No money to pay for merger, activist says

A northwest Phoenix activist says he is baffled why the Glendale Union High School District and its two feeder elementary districts are candidates for unification when the state has no money to pay for the merger.

As the Nov. 4 election approaches, education activists are ramping up their criticism of the unification measure, which they say is vague, lacks funds and is being handed to voters without an analysis of the long-term costs.

Voters will decide whether to consolidate 76 school districts statewide into 27 kindergarten through 12th-grade districts. The measure proposes to unify 34 districts into six districts in Maricopa County, including creating a 52,000-student district out of Glendale Union and its two feeder districts.

Rick Fields, co-chairman of Citizens for Quality Education, estimates that the Glendale Union part of the merger would cost up to $20 million.

Fields' cost breakdown:

• $1 million to buy and align software that lets parents track student progress.

• $1.5 million for a telephone system to bring districts onto the same line.

• $3 million for the cost of three buildings to house three administrators who would oversee three areas: elementary, junior high and high school.

• $10 million to align teacher salaries, excluding benefits and raises.

Because the State School District Redistricting Commission does not have a cost analysis, Fields said, the PAC decided to come up with its own.

He put the numbers together because when a merger is discussed, one gauges the situation and asks, "What would a merger cost?" and "Who would be paying for it?"

"We're not sitting here saying, 'It will take care of itself later,' " Fields said.

He said his cost is based on the financial history of northwest Phoenix district governing boards and how they dealt with shortfalls.

The commission does not have an analysis of long-term costs and instead refers inquiries on finances to the 2007 Arizona Auditor General's Report at www.auditorgen.state.az.us. It shows how much each Arizona district spends in classrooms and in administrative costs.

Jay Kaprosy, a spokesman for Maricopa County Unified for Student Success, a PAC that supports unification, said the commission chose not to make up numbers.

However, the commission left cost decisions to the governing board, or the new board that would be elected after the unification measure is approved, said Kaprosy, a former commission member.

The Citizens for Quality Education can't say what the decision of the new governing board would be, Kaprosy said.

"We are consolidating and not creating three new districts," he said. "The reality is that this isn't a one-time activity. The benefits of unification are long term. What they are floating is a possible one-time, short-term cost. So they fail to value the long-term benefits to students, families and taxpayers."

Marty Shultz, chairman of the commission, said if voters want to improve education in northwest Phoenix, they will vote for unification.

"(Fields) Rick has done this before," he said, "but I think he is making a big mistake and he is thinking about his own friends' interest."