Chandler schools explains its view of EVIT lawsuit

By Jason W. Brooks
Mail | X: @JasonWBrooks2

One of the largest school districts at the center of a recently filed lawsuit has offered some written explanation behind the action.

After Chandler Unified and eight other East Valley school boards decided this fall to retain the same law firm for possible action against the East Valley Institute of Technology, it was known a lawsuit was possible, if not likely, to get court direction on how EVIT and the districts will solve a funding dispute over career and technical education.

Those nine districts’ hired firm, Osborn Maledon, filed a suit Dec. 1 in Maricopa County Superior Court, asking for three declarations.

The suit calls for a judge to block EVIT from retaining any portion of funding generated by enrollment in the districts’ CTE courses that isn’t used to either directly support satellite courses and programs or provide services to the districts.

Attorneys also want the court to declare EVIT must document which goods and services, and the costs associated with them, EVIT provides to districts using the funds generated by satellite courses.

Also, in a move meant to address an issue that brought EVIT districts disputes to the forefront over the past year, the suit calls for a judge’s declaration about an intergovernmental agreement, or IGA, between EVIT and each district. Attorneys want IGAs with financial provisions that comply with the first two declarations sought in the suit.

Attorneys also seek injunctive relief needed to comply with the two main provisions.

“EVIT has stated that it will not pass through any additional funding until a new IGA is secured,” the 14-page lawsuit complaint states.

Chandler Unified posted a statement on its website days after the suit was filed.

“As you may have seen in recent news coverage, nine East Valley districts, including Chandler Unified, filed a lawsuit against EVIT,” the district acknowledged. “We want to ensure our community has clear and accurate information about this action and why our district chose to participate in an action supported by 82% of EVIT’s total district membership.”

After a March 2024 Arizona Auditor General’s report on the flow of EVIT funding called for major changes, the most recent set of IGAs sent out by EVIT to the 12 districts it serves were met mostly with opposition.

The districts’ main claim appears to be that their career and tech-ed satellite campus programs are to be funded less under the new agreements.

EVIT appears to contend it’s making the changes made necessary by the audit findings and is now funding programs at-cost, rather than using estimates that sometimes leave districts with carryover money at the end of each fiscal year.

Chandler Unified Superintendent Frank Narducci and CUSD Chief Finance Officer Lana Berry have both said in meetings that not only must Chandler wait for EVIT to pay it back for expenses, classroom remodels and equipment and other instructional satellite materials continue to rise in price, necessitating millions of dollars to be carried over from year to year.

“The goal is to keep high-quality CTE opportunities available for all students in the learning environment that works best for them,” Chandler Unified said in its statement. “As many of you know, our school pays all the expenses to transport students to and from EVIT’s central campuses, if that is what students elect to do.”

Three member districts — Mesa Public Schools, Scottsdale Unified and the American Leadership Academy — have signed new IGAs with EVIT. The remaining nine districts did not and, within the past few months, all approved agreements with the Osborn Maledon law firm.

The nine districts listed as plaintiffs in the suit are Chandler Unified, Apache Junction Unified, Cave Creek Unified, Fountain Hills Unified, Gilbert Unified, Higley Unified, J.O. Combs Unified, Queen Creek Unified and the Tempe Union High School District.

Berry said, in a Dec. 10 meeting, EVIT officials have not been willing to sit down with Chandler administrators and discuss or negotiate the intergovernmental agreements.

“For nearly a year, the nine districts named in the lawsuit tried to work collaboratively with EVIT to update the central agreement that controls how CTE programs are offered on local high school campuses,” Chandler stated in its written post. “The districts submitted multiple proposals, requested to meet jointly with EVIT to collaborate on solutions that would benefit all districts, and repeatedly requested mediation to work through roadblocks. EVIT rejected all those efforts.”

Conversely, EVIT makes the opposite claim. A media release via a public relations firm on Dec. 2 is titled “EVIT is disappointed but not surprised some school districts are choosing to litigate rather than negotiate.”

“The districts turned to the courts only after EVIT clarified that it would not seriously engage with the districts’ concerns regarding EVIT’s proposed changes,” the release states. “Recent findings show that some districts have retained millions of dollars received from EVIT rather than directing those funds toward student programs. This highlights the need for greater accountability and collaboration to ensure resources are effectively invested in student success.”

Chandler Unified’s written explanation said the terms of the proposed IGA significantly defeat much of the purpose of having options for students to attend one of EVIT’s two Mesa campuses or attending programs at their regular high school.

“The proposal included (1) limiting student access to CTE, (2) denying or retroactively stripping students of academic credit unless an entire multi-year CTE program is completed, and (3) redirecting millions of dollars of funding away from home-campus programs for reasons that remain unexplained,” CUSD stated. “These changes would have reduced home-campus course options by making many CTE opportunities available only through the EVIT campuses and putting students’ graduation at risk. The nine districts found these impacts unacceptable.”

EVIT counters that not only are its new IGA terms state-mandated, also, all the same services can be available to East Valley high school students with simply more fiscal controls in place.

“In developing a new IGA, EVIT followed the Arizona Auditor General’s recommendations to strengthen financial safeguards, protect taxpayer funds, and improve the quality of CTE programs,” EVIT’s Dec. 2 news release states. “Recent findings show that some districts have retained millions of dollars received from EVIT rather than directing those funds toward student programs. This highlights the need for greater accountability and collaboration to ensure resources are effectively invested in student success.”

No court dates have been set yet in the lawsuit.

“This effort is intended to preserve strong, reliable CTE pathways for every student and to honor what you — the voters — expected when approving a tax to fund local schools’ participation in EVIT,” CUSD wrote.

Jason W. Brooks can be reached at jbrooks@iniusa.org. Please submit comments at yourvalley.net/letters or email them to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as those meet our  Civility Guidelines.

INDEPENDENT NEWSMEDIA

Jason W. Brooks
News Editor | Chandler Independent

Jason W. Brooks joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in July 2021 as an associate editor. After a year covering Buckeye, he has covered Chandler since the fall of 2022, in addition to assisting the Daily Independent throughout his time at INI.

Education: University of New Mexico, bachelor of arts in journalism and mass communication, print emphasis, English minor.

Random Fact: He and his siblings witnessed a Space Shuttle launch and landing in the same year in person, on opposite coasts.

Hobbies: Karaoke, bicycling and American Sign Language.

Community: He supports animal shelters.