by 
In Queen Creek, voters are being asked to vote on a 15% override to provide more funding for day-to-day operations for schools within the district.
A $40 million bond issue to fund necessary infrastructure and classroom improvements in the J.O. Combs Unified School District is on the November ballot.
Charie Wallace, CUSD Superintendent
Dr. Amy Fuller, FUSD Superintendent
Residents of Queen Creek and San Tan Valley will be asked to vote on school-related ballot initiatives next November 3. But the type of proposal will vary from where one lives in this area.
For all of Queen Creek, voters are being asked to vote on a 15% override to provide more funding for day-to-day operations for schools within the Queen Creek Unified School District (QCUSD).
In San Tan Valley, residents living north of Empire Boulevard and Hash Knife Draw Road are being asked to approve to $40 million bond issue to fund necessary school improvements for the J.O. Combs Unified School District. South of that border, a referendum to transfer three schools of the Coolidge Unified School District (CUSD) in southwestern San Tan Valley to the Florence Unified School District (FUSD) is up for consideration.
If Queen Creek voters feel they are experiencing déjà vu, it is because QCUSD is asking them for the third year in a row to approve a 15% override to increase school funding. The 2014 measure failed by only 340 votes while voters overwhelmingly approved an $80 million to fund capital improvements in schools and build a new middle school and high school on the northern edge of the district.
Under Arizona law, an override allows school district voters to approve additional funding for maintenance and operational expenses by up to 15% over what has been allocated by the state legislature. The override funds are raised through an increase in the local property for a maximum of seven years, which the override total decreasing by one-third in each of the two final years, thus requiring school districts to get overrides renewed at regular intervals.
QCUSD, which began the 2015-16 school year with zero override funding, would use the additional $4.3 million the override would raise primarily to attract and retain quality teachers by offering competitive salaries, said Jennifer Cochran, marketing and PR specialist with the district. While QCUSD has not experienced the steep turnover in teachers as some other districts have experienced in recent years, there is a need to raise teacher salaries to avoid a similar situation that could hinder the District’s ability to retain its “A” rating with the state, she explained.
The additional override revenues also would be used to reduce class sizes, increase academic programs that prepare students for college or the workforce, expand art and music classes, and expand and enhance athletic, ROTC and gifted programs.
Approval of the override will add on average about $244 to property tax bills for Queen Creek homeowners.
To promote approval of the override to voters, the independent group Yes to a Stronger Community has been organized under the leadership of Bobette Sylvester, past president of the Arizona Association of School Business Officials, who lives in Queen Creek.
In addition to creating the website www.yestoastrongercommunity.org and a companion Facebook page, the group has so far scheduled 143 events to promote override approval.
“We’ll be sending speaker to meetings of civic and fraternal groups, scheduling walks through neighborhoods, and hand out informational cards at everything from concerts to garlic festivals,” Sylvester said. “On a more sophisticated level, group volunteers will target known supporters for educational excellence and make sure they go to the polls on November 3.
“QCUSD needs the additional revenues to maintain educational standards as per student spending has dropped by $2,000 since the 2008-09 school year,” Sylvester added.
The QCUSD override has already picked up the endorsement of State Rep. Doug Coleman (R-District 16), who said in a statement: “As a former school teacher, former Mayor and member of the Apache Junction City Council and current member of the Arizona House of Representatives, I believe I have a well-rounded perspective of the politics of education in Arizona. (I also currently serve on the House Education Committee and I have served in the past as the Vice Chair of the Committee.)
“Arizona ranks dead-last in the nation for state funding per student for education. This is not a statistic to be proud of…and it is not the way to maintain the Queen Creek Unified School District’s outstanding rating. The state legislature funds education using a per-student formula. The only way to exceed that amount is to conduct a voter-approved override of the budget, which can supplement the amount per student by up to 15%. An Override Election is a form of local control, and voters determine how the money is used.
“As one who has seen all sides of the politics of education in our state, I urge you to vote “YES” on November 3, to help QCUSD recruit and retain quality teachers and staff, enhance educational programs and improve security, ensuring a safe learning environment for district children,” Coleman concluded.
For voters in northern San Tan Valley, a $40 million bond issue to fund necessary infrastructure and classroom improvements in the J.O. Combs Unified School District is on the November ballot. These upgrades will include school and building renovations and improvements, technology upgrades along with new classroom furniture and equipment, and student transportation (buses) upgrades.
Bigger ticket items include construction of a maintenance/transportation facility and district service facility to be built on land already purchased, located south of Ranch Elementary and Combs High School.
And the District wants to build a community auditorium with concert hall seating 800 to 1,000 people at Combs High School, providing a venue for student productions as well as a place to stage community meetings.
To promote the bond issue, a PAC has been formed by parents of Combs students and other interested citizens called Combs Kids Count Vote YES! The group already has a Facebook page promoting the bond, and will soon have a website at www.combskidscountvoteyes.com. Heading to group and whipping the promotional machinery in shape is Kim Bane, a Maricopa County probation officer who lives in San Tan Valley and has children enrolled in the District’s schools.
“We’re pulling out all the stops,” Bane told the Ledger. “To get the word out that the bond issue is a good thing, we’re printing promotional information on brochures, cards and mailers. Yard signs are in the works.
“But at the center of the effort will be the personal touch. Volunteers will visit homes within the District to promote a ‘Yes’ vote,” she added.
“A key event will be a Walk For Yes event on October 17 that will begin at the Buddy’s Pizza Plus on Gantzel Road south of Ocotillo Road that will fan out through the community,” Bane said. “We invite all Bond Issue supporters to attend and spread the word.”
Bane defended against early criticism by several Facebook posters that Combs doesn’t need “a performing arts center” (a.k.a. the auditorium).
“The auditorium will be for the students’ benefit,” Bane said. “At present, drama students have to perform in the Combs High School library, which has awful acoustics and windows that lets light shine in where is distracts performers and their audience. The only alternative is to lease space at auditoriums in Queen Creek and Higley.
But with our own auditorium, students will have a professional venue in which to perform, and the District can rent it out for other entertainment offerings or community events,” she explained.
In southern San Tan Valley, a November ballot initiative asks voters to shift the boundaries between two districts. This would result in the transfer three schools in an area bordered by Empire Boulevard on the north, Gary Road on the east, Arizona Farms Road on the south, and Bell Road on the west currently in the Coolidge Unified School District (CUSD) to the Florence Unified School District (FUSD). The shift, supporters say, would maximize utilization of available student space at minimum cost to taxpayers.
Going from CUSD to FUSD would be San Tan Heights Elementary School, Mountain Vista Middle School and San Tan Foothills High School. This action would enable FUSD to take advantage of unfilled seats at San Tan Foothills by transferring students from its Poston Butte High School, a school built to serve 1,890 students but currently attended by nearly 2,100. San Tan Foothills was built to serve 1,520 students but currently is attended by only 500.
The transfer would be especially beneficial to taxpayers, said Tim Richard, former principal at Poston Butte.
Adding San Tan Foothills to its district would save FUSD from having to build another high school in San Tan Valley, which could cost more than $40 million, he noted. In acquiring the three CUSD San Tan Valley schools, FUSD would get extra high school student capacity while only having to assume the $16 million still owed for building these schools.
To promote passage of the school transfer, a PAC titled Action For the Children has been formed under the leadership of Dave Downey, a retired teacher who lives in San Tan Valley. The group has put up a website at www.actionforthechildren.com with an adjunct Facebook page.
According to Downey, the group will stress the savings to homeowners in property taxes.
For the consolidation of all schools in southern San Tan Valley to occur, voters in three areas must approve them separately. The areas are: Coolidge proper, all of FUSD, and the Coolidge San Tan area/portion that would consolidate into FUSD. If any of these three areas reject the proposed shift, the school consolidation will not occur.
Approval of the school shift will result in property tax decrease in Coolidge proper of about $19 per $100,000 valuation, and a $12 decrease in the San Tan Valley portion of CUSD. Property taxes for the average homeowner will rise about $13, but Downey noted this rise is a lot lower than what would occur if FUSD took on building a second high school in southeastern San Tan Valley.
Another benefit to students would occur after some students at overcrowded Poston Butte transfer to San Tan Foothills. Students learn better when there are fewer students in a classroom and teachers can better provide attention to all, Downey said.
James J. Hodl is a career journalist who has worked for newspapers, magazines and trade journals. A graduate of Southern Illinois University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Journalism, Hodl began his career as a reporter with the Palatine (IL) Herald and the Morton Grove (IL) Review before becoming editor of the trade publication Appliance Service News. In recent years, Hodl has had articles published in Consumers Digest, Good Housekeeping, Home Remodeling, Kitchens & Baths and Salute; and has contributed to trade publications serving the home furnishings, restaurant and casino markets. A native of Chicago, Hodl relocated to San Tan Valley in 2013.
by by