Higley district puts override question before voters

By Tom Blodgett
Mail |
X: @sp_blodgett

Voters in the Higley Unified School District have a choice to make this fall: allow funding for better area schools or take a tax rate decrease. 

Higley is asking voters this November to approve a 15% maintenance and operations override district leaders say is critical to preserving programs, competitive teacher pay and smaller class sizes. The election is conducted all by mail. 

Superintendent David Loutzenheiser, just three months into his role, said the community has seen what one wave of override reductions has done to campuses and is learning what a second wave could mean.  

“The things that make Higley unique also are things that we can support through our override,” he said. 

Overrides fund a range of programs beyond state-required basics. In Higley, those include dual language immersion, arts and music at the elementary level, and career and technical education at the high schools.  

“When you roll back down to this override and the idea of the override and what the override pays for, it's additional things that our community wants that are going to make our kids successful,” Loutzenheiser said. 

He added the funding also helps keep class sizes lower.  

“Parents, when I talk to them, are very open about that, ‘Oh, this is impacting class sizes, right,’” he said. “(In) Higley, we've tried really hard to maintain smaller class sizes, and yet at the same time we know we're doing that because we have additional funding that allows us to have additional teachers.” 

Financial pressures 

The current override passed in November 2019 generated about $14 million annually, or an additional 15% of the district’s maintenance and operations budget. But as the override continuance election narrowly failed in 2024, it is now in the midst of a three-year phaseout period. 

Without it, the district has started phased reductions with the district losing 5%, or one-third, of the 2019 override per year over three years.  

“You're talking about reducing by that extra 15%, and you can do a lot to support kids with that 15%,” Loutzenheiser said. 

In the first year of that phaseout, Higley has reduced 80 positions and used $4 million from reserves known as budget balance carryforward to soften last year’s cuts. But Loutzenheiser warned further cuts will be more painful.  

“The impacts are going to have to affect the classroom much more, unfortunately,” he said. “And that's where we go into programs and people, which is what M&O pays for.” 

Taxpayer impact 

The district has added a tax calculator on its website to help homeowners see what the override would mean for them. Marketing and Public Information Director Jessica Bautista said the average homeowner would see an increase of $11.17 per month compared with the current year because of the phased reduction already in place. 

But HUSD Governing Board Member Anna Van Hoek, saying by email she was speaking not in her official capacity but only as a concerned taxpayer, challenged the district’s assertion of what the increase will look like. 

“My own home’s calculated amount is far higher, and when you use the district’s own override calculator, it comes out to $32, not $11, per month on the $299,000 property value they used,” Van Hoek wrote. 

The district’s calculation on the webpage shows the total amount to be paid per month and for the year but directs the user to their most recent property tax value via a link to the Maricopa County Assessor website. There, they can compare the calculated amount to their current bill to find the increase. 

Van Hoek listed other reasons for her opposition to the override. She argued the district is not making efficient use of its facilities. 

“Seven of our schools are operating at below 60% capacity,” she said. “Instead of optimizing use of space and resources, the district continually comes back to taxpayers for more.” 

She also expressed concern about declining student enrollment in Higley schools, saying the district must earn back the trust of families. 

“The reality is that fewer than half of the students who live within Higley’s boundaries actually attend Higley schools,” Van Hoek said. 

She also was critical of the recurring nature of overrides.  

“At the end of the day, if we continue with this pattern of overrides, we’ll always be chasing the next election just to ‘sustain’ operations,” Van Hoek said. “Meanwhile, classroom spending has fallen, administrative costs have grown and trust in the process has eroded. That’s why I cannot support this override as it’s currently being presented.” 

Bautista said residents often ask why district schools so regularly come to voters for approval on overrides when charter schools never do.  

“That is one of the most frequent questions we get from residents ... ‘Charters can do this without having voter approval for any funding, why can't you? Why doesn't it work the same?’ Well, they're not funded the same.” 

Because charter schools do not have physical districts, they cannot go to voters for additional funding. As a result, the Legislature automatically gives charter schools higher base funding per student than it does district schools. 

What’s at stake 

Loutzenheiser said without override funds, the district would have to make cuts that touch classrooms directly.  

“We were talking about increased class sizes for sure. That's got to be a given because that's an area where more kids per class requires less teachers, which would mean possible RIF, reductions in force or by attrition,” he said.  

He added salary freezes and reduced extracurricular support are on the table. 

Elementary specials such as art and music could also face changes.  

Music and the arts are among the programs that could take a hit if the Higley Unified School District's maintenance and override election question fails this November.

Courtesy Higley Unified School District

“We're trying to be upfront with people on this because I don't think anyone wants to be surprised having gone through it last year,” Loutzenheiser said.  

He noted last year’s cuts, including the loss of media aides, were difficult for families. 

 “Remember, we're making financial decisions that for people and parents is an emotional response,” he said. “So when you're talking about a relationship with someone on campus who's a positive thing for kids, and we have to take that away, the emotional response is, ‘my kid loved that person,’ and I get it.” 

Extracurriculars could also shift more of the cost burden to families.  

“We do support our extracurriculars pretty heavily because we know how important they are — the music and the arts that do not just happen during the school day, but athletics as well,” he said. “It would put more of the cost burden on the participants than it would the district supporting.” 

Bautista added staff have found creative ways to stretch resources.  

She used the example of Williams Field High School’s recent opening of criminal justice CTE classrooms being opened in a former storage area. The district did not have the bond money to build a separate classroom for the growing program. 

“You're forced to just be really creative with how you can get these things moved forward,” she said. 

The district also said teacher pay is affected in the override.  

Loutzenheiser said Higley’s teacher salaries were once below the state average, but the last override allowed the district to catch up and now move above that level.  

“We've made a concerted effort to put it into the teacher salaries because we know that that is an area that we can't attract and retain quality teachers,” he said. 

Despite the challenges, he emphasized his pride in Higley’s programs and staff.  

“To sum it up, we're so proud of what we do at Higley,” Loutzenheiser said. “We're so proud of what we do for our kids. We're so proud of the opportunities to be offered of them. And regardless of what happens, override or not, we want the best for our kids.” 

Please submit comments at yourvalley.net/letters or email them to AzOpinions@iniusua.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.  Tom Blodgett can be reached by email at tblodgett@iniusa.org or follow him @sp_blodgett on X. 

Tom Blodgett
Senior News Editor | Gilbert

tblodgett@iniusa.org

Meet Tom
Tom Blodgett joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2022, when the company acquired Community Impact Newspaper's Phoenix-area properties. Raised in Arizona, he has spent more than 35 years in journalism in the state.

Community: He has served as an instructional professional in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication since 2005, and is editorial adviser to The State Press, the university's independent student media outlet. He also is director of operations for an 18U girls fastpitch softball team from Gilbert.

Education: Arizona State University with a BS in Journalism. 

Random Fact: He lived in Belgium during his freshman year of high school.  

Hobbies: Tweeting enthusiastically about ASU softball (season-ticket holder) and grumpily about other local sports (pessimistic fan).