East Valley school districts tout a court win in EVIT lawsuit

The nine East Valley school districts challenging an attempt by the East Valley Institute of Technology to reduce the funds it distributes for career and technical education satellite programs have scored a win in court, but the overarching standoff continues.

On Monday, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Christopher Coury ruled EVIT could not control the use of funds already generated by district satellite programs.

Under the satellite program, students can take CTE classes on their high school campuses rather than going to the two EVIT locations in east and west Mesa.

“EVIT was trying to freeze our Fund 596, which are funds that are generated for kids that are enrolled in satellite programs that attend classes on our campuses and actually don’t go to the EVIT campus but are served completely by the districts,” said Queen Creek Unified School District Chief Operating Officer Amber Bordes. “The judge ruled that that was not allowed and that we have the authorization to utilize those funds for any CTE-related classes that we provide on our campuses.

“It’s a huge win because we’ve always felt like those are our funds,” Bordes said.

The judge also ruled EVIT retains authority over the content and quality of all Career and Technical Education District programs, but it could not dictate how the districts spend money on vocational classes outside of the CTED system.

“Today’s ruling denied EVIT’s application for a preliminary injunction and rejected EVIT’s core legal argument: that districts can only spend vocational education funds on EVIT-approved courses. The court was unambiguous. EVIT was wrong. The districts were right,” according to a joint statement released by the districts.

EVIT Superintendent Chad Wilson stated in a press release that “we are grateful to the court for taking the time and the effort to sort out a very complicated issue regarding school finances and CTED funds. Unfortunately, this ruling does not provide clarity for the upcoming school year.”

Wilson stated EVIT will spend the coming days reviewing the ruling and determining its next steps.

By ruling that the districts have access to funds already generated, schools will be able to fund the satellite programs in the new school year but there will be no money for the following year unless an agreement with EVIT is reached.

Last fall, Queen Creek, Chandler, Gilbert, Higley, Cave Creek, Apache Junction, Fountain Hills, J.O. Combs and Tempe Union school districts sued EVIT when it attempted to reduce the percentage of state funds it doles out to the districts for satellite programs.

Under a now expired intergovernmental agreement, districts received 87% of their funding for satellite programs from EVIT. Under a new agreement proposed by EVIT, funding would be reduced to 83% with cuts continuing at about 2% to 3% each year for the life of the contract.

“In fiscal year 2024, EVIT collected more than $36 million in state funding attributable to satellite CTE enrollment, the students enrolled in district-run programs,” according to the districts’ joint statement. “More than $30 million of that was paid back to the districts, with EVIT retaining $6 million. EVIT’s proposal would have reduced that pass-through, with EVIT keeping even more dollars inside an administration that serves a fraction of the student population.”

The nine districts serve more than 25,000 students in career and technical education programs, while EVIT’s centralized campus serves about 3,500, the joint statement continued.

In a letter sent to parents in August, EVIT stated the proposed funding and structural changes to the satellite programs were the result of an audit by the Arizona Auditor General’s Office.

“Our previous method of calculating costs and allocating funds does not align with best practices used statewide. We’re asking to adopt the same funding structure used by other large career technical education districts in Arizona,” the letter added. “To be clear, this isn’t about EVIT wanting more money.”

Bordes countered that EVIT has yet to provide details on how they would use the additional funds.

“I can very clearly state exactly how we use those funds in our district and how they support satellite classes directly,” she said. “We have yet to hear from EVIT on how they would spend that money or why they needed more money for satellite programming for those kids that never stepped foot on their campus.”

The nine districts and EVIT have yet to negotiate a new intergovernmental agreement so neither the districts nor EVIT will receive any CTED funding this coming school year.

“We’ve been working over the last year, well actually 18 months, trying to get an (agreement) in place for both central and satellite programming because we know it’s important,” Bordes said. “We continue to come to the table trying to negotiate with EVIT and that’s been unsuccessful.”

For its part, EVIT stated that it has offered to fund the entire $4 million cost of busing CTE students to the main EVIT campuses.

“Our position has always been that we want what is best for all students in the EVIT CTED. That includes students who take these programs at their high schools,” Wilson stated in the release. “We don’t completely agree with the court’s ruling. But we respect the court and we respect the law and will follow it accordingly.”

Janet Perez can be reached at jperez@iniusa.org. Please send your comments about this article to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.