The Mingus Union High School District Governing Board voted 3-2 against holding a capital bond election during its June 8 meeting.
Beginning in November 2022, a committee formed by administrators, teachers, students and community members had been working on prioritizing capital bond needs for a potential capital bond election in November.
“The committee process involved the creation of values, goals and success criteria for a capital bond election,” MUHSD Superintendent Mike Westcott said in a press release. “The committee also prioritized renovation and new construction projects for the purpose of estimating the total capital bond expenditure that would be brought to voters.”
The committee identified five main areas in need of funding:
- Instructional support, supervision, safety and storage
- Student services and security
- Cafeteria expansion and secure building points of entry
- Safety considerations for parking, drop-off and traffic flow
- Lighting and energy use improvements
The district held a community forum in May to discuss bond options with the public and to hear feedback from voters within the community.
Arizona is ranked 48th in school funding by the U.S. Census Bureau and its schools received $5,548 less per student this year than the nationwide average.
According to a May 25 press release from MUHS, if it had received nationally-average funding, the budget this year would have increased by $6.5 million. Such funding would allow them to undertake large capital improvements, but at present the only way to raise the funds needed for those projects is through a capital bond election.
The bond amount was not to exceed $32.8 million. Westcott said that the amount was derived from hours of work and research.
Board member Misty Cox said that she was hesitant to ask taxpayers for more money and that the timing of the request could have been better, while board president Lori Drake commented that the requested sum was a huge amount.
MUHSD Business Manager Lynn Leonard explained that the only way the district can raise these funds is by issuing a bond, as the district is underfunded due to the state’s academic ranking and schools receive very few grants for capital items.
“I don’t think we’re being as fiscally responsible as we should be, to our community and our school,” said Paula Harold, a parent who sat on the planning committee for the bond. Harold added that she would support a bond issue in the $10 million to $15 million range.
Board Vice President Carol Anne Teague made a motion to approve the resolution as presented, which failed for a lack of a second. Board member Austin Babcock then made a motion to approve the resolution as presented with Teague seconding.
The board continued its discussion with the motion on the table, with Cox repeating that it was too large a sum focused on structural issues rather than academics.
Westcott noted that the largest bond the district has taken out was $15 million in 2006 and that even though the voters thought it was a lot at the time, it was passed by a margin of 70% to 30%. The 2006 margin was 5,493 votes in favor, or 56.83%, and 4,172 votes against, or 43.17% .
“We’re not asking for money, we’re asking for a bond,” Westcott said. “We’re asking for voters to vote.”
After withdrawing his motion, Babcock then made another motion to approve the resolution as presented, agreeing that it should be in the hands of the voters. Teague seconded. The motion failed in a 3-2 vote with Lori Drake, Anthony Lozano and Cox opposing it.
“It’s very disappointing,” Leonard said. “We put a lot of time, effort and energy into preparing what we thought was a solid proposal based on a lot of research and we were just hoping that the board would let the voters decide.”
