Arguments sought for school district mergers ballot

Arguments for and against a proposal to consolidate school districts are sought by the Yuma County school superintendent to be included in a publicity pamphlet for this fall's election scheduled for Nov. 4.

Superintendent Tom Tyree recommends county voters submit their views before the deadline of 5 p.m. on July 22. Arguments can be mailed to, Yuma County Superintendent of Schools, 210 First Avenue, or e-mail to, cmarquez@apscc.org, or send a fax to, 928-329-2008. They may not exceed 300 words.

"Obviously it will impact education in Yuma," Tyree said. "People want a plan that's the most efficient and that's the best educationally. They have to determine if unification is a good idea and if the plan crafted for Yuma County is the best one."

The proposal by the School District Re-Districting Commission aims to merge the current nine nonunified school districts into five unified districts.

The first district merges Mohawk Valley and Wellton Elementary with Antelope Union High School, the second would leave Hyder a single school district, the third includes Gadsden Elementary with San Luis High School, the fourth has Somerton, Crane and Cibola High School, while the fifth unifies Yuma Elementary District 1 with Yuma High School, Kofa, and Gila Ridge High Schools.

The commission was created by state senate bill 1068, signed into law in 2005 and created the plan for Yuma county. Tyree said he believes the commission will favor consolidation as they have proposed.

Some representatives of the commission will be holding a forum on consolidation in Yuma some time in Aug. or Sept. but the exact time is unknown, Tyree said.

"I have heard after the plan was devised the commission didn't allow for a lot of input from Yuma County," Tyree said.

"I hope the forum will allow people to ask the questions that will let them decide the measure at the ballot box," Tyree said.

But for some, consolidation offers no clear-cut solutions. Larua Noel, Wellton Elementary School District superintendent, said she sees "pros and cons."

She pointed out one advantage would be merged districts will have staff to fill in for those employees on leave or allow an employee to focus on one job rather than be distracted by multiple responsibilities. Yet a disadvantage is trying to cater curriculum to individual school populations.

"I really believe we can make it work either way," Noel said. "We routinely share programs with other districts now."

But Danny Millner, Mohawk Valley board president, said he would hate to lose the local governing board because he feels as though he loses the local vote.

"I don't want somebody in Yuma making a decision for Mohawk," Millner said. "Their concerns are not the same as ours. There could be some good things about consolidation, but the only problem now is finding enough people to fill all the different governing board positions."

Yuma Union High School District No. 70 Superintendent Toni Badone was unavailable for comment.

"It's a complex issue and the biggest challenge is getting accurate information so people can make informed decisions," Tyree said. "When you merge districts, you need to ask if it going to operate as effectively as the previous ones and proponents must back it up with data."


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William Roller can be reached at
wroller@yumaun.com or 539-6858.