creek School District consolidated with Mingus Union High School District, as the COCSD board has voted in favor of and local activists have pushed for.
As state law currently stands, if the districts consolidate, they would sever their partnership with the Valley Academy for Career and Technology Education.
COCSD and MUHSD currently represent two of the five seats on the VACTE board and consolidation would mean neither of them would retain representation.
“If a school district that was participating in a career technical education district at the time that the school district was unified or consolidated […], the successor school district that results from that unification or consolidation shall automatically continue to participate in that career technical education district in the same manner as the former school district that was unified or consolidated,” Section 1 of SB1073 reads.
“We are glad it is moving through the process,” Yavapai County School Superintendent Tim Carter wrote in an email after the bill passed. “It will certainly help the VACTE situation … if there is a consolidation.”
Originally, the MUHSD Governing Board supported the bill. Though the district has repeatedly opposed consolidation, board President Lori Drake supported the bill ensuring that if consolidation did happen, it would not ruin the school district’s partnership with VACTE.
However, recent changes to the bill have led to the Mingus board changing its tune. The original version of the bill streamlined certain aspects of a potential consolidation election — which the MUHSD board also opposes — including clarifying the ability of residents of the Clarkdale-Jerome School District to vote in a consolidation election, and provided funding for consolidation transition expenses, such as changing marquees, websites, letterhead and school bus lettering to reflect the new consolidation district.
Those provisions were removed as the bill traveled through the Senate.
“I do not oppose fixing the legislation in regards to VACTE,” Drake wrote in an email. “I oppose taking away the union high schools rights permanently. That is all that remains in SB1073. Clarkdale’s right to vote was restored and the money to offset costs were removed from SB1073.”
The bill also includes language that would stop a bill passed last year to ease the consolidation process by allowing just one district to vote in favor of consolidation in order to trigger a vote form expiring at the end of 2020, as the 2018 bill stipulated. This change led to opposition from the Arizona School Board Association.
The Committee for Better Upper Verde Valley Schools, which has been advocating heavily for school district consolidation and spoke directly with Allen in favor of this legislation at the beginning of this process, heralded the legislation as a positive step toward their goal of a smooth consolidation between area school districts.
“We’re pleased that Sen. Allen was wanting to carry this legislation forward,” committee President Phil Terbell said.
“We look forward to getting that on the books here in Arizona to assist in school consolidations that may occur anywhere within the state. The clarification language she brought forward will be helpful to everyone.”
