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School heads look to formulate plan
Thelma Grimes/San Pedro Valley News-Sun
Benson School officials joined other superintendents and elected officials from around the state Monday night to discuss the Arizona Legislature's freezing funds that has stopped construction of all new schools.
Calvin Baker, superintendent of the Vail School District, arranged the well-attended meeting, which had about 30 school board members and members of the Arizona Legislature attend.
Members of five school districts said they are all having the same problem. Classrooms are either overcrowded now, or on the verge.
Baker said while newspapers and the government continue to talk about a slowdown in the housing economy, five of the 200 school districts in Arizona are still experiencing growth.
In the current school year, the Vail School District has grown 7 percent, Benson by 9 percent, Sahuarita by 7 and Florence student counts has increased by 6.5 percent.
"These are real numbers," Baker said. "This is stuff that's really happening and not just school districts crying wolf."
Frank 'Chic' Maldonado, president of the Benson Schools Governing Board, said the problem in Benson is not as much the state's freezing all funds, as it is their way of calculating the number of students to the square footage the school actually has available.
Maldonado said there are a lot of old buildings at Benson schools, including the old and new gymnasium. According to state calculations, Benson doesn't need funding because the old gym counts toward the total square footage for classrooms.
Maldonado said there's no doubt that there is a major need not just for more classrooms, but with all the old buildings, for new classrooms in Benson.
"Besides new people moving to Benson, one charter school has closed and another is considering it," Maldonado said. "We get those students from those schools and the new students."
The Benson School District has picked up 100 new students this year.
Maldonado made the trip to Vail with other board members Bob Bernal and Brad Cherry and Superintendent of Schools David Woodall.
All the districts present agreed that they are concerned about the future, and in order to prepare for growth they must start looking for land and preparing to build a new school at least four years in advance.
Several superintendents also told lawmakers that now is one of the best times to lift the moratorium on new school spending and build.
"Of the 200 districts in the state, there are just a handful of us that are growing and need new buildings," Baker said. "So if we don't get together on this, we will be forgotten. Now is a great time to build because we get good value with plenty of bidders, cheap property, and building new schools is a great way to stimulate the economy."
One solution that was discussed was asking the state to start issuing bonds to school districts. Baker said this would have no immediate impact on the state budget and would help the districts move forward.
Tim Bee, the current state senate president, said the bond idea is a good one, but may not be an easy sell with lawmakers.
"The simplest way to address this may be to look for bonding for the schools experiencing the growth issues," Bee said. "But the state might be concerned with how to pay for those bonds, so there may be hesitancy by lawmakers to approve them. Another thought is for the state to turn authority back to the local level and let the school districts decide what they need for themselves."
Bee added that there are a lot of unknowns right now in the state capitol with Gov. Janet Napolitano planning to leave office two years before her term expires to take over as the U.S. Director of Homeland Security.
Senator-elect Jonathan Paton said with current secretary of state Janet Brewer set to take over for Napolitano, a lot of changes may be in store for the state.
"The situation is very difficult, the governor won't be leaving until the end of January and there is already some confusion with the transition process," Paton said. "There is going to be a lot of new leadership in the state, and we don't exactly know how all of this will shake out."
Also attending the meeting was lobbyist John Kaites, who told school officials that while these are tough times, they have to stay proactive and make it clear to lawmakers that their needs are real.
Rep. Frank Antenori, who was recently elected to the Arizona House of Representatives, said he is not a fan of the School Facilities Board, the state agency given the responsibility for approving the construction of new schools.
Antenori said schools should be funded by population, and districts should be deciding how to spend the money, not a state agency.
Bee said the facilities board was formed years ago after a lawsuit that stated disadvantaged school districts were being left out.
Paton agreed with school officials that there is a problem with the State Land Department as well, which is another roadblock for building schools.
State land tends to sell properties to the highest bidder and not to school districts needing property for a new school.
Bee said working with the State Land Department has been one of the most difficult parts of his job over the last eight years.
"With a new governor there will probably be new leadership at state land," Patton said. "With a new governor there will be new choices and you have to start asking questions about how all of this with the schools is going to be handled."
Bee and Paton recommended that the school officials continue down the current path, stating that pulling a meeting together to discuss the issues is a good first step. After coming to a consensus, the lawmakers recommended the school officials start contacting their representatives from the various districts.
Many of the school officials seemed pleased with the idea of working together for the common cause of getting the state to see that there are growth problems, and a freeze on funds is not in the best interest of education.
Benson School officials joined other superintendents and elected officials from around the state Monday night to discuss the Arizona Legislature's freezing funds that has stopped construction of all new schools.
Calvin Baker, superintendent of the Vail School District, arranged the well-attended meeting, which had about 30 school board members and members of the Arizona Legislature attend.
Members of five school districts said they are all having the same problem. Classrooms are either overcrowded now, or on the verge.
Baker said while newspapers and the government continue to talk about a slowdown in the housing economy, five of the 200 school districts in Arizona are still experiencing growth.
In the current school year, the Vail School District has grown 7 percent, Benson by 9 percent, Sahuarita by 7 and Florence student counts has increased by 6.5 percent.
"These are real numbers," Baker said. "This is stuff that's really happening and not just school districts crying wolf."
Frank 'Chic' Maldonado, president of the Benson Schools Governing Board, said the problem in Benson is not as much the state's freezing all funds, as it is their way of calculating the number of students to the square footage the school actually has available.
Maldonado said there are a lot of old buildings at Benson schools, including the old and new gymnasium. According to state calculations, Benson doesn't need funding because the old gym counts toward the total square footage for classrooms.
Maldonado said there's no doubt that there is a major need not just for more classrooms, but with all the old buildings, for new classrooms in Benson.
"Besides new people moving to Benson, one charter school has closed and another is considering it," Maldonado said. "We get those students from those schools and the new students."
The Benson School District has picked up 100 new students this year.
Maldonado made the trip to Vail with other board members Bob Bernal and Brad Cherry and Superintendent of Schools David Woodall.
All the districts present agreed that they are concerned about the future, and in order to prepare for growth they must start looking for land and preparing to build a new school at least four years in advance.
Several superintendents also told lawmakers that now is one of the best times to lift the moratorium on new school spending and build.
"Of the 200 districts in the state, there are just a handful of us that are growing and need new buildings," Baker said. "So if we don't get together on this, we will be forgotten. Now is a great time to build because we get good value with plenty of bidders, cheap property, and building new schools is a great way to stimulate the economy."
One solution that was discussed was asking the state to start issuing bonds to school districts. Baker said this would have no immediate impact on the state budget and would help the districts move forward.
Tim Bee, the current state senate president, said the bond idea is a good one, but may not be an easy sell with lawmakers.
"The simplest way to address this may be to look for bonding for the schools experiencing the growth issues," Bee said. "But the state might be concerned with how to pay for those bonds, so there may be hesitancy by lawmakers to approve them. Another thought is for the state to turn authority back to the local level and let the school districts decide what they need for themselves."
Bee added that there are a lot of unknowns right now in the state capitol with Gov. Janet Napolitano planning to leave office two years before her term expires to take over as the U.S. Director of Homeland Security.
Senator-elect Jonathan Paton said with current secretary of state Janet Brewer set to take over for Napolitano, a lot of changes may be in store for the state.
"The situation is very difficult, the governor won't be leaving until the end of January and there is already some confusion with the transition process," Paton said. "There is going to be a lot of new leadership in the state, and we don't exactly know how all of this will shake out."
Also attending the meeting was lobbyist John Kaites, who told school officials that while these are tough times, they have to stay proactive and make it clear to lawmakers that their needs are real.
Rep. Frank Antenori, who was recently elected to the Arizona House of Representatives, said he is not a fan of the School Facilities Board, the state agency given the responsibility for approving the construction of new schools.
Antenori said schools should be funded by population, and districts should be deciding how to spend the money, not a state agency.
Bee said the facilities board was formed years ago after a lawsuit that stated disadvantaged school districts were being left out.
Paton agreed with school officials that there is a problem with the State Land Department as well, which is another roadblock for building schools.
State land tends to sell properties to the highest bidder and not to school districts needing property for a new school.
Bee said working with the State Land Department has been one of the most difficult parts of his job over the last eight years.
"With a new governor there will probably be new leadership at state land," Patton said. "With a new governor there will be new choices and you have to start asking questions about how all of this with the schools is going to be handled."
Bee and Paton recommended that the school officials continue down the current path, stating that pulling a meeting together to discuss the issues is a good first step. After coming to a consensus, the lawmakers recommended the school officials start contacting their representatives from the various districts.
Many of the school officials seemed pleased with the idea of working together for the common cause of getting the state to see that there are growth problems, and a freeze on funds is not in the best interest of education.
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