Higley USD committee recommends override, $83M bond

By Tom Blodgett
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A “citizens committee” appointed to study Higley Unified School District’s financial issues has recommended the district’s governing board put a 15% maintenance and operations override continuance and an $83.1 million bond question on November’s ballot. 

The board voted 4-1 April 3 to accept the recommendation, though doing so does not send the issues to voters. That will require approval of a resolution brought forward from staff. Vice President Anna Van Hoek voted in dissent. 

The 14-member committee was formed last November at the board’s direction and met five times to study education funding and the district’s financial and capital needs. The district had bond questions defeated the past two years.

The committee ultimately voted unanimously at its last meeting to recommend the override continuance but on an 8-3 vote to recommend the bond with three members not present.  

The 15% override would support special education programs, increase teacher compensation, provide staffing to maintain average class sizes, maintain and improve elementary special programs, support gifted education and all-day kindergarten and provide educational resources to classrooms. 

Committee members were given three options on the bond: an $83.1 million bond proposal, a slimmed-down $53.1 million bond proposal and an option to not go out for a bond. No one chose the slimmed-down package. 

Two committee members spoke to the board about their experience with the committee and their support for the recommendations. 

Eric Braun, a district parent whose job is as assistant public works director for the town of Gilbert, said his job gives him “deep understanding” of the disconnect between local government and the public.  

He said it was important the district tell voters exactly what will happen with these funds and what will not happen, educating without lobbying them so that silence does not move them to a default response that the district does not need the money. 

He praised the way Chief Financial Officer Tyler Moore and staff educated the committee without pushing them to a conclusion. He said he initially was skeptical of a bond proposal. 

“As an infrastructure nerd, I look very carefully at the capital projects that were proposed by the staff to make sure that they were needs and not wants,” Braun said. “The safety improvements, the large facility maintenance improvements and the transportation proposal are all needs that will improve the educational environment for our students.” 

Vanessa Shepherd, a property control specialist for the district and a committee member, said she appreciated the way people on the committee with different views could unify to support the district. 

“I like being the best,” she said. “I have a feeling everyone in this room likes being the best. And Higley is the best.” 

One board member, Marty Bender, spoke in opposition to the bond recommendation during the public comment period, saying the district was wasting money on unused space in its under-capacity elementary schools. 

“Only you can help ensure that the district avoids truly the worst-case scenario: the bond fails, the override fails, and we're left with a bunch of excuses as to why we need to cut programs and staff,” Bender told board members. 

Van Hoek slammed the way the committee was conducted, saying Bender was treated poorly for expressing opposition to the bond and claiming voter survey questions were skewed to get certain answers. 

She also opposed the override continuance, which received unanimous support from the committee, saying the presentation of it as not increasing the tax rate is not true. 

“In reality, it’s a prolonged tax burden,” she said. 

We would like to invite our readers to submit their civil comments, pro or con, on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org. 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).