At a school board meeting on Wednesday, June 6, the Mingus Union High School Governing Board voted unanimously to oppose plans to consolidate the MUHSD with Cottonwood-Oak Creek School District and ClarkdaleJerome School District.
This decision comes after Clarkdale-Jerome previously voted against consolidation, making COCSD the only one of the three involved school districts to support consolidation.
However, because of a state bill supported by Cottonwood residents in favor of consolidation that was recently signed by Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, SB 1254, a public vote on consolidation will likely be able to move forward anyway, with only COCSD’s approval necessary.
Last week, members of Committee for Better Upper Verde Valley Schools presented more than 2,000 signatures to Yavapai County Superintendent Tim Carter, surpassing the 1,619 minimum required to put the issue on the November ballot.
With SB 1254 having changed the rules for consolidation, MUHS school board members have expressed fear their vote against consolidation may have little effect. However, according to board member James Ledbetter, the vote clarifies the school district’s position in advance of a future public vote, and allows the school board to present its continued opposition in future matters.
“We voted unanimously in opposition to this because what’s being told to the community is untrue and just doesn’t make sense,” Ledbetter said.
The Mingus school board voted after consulting with school district counsel Susan Segal, of the law firm Gust Rosenfeld. The firm was previously asked to analyze the potential financial effects of the merger, and reported to the board findings that comported with the concerns of many of the board members — that consolidating the districts would lead to changes in tax structure that would lower the available funds for the new district, especially with the potential that the Clarkdale Cement Plant was left out of the new tax district, and that requirements for teacher pay could cost the district tens of thousands of dollars to raise the salaries of COCSD teachers to the level of Mingus teachers.
“The attorney confirmed our fears that expenses go up, revenues go down and the citizens in the smaller tax district will pay more,” Ledbetter said. “Programs will be cut. The attorney confirmed our worst fears.”
Advocates for consolidation have long disputed claims that merging districts would affect the tax base, and have suggested that state revenues, allocated per student, would make up for any loss of tax revenue if it did. Ledbetter argued that in the wake of years of education cuts from the state government, it would be risky to trust the state to make up revenue shortfalls.
In addition to the study on potential financial impact of the consolidation, Gust Rosenfeld alleged several potential legal issues with the consolidation vote. According to Segal, the petitions might not be valid to get the bill on the November ballot because SB 1254 does not officially go into effect until August. Furthermore, Segal alleged that since the ballot question makes statements about future savings from consolidation, it might not be valid if those statements are not backed up by fact. Thirdly, Segal expressed concern about the bill seeming to target the Mingus school district specifically, instead of being applicable to the whole state, which could be an issue under Arizona law.
The MUHS board voted to table the issue of legal challenges for the time being, though school board members expressed an interest in litigation if members of the community challenged the ballot question or the law in court.
Consolidation advocates have long expressed a desire to get this issue to the ballot and allow citizens to vote on it, taking it out of the hands of school board members and into the hands of the people.
Mingus school board members argue that they were elected by members of the district, and that to move forward against the wishes of both them and Clarkdale-Jerome is to take power away from democratically elected institutions.
“They voted the board in to do the best that they can at all times, to protect and make sure that the school district is healthy fiscally, and progressing the way that education should to do the best for our kids,” said MUHSD Board President Anita Glazar. To Glazar, going over the head of the elected representatives shows a desire to move ahead regardless of the potential difficulties of implementing the results.
Phil Terbell, an advocate for consolidation, refused to comment for this article after numerous requests.
Jon Hecht can be reached at 634-8551, or email jhecht@larsonnewspapers.com
