The long-expected vote on consolidation of the Mingus Union High School District with the Cottonwood-Oak Creek School District set for the November general election has been canceled.
The MUHSD Governing Board filed a lawsuit against consolidation advocates and the county superintendent’s office, resulting in a compromise settlement that canceled this year’s vote but allowed for a future consolidation vote pending a future petition drive, which according to the terms of the settlement cannot be legally challenged by the MUHSD board.
Before the settlement was finalized, the Mingus board requested a change that will enable a continued fight.
After the settlement, the Committee for Better Upper Verde Valley Schools released a press release celebrating “that Mingus Union High School has withdrawn its lawsuit and has agreed to never challenge a future consolidation drive to consolidate Mingus Union High School with Cottonwood-Oak Creek School District.”
At a board meeting on Aug. 27, in which the MUHSD board was set to approve the settlement agreed upon at the court on the previous Friday, the MUHSD board took issue with this description of the agreement by the pro-consolidation group, and requested a change in language to account for it.
The board voted to request a change to Judge David Mackey’s settlement terms, changing a sentence from “Plaintiffs will not legally challenge any future consolidation effort using this petition form in any future election cycle” to read: “Plaintiffs will not challenge the constitutionality of ARS §15-459(B)(7) or the form of the petition, and the petition’s language once agreed upon by the parties and the court, but will not waive their rights to oppose consolidation.”
Representatives of the pro-consolidation committee agreed to the change, having already believed that the agreement allowed Mingus to politically oppose a future consolidation drive even if they settled on not opposing the measure in court. But the focus on this allowance is a sign that the battle is far from over, even if the lawsuit is.
Phil Terbell, president of the Committee for Better Upper Verde Valley Schools, said committee members have not yet met to formally discuss next steps, but that he expected they would soon begin preparation for a continued consolidation push, likely with petitions for another vote sometime in 2019.
“There’s a whole bunch of things that need to be looked at,” Terbell said. He pointed to coming school board elections, when several of the most avid consolidation opponents on the Mingus board are not running for re-election.
“With the candidates that change over at Mingus Union, maybe they’ll pass a resolution to move forward, and a petition drive won’t need to necessary,” Terbell said.
Even if the school board backs down somewhat, the fight in the community over the direction of education and the various school districts is likely to continue.
“I don’t really feel that tensions have diminished,” said Mike Wescott, a Clarkdale resident and former MUHS science teacher who joined with the school board as a plaintiff in the lawsuit. “If the law had been thrown out as unconstitutional, I’m not sure that the folks who believed this was a good idea would have quit, or stopped their effort, and that’s certainly their right.”
Wescott pointed to previous consolidation efforts that have failed as evidence that the idea will stick around and keep getting attempted, regardless of the results of the lawsuit.
“I think, probably, as it has in the past, the only thing that puts this to rest for any period of time is a vote,” Wescott said. “Usually that’s what it takes to settle it, even if it’s only for short time.”
Jon Hecht can be reached at 634-8551, or email jhecht@larsonnewspapers.com
