Unification poses uncertain hurdles, say educators

Education professionals in Yuma County say they don't necessarily oppose school district unification in concept, but they do object to the proposal as it will appear on the general election ballot.

The "Special Unification Election" ballot initiative will be decided by Yuma County and state voters in the Nov. 4 general election. The School District Redistricting Commission, created by Senate Bill 1068 in 2005, drew up a plan that could change how districts are formed, depending on the way voters cast their ballots, according to Yuma County School Superintendent Tom Tyree.

The commission's proposal would merge the current nine nonunified Yuma County districts into five unified districts:

• District A would merge Mohawk Valley and Wellton elementary schools and Antelope Union High School.

• District B would combine Yuma Elementary School District 1 with Yuma High School, Kofa and Gila Ridge high schools.

• District C would include Crane and Somerton elementary districts and Cibola High School.

• District D would unify Gadsden Elementary School District with San Luis High School.

• Hyder Elementary School District will remain the same as it is now.

Voters in each of the above five districts will decide on two questions that pertain only to their own district, except Hyder, which votes only on the first question.

For voters in the east county, defined in the unification proposal as District A, Question 1 will ask if they want to dissolve the Antelope Union High School District. Only if a majority of voters in all three current school districts pass the measure will it succeed. If the initiative fails in one district, Question 1 is defeated in all of the east county area.

For the rest of the county - consisting of Districts B, C and D - Question 1 will ask voters if they want to dissolve the Yuma Union High School District. Similarly, a majority in each of the current school districts must vote yes to pass the initiative.

Question 2 in the east county area will ask voters if they want to unify the elementary schools, with the exception of Hyder, with the Antelope Union High School District. Likewise, Question 2 in the remainder of the county asks if voters want to unify elementary schools with all the high schools in this area, Tyree noted.

Supporters of unification should vote yes on both questions, and opponents would vote no on both questions, Tyree said.

A split vote - yes on Question 1 and no on Question 2, or no on Question 1 and yes on Question 2 - may create a legal dilemma as to what the outcome means, Tyree said.

Results could be an elementary school district would remain as it is while there might be four different high school districts and not resolve the intended problem, yet others dispute this and it is a matter the state attorney general may have to decide, Tyree explained. He added that Vista School, an alternative school, was left out of the commission's plan.

Yuma educators made their concerns about the ballot proposals known this week at a meeting in Yuma of the Southwest Arizona Futures Forum.

The SAFF is a nonpartisan advisory body created in 2005 in response to the burgeoning growth in Yuma County. Its aim is to make recommendations that can be used by the private and public sectors to coordinate planning.

Previous forums discussed land use, transportation, the economy, water use and the quality of life.

Kim Owens, a consultant to the Arizona School Boards Association, opened the Yuma forum with an overview of unification. Owens noted that unification could cut administrative costs.

"There was anecdotal evidence that if you had four administrators, four transit directors, four food service directors, but then reduced it to one, you could then cut a lot of salaries and put money into the classroom," Owens said.

"But the commission never presented any evidence of a formula or plan where that happens. The reality is, it never plays out that way."

A panel of school governing board members raised a number of concerns.

Brenna Paulin, Crane board president, said unification would shift the focus away from academic achievement and impact parents' ability to make their opinion known. She added that Crane officials sent a letter to the commission expressing their preference for local control and desire to have a Yuma representative on the 13-member commission but it was never acknowledged.

Philip Townsend, YUHSD board president, said the unification proposal was not a plan and nothing more than a map. He also said while nobody was opposed to unification, the plan that is on the ballot is a "true mess."

Greg Wilkinson, District 1 board president, noted his district - the eighth largest in the state - would more than double under unification.

"We will need an additional $3 to $4 million to pull this off," Wilkinson said. "Where does the money come from? The commission said, 'you have to work it out.'"

A panel of school superintendents also voiced their concerns.

Darwin Stiffler, District 1 superintendent, noted that school personnel's desire is to serve the community and if voters favor unification, their job is "to make it work."

Yet, he added, there were a number of challenges to implementing unification, noting that the Yuma Education Consortium, which already pools resources for transportation, technology and purchasing among District 1, YUHSD, Arizona Western College and Northern Arizona University-Yuma will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to replace if unification goes ahead.

Toni Badone, YUHSD superintendent, recognized that kindergarten through 12th grade alignment aids student achievement, yet the proposed plan overlooks the fact that 57 percent of students in the district are impoverished, and research has shown they do not do as well in a large district.

Bob Klee, Antelope superintendent, expressed a similar opinion of many present, that educators do not oppose unification if voters want it, but they oppose being told by the commission how to achieve it.

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