After a planned electoral referendum in 2018 was stopped by a lawsuit from the Mingus Union High School District Governing Board, an election on whether MUHSD may unify with the Cottonwood-Oak Creek School District could be coming up in November, if advocates can get the requisite number of signatures by June 1 to get it on the ballot.
The settlement agreement from the 2018 lawsuit, agreed upon by the parties as well as Judge David Mackey, does not allow the Mingus board to again sue to stop the election.
The Committee for Better Upper Verde Valley Schools, who argue that consolidation would save the school districts administrative costs, requested a serial number from the Yavapai County School Superintendent’s office, the first step in allowing for a consolidation vote.
The committee needs to accumulate signatures equal to 10% of the ballots cast in either 2016 or 2018 [the past two elections], whichever total is higher, in each of the relevant districts. This comes out to a total of 2,293 signatures. The CBUVVS has expressed their intention to go beyond that, and give themselves a 25% buffer.
“The CBUVVS’s main focus now is to use Judge Mackey’s petition language and collect our 3,000 signatures to get this question on the November ballot,” Bob DeGeer, a representative of the CBUVVS, wrote in an email. “It’s time to give the voters their voice.”
The petition language, approved in advance by Judge Mackey, reads as follows:
“Pursuant to Arizona Revised Statutes §15- 459c(B)(7), I, the under- signed, a qualified elector (regardless of party affiliation) of the county of Yavapai, state of Arizona, and of Mingus Union High School District No. 4 (which is made up of Clarkdale-Jerome School District and Cottonwood- Oak Creek School District No. 6), hereby respectfully request that the County School Superintendent call an election on Nov. 3, 2020, to consolidate Mingus Union High School District No. 4 and Cottonwood-Oak Creek School District No. 6 into a new unified school district, and further declare that I am qualified to vote in the proposed election for the purpose of consolidating public school districts.”
The petition asks signatories to give their name and address within the relevant school district.
At a meeting on Feb. 3, the MUHSD governing board passed a resolution opposing consolidation, arguing that it would not lead to the cost savings for the school district that advocates have claimed it would and would instead hurt the district’s revenues and lead to new costs.
“The committee incorrectly claims that the formation of a unified district will free up funds from ‘administrative services, plant operations and other duplicate support services,’ which could then be directed to the classroom,” one section of the resolution reads. “This suggestion has been proven false repeatedly. The difference between any possible cost savings and the need to equalize salaries combined with associated revenue losses would leave a new unified district in financial peril and unable to support the educational programming that our communities have grown to depend on.
“It is resolved that the school district governing board of the Mingus Union High School District, made up of locally elected and accountable governing board members representing our community oppose any consolidation of upper Verde Valley schools with the Mingus Union High School District.”
Eric Marcus, president of theCottonwood-OakCreek School District governing board, which had voted in support of the 2018 consolidation push, has indicated his intention not to bring up consolidation in any coming COCSD board meetings, leaving consolidation advocates without the elementary school district’s support.
