EVIT, East Valley school districts reach deal

By Janet Perez
Mail | X: @AzNewsmedia

After more than a year of legal wrangling, nine East Valley school districts and the East Valley Institute of Technology have hammered out a new agreement that affects thousands of career and technical education students this school year.

In exchange for reducing “pass through” funding to CTE satellite programs on various school campuses, EVIT will foot the bill to transport students from schools to its main campus in Mesa. Transportation had been a local district expense under past agreements.

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

The nine districts had refused to sign any new contracts that called for the funding they received from EVIT for the satellite programs to be reduced from 87% to 83%, with the districts still paying for transportation.

Under the new deal, EVIT funding to campuses has been reduced to 76%, but EVIT will absorb $5 million in transportation costs to get students to its campus.

“The EVIT Governing Board made a deliberate decision to invest in our students and their futures,” EVIT Superintendent Chad Wilson stated in a press release. “This investment ensures that a student’s opportunity to participate in a career pathway is not determined by their ability to get to campus.”

For local districts, the deal is still a net gain.

For example, the reduced funding will cost the Queen Creek Unified School District $266,780 this school year. However, the district will save $450,000 in transportation costs for a net benefit of $183,220.

“From a financial and operational perspective, this agreement represents a significantly stronger outcome than what was originally proposed. Had QCUSD accepted the initial terms, our district would have continued to absorb transportation costs while receiving less funding for student programs,” according to a statement by Amber Bordes, QCUSD’s chief operating officer. “Instead, we negotiated an agreement that transfers transportation responsibility to EVIT, protects district resources and results in a stronger overall financial position.”

The protracted legal battle did clarify EVIT limits on controlling quality and funding for CTE courses.

On June 29, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Christopher Coury ruled that while EVIT retains authority over the content and quality of all Career and Technical Education District programs, it could not dictate how the districts spend money on vocational classes outside of the CTED system.

The judge also ruled EVIT could not control the use of funds already generated by district satellite programs.

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.

Janet Perez
News Editor | Queen Creek & San Tan Valley

jperez@iniusa.org

Meet Janet
Janet Perez joined Independent Newsmedia as editor of the Queen Creek Independent and Florence Independent in 2020. She started her career in 1989 with the Gannett-owned El Paso Times. In 1992, she moved to Tempe and has worked in newspapers, magazines, radio and television. She left Arizona for three years to work at New Mexico State University and Baylor University before returning to work at Arizona State  University. Missing the business, she went back to journalism in 2017.

Community: A long-time pet owner, she supports animal welfare causes.

Education: University of Texas at El Paso with a BA in journalism and a minor in political science. 

Random Fact: She had a head full of random facts.  

Hobbies: Reading, watching documentaries, cooking and playing with her dogs.