In a tight race that left the top five in a field of nine Peoria Unified School District school board candidates separated by only two percentage points, Rebecca Hill, David Sandoval and Bill Sorensen will fill the three open seats on the five-person board, according to unofficial results.
You must be a member to read this story.
Join our family of readers for as little as $5 per month and support local, unbiased journalism.
Current print subscribers can create a free account by clicking here
Otherwise, follow the link below to join.
To Our Valued Readers –
Visitors to our website will be limited to five stories per month unless they opt to subscribe. The five stories do not include our exclusive content written by our journalists.
For $6.99, less than 20 cents a day, digital subscribers will receive unlimited access to YourValley.net, including exclusive content from our newsroom and access to our Daily Independent e-edition.
Our commitment to balanced, fair reporting and local coverage provides insight and perspective not found anywhere else.
Your financial commitment will help to preserve the kind of honest journalism produced by our reporters and editors. We trust you agree that independent journalism is an essential component of our democracy. Please click here to subscribe.
In a tight race that left the top five in a field of nine Peoria Unified School District school board candidates separated by only two percentage points, Rebecca Hill, David Sandoval and Bill Sorensen will fill the three open seats on the five-person board, according to unofficial results.
Ms. Hill had 15% of the votes, Mr. Sandoval had 14% and Mr. Sorensen had 13% in this year’s general election.
Close behind were Linda Busam and Kirk Hobbs.
Also affecting Peoria Unified on the ballot were a bond and override.
Voters approved a 13% maintenance and operations override, with 55% in favor of the measure, according to unofficial results.
A $125 million “critical needs” bond failed, with 55% voting in opposition.
This will be the third bond to fail in the past five years.
The $125 million bond included $56 million for elementary school upgrades, $23 million for high school upgrades, $25 million for technology, $6 million for transportation and $2 million for district facility upgrades. The bond also includes $13 million to purchase land for a new high school in the northern part of Peoria.
The override is a continuation of a long running override that has provided about $28 million in additional funding annually for the district’s maintenance and operations budget. This includes teacher and staff compensation, all-day kindergarten, athletics and extracurricular activities, physical education, nurses and health services, art, band and chorus, assistant principals, reading and gifted programs.
The money is collected through district residents’ property taxes, and there will be no increase to residents’ tax rate.
Philip Haldiman can be reached at 623-876-3697, phaldiman@newszap.com, or on Twitter @philiphaldiman.
Philip Haldiman is a third generation Arizona native with brief residencies on the east and west coasts.
He has bachelor’s degrees in Theater and Journalism at Arizona State University, and is an award winning journalist with more than 15 years worth of experience in reporting and editing.
Most recently, he took first place for investigative reporting and third place for best sustained coverage or series at the 2023 Arizona Newspapers Association awards.
In his free time, he produces an autobiographical comic book about his time spent in Hollywood and his life as a cult film star.