Voters will be asked to create three separate districts

PHOENIX — Voters in the Yuma Union High School District will be asked next year to split it into three separate unified school districts. The plan approved Tuesday by the state School District Redistricting Commission calls for creation of one district which would include Yuma elementary district and the Kofa, Foothills and Yuma high schools.

A second district would be created out of the Crane and Somerton elementary districts along with Cibola High. And the Gadsden elementary district would be the third piece with San Luis High School.

Tuesday's vote came over the objections of Yuma Union Superintendent Toni Badone, who said her governing board has many concerns.

"There is no one on your board who truly represents our county,'' she said, meaning none of the members lives or works in the area. And Badone said that lack of local representation was complicated by the fact the commission had no hearings in the area.

More to the point, she said pulling the district apart will take time away from the main goal of administration, which is to ensure quality education.

"You are committing our time and our attention for three to five years,'' she said. "This will not happen in 18 months, it will not happen in nine months.''

But Raymond Aguilera, superintendent of the Gadsden elementary district, said splitting Yuma Union makes much more sense than the alternative of combining all four elementary districts into a single large unified K-12 district.

Aguilera said his area around San Luis is "very distinct,'' with 99 percent of the student population being Hispanic. He said this community needs to set its own "destiny'' rather than being a small part of a much larger district.

A similar sentiment was expressed by Luis Heredia, president of the Somerton elementary school board. He said creation of a single district would mean loss of local control.

The final word will be up to voters in each of the districts. They will have to approve the plans at next year's general election.

Also on the ballot will be a separate plan to consolidate the Wellton and Mohawk Valley elementary districts with the Antelope Valley Union High School District.

But commissioners decided that the Hyder elementary district, which also is within the Antelope Valley area, should not be part of that consolidation plan.

If the plan is approved, residents of the Hyder district would no longer also be in - or pay taxes to - Antelope Valley.

Instead, the Hyder district would be responsible for raising the taxes to pay tuition for the students from the area to attend high school.