School Unification Vote Set

Voters in 76 elementary and high school districts will go to the polls in November to decide on unifying the districts into 27 entities. Arizona has 227 independent K-8 school districts.

State lawmakers established the School District Redistricting Commission in 2005 to draw up plans to unify those districts into larger K-12 districts.

Residents within 14 Phoenix districts will vote on setting up what would be the largest school district in the state and one of the 20 largest in the country.

The new district of 141 schools would be governed by 66 members of the combined boards from each district. If voters approve, the new governing board would have six more member than the Arizona House.

The commission said any outstanding bonds of a unifying common school district or a high school district will be assumed by the new unified district. Any debt authorizations from the individual districts will carry over to the new, larger district.

More information about the November ballot proposals to unify elementary and high school districts can be found at www.ade.az.gov/sdrc/.

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
MORE FROM BOND BUYER