| State may take over Saddle Mountain district | |
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By Emily McCann West Valley View - Litchfield Park, Arizona | |
A House Bill passed by the Legislature May 24 is bittersweet for the Saddle Mountain Unified School District in Tonopah. On one hand, HB 2305 allows the district to pay back its approximate $3.5 million debt in five years, but it also requires the state to step in and oversee the district's future spending. The district has overspent its maintenance and operations budget for the past three fiscal years, and is projected to be over-budget again this year. In 2004, the district exceeded its budget by 11 percent. However, in 2005 and 2006, that amount increased to 40 and 56 percent, respectively. In January, a group of community members set out to have the district declared insolvent. Paul Roetto, one of the group leaders, doesn't see the bill as a victory. "I'm looking back and saying, 'What did we do wrong? Why didn't we get here sooner?' And the other thing is, this is like an addict admitting we have a problem," he said. "I feel we've finally got the person in rehab, now let's see if we can get them sober." The group argued the district has wasted capital funds on "extravagant purchases" and cited the purchase of a $500,000 synthetic-turf football field for the high school as an example. Superintendent Roxanne Morris cites an increase in enrollment, a need for competitive teacher salaries, maintenance of its own wastewater treatment plant and higher utility bills as some of the reasons for the district's financial instability. "They are over their allocated budget right now and what this will do is allow them, on paper, to spread this out over a five-year period, the pay-back amount," said Ted Carpenter, deputy superintendent for the Maricopa County Superintendent of Schools. "By doing that, then they're within their budget this year and we can issue those checks." Accrued interest is also required to be paid back at a rate determined by the superintendent of public instruction. The Colorado City Unified School District in northern Arizona is the only other school district in the state to be forced into receivership. The district buried itself in $1.8 million debt after purchasing a plane and cars for its administrators. "If this bill is signed by the governor, we'll be able to issue the warrants for the Saddle Mountain School District," Carpenter said. In the meantime, Morris filed a civil lawsuit May 23 against Superintendent of Schools Sandra Dowling to force her to honor warrants despite the district being over budget. An emergency hearing was scheduled for May 25. State control The bill also states the state board of education can immediately appoint a receiver. The State Board of Education will be convening sometime in the near future to comply with the bill and place the district in receivership, said Vince Yanez, Arizona Department of Education executive director. "The board has a list of qualified receivers so we'll select one of them," he added. "Once that is done, that firm or that person will be in complete and total control of that school district." The Saddle Mountain school board will still exist and continue to function, however, the receiver has ultimate authority, Yanez said. "The receiver actually has the ability to override decisions of the Governing Board if it's determined that it's necessary," he said. "Hopefully it wouldn't be, but the receiver has that type of authority." It's unsure exactly when a receiver will be appointed, but Yanez said, "It will be very soon." "I'm taking it as a positive," Board President Gary Burton said. "It's unfortunate, I think, that they added the receivership, but a fresh set of eyes going over our books and taking a look at things, they may find some other things and they may decide that we've done our due diligence and everything looks good and there's nothing more to do." Possibility of veto Gov. Janet Napolitano will make a decision this week on whether or not to approve the bill. "If it doesn't pass, then we'll have to address that whenever we cross that," Carpenter said. "Right now it looks as if it has passed, so we're operating under the assumption that it has passed both the Senate and the House." Yanez said it's "absolutely" a possibility for the district to be shut down if the bill isn't passed. Right now, the law states a district has two years to pay back debt. "If the bill doesn't pass, then the payback is going to be considerably larger and there's a real possibility that the school district could not function next year," he said. "In that case, we would be working on options for that community for the 2007-08 school year." "That is a true possibility," Burton said. "For us to pay back what we owe out of an $8 million budget would devastate our district. That's why it's so important that this House bill gets passed. That's why even though they added the receivership clause, I still supported the bill in its entirety, because I know how important it is for our district to get this passed." While Yanez doesn't know what the options are yet, he said, "Certainly we would have to find some way to get them to school." Busing pupils "I've been told that we'd probably end up being a transportation district, which would mean our kids would be sent to Buckeye or Verrado. That would definitely be a bad thing," said Tonopah resident, Dawn Weaver, who has a daughter in seventh grade at Ruth Fisher Elementary. "I really hope this bill passes and we can move forward, because it's just been allowed to go way too far." "We're very optimistic," Morris said. "There are six districts that are counting on this legislation, so I have good faith that the Governor will sign it." The Saddle Mountain District encompasses more than 500 square miles and currently has two functioning schools. Tonopah Valley High School has a capacity of 800 students; 310 are enrolled. Ruth Fisher has about 970 pupils, but was built to house 700. Last year the district broke ground on two elementary schools, Tartesso and Winter's Well. The latter is on track to open in the fall and will accommodate 571 pupils in grades kindergarten through sixth grade, 335 of whom will be moved over from Ruth Fisher. Tartesso Elementary is designed to hold 800 students, but less than 200 pupils are enrolled so far. District officials are unsure if the school will open this fall as planned. Emily McCann can be reached by e-mail at emccann@westvalleyview.com. | |
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WestValleyView.com Originally published May 25, 2007 | |
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