Mesa Public Schools recently held its quarterly budget meeting to discuss a variety of issues related to funding in the district.
One topic that was discussed at the Dec. 3 meeting was the idea of rebuilding two adjacent campuses and combining them into one campus. An example used was combining Emerson Elementary and Carson Junior High into one campus under one school. Rather than renovating the two campuses individually, they would be rebuilt into one school.
MPS Chief Business Officer Tyler Moore explained that renovating aging infrastructure has diminishing returns, especially for campuses like Emerson and Carson that were built in the 1950s and suffer from deterioration to key systems such as HVAC. By combining the campuses, the facilities and utilities of the school would be modernized. But it won’t come cheap. The total cost of renovating both campuses would come out to around $83 million. The cost to rebuild and combine both campuses would likely cost around $95 million, according to a MPS presentation.
Moore said rebuilding and combining the two campuses would be more cost-efficient in the long run. While it may be more expensive to rebuild the campuses into one initially, Moore said the long-term costs of maintenance, utilities and more would be lower.
“There’s several efficiencies that you would get from a rebuild that you may not get from a renovation,” Moore said during the meeting. “You have operational efficiency, newer construction with way more efficient HVAC systems, electrical, plumbing, and all those add up to utility savings and longevity. Buildings nowadays are built to last 50-plus years, so you reset that cycle on a rebuild, but if you’re just renovating, you’re not completely resetting that cycle.”
Moore also said while adjacent campuses are somewhat niche in the district, there are a few other examples besides Emerson and Carson that the district might look into if the initial rebuild plan is well-received.
MPS Superintendent Matthew Strom said the board is looking to see if this concept resonates with the community at large before they decide to proceed.
“We have aging infrastructure with these buildings that were built 60 or 70 years ago, and are going to cost in the $80 million to $90 million range for renovations,” Strom said. “So we want to know if the community supports us trying to get capital funding to get reduced square footage and eliminate a school campus to get more efficient on how we spend our money on the operational side.”
MPS board member Courtney Davis, who has kids attending school in the district, said rebuilding is a smart idea in the long-term, but wants to get community input beforehand.
“We look at how old these buildings are, and I have kids at Emerson, and I will next year, and we’ve had all sorts of plumbing issues,” Davis said. “To keep bandaiding it is not feasible. I think the smarter idea is to rebuild. I want to get community input and know what they want.”
The next MPS budget meeting is on Feb. 26, 2026.
Mesa Unified School District is the largest public school district in Arizona and has six high schools, nine junior high schools, 55 elementary schools and 18 choice and success schools.
After graduating from Arizona State University's Cronkite School in spring 2022, Connor Van Ligten spent a little over year as a reporter for WWL-TV in New Orleans before finding themselves back in Phoenix in October of 2023. Now back in the Valley and writing for the Mesa Independent and the Daily Independent, Connor is ready to tell meaningful stories and report on important civic issues facing Mesa. Connor is a big fan of the 49ers, Warriors, pro wrestling, anime, dogs and fighting video games.
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