By Philip Haldiman, Independent Newsmedia

Some 300 parents at a public meeting last week voiced their objections to proposed new elementary school boundaries in north Peoria, which would force some children into different campuses next academic year.

Peoria Unified School District parents and guardians raised concerns ranging from their children losing their social network to public safety.

If the proposed boundary map is approved, some children would have had to move up to three times during their schooling, some parents said.

The schools affected are Apache, Coyote Hills, Frontier, Lake Pleasant, Parkridge, Sunset Heights, Vistancia and Zuni Hills.

The schools are located north of Bell Road, and the district boundary goes to the Yavapai County line, an area that has seen explosive growth in the last 10 years, which has led to overcrowding in some schools and accounted for the need to re-draw certain school boundaries.

If approved by the district governing board, the new boundaries would go into effect for the 2017-18 school year.

PUSD spokeswoman Danielle Airey said being the fourth largest district in the state, redrawing boundaries is no easy task, but it is important to hear everybody’s concerns.

This may not be a final proposal, she said.

“During times of growth it’s not unusual to look at moving school boundaries,” Ms. Airey said.

Map boundaries are based on total development build-out in north Peoria.
Total enrollment for the eight affected elementary schools are estimated to reach 18,287 at build-out, according to preliminary data.

Projected students are based on 0.5 children per current home and projected homes.

Staffers from the city’s Planning and Zoning Department were not on the Boundary Committee, but some parents wondered why they did not take any safeguards against over-development in north Peoria, and allow it to continue when schools are at capacity in the area.

K-12 administrator Steve Savoy said PUSD staff meets quarterly with Planning and Zoning officials.

“We know this is a high-growth area, but if people have a piece of land, it is hard for us to say you can’t develop your land,” Mr. Savoy said.

Parent Doug Jacobs who lives adjacent to Liberty High School in Meadows, a Maracay Homes project that has not yet reached build-out, said he moved into the area with the district in mind.

He said the proposal accounts for homes in the development that are not yet inhabited, and asked why those seats could not be made available to children right now.

Mr. Savoy said the Boundary Committee would consider those numbers and similar complaints that have been received, but it would not address the long-term solution.

“It is a good thought because nobody is living there,” Mr. Savoy said.

While many people in attendance did not support the proposed map, they did support the long-term solution of a new school bond.

“If you want the bond to pass, I don’t think it would be effective to piss-off this many people,”  Mr. Jacobs  said.

The district placed a $198 million bond in the November 2016 election, which would have paid for new schools in north Peoria. Voters, however, rejected that measure and the district is now considering placing another bond on the November ballot.

Although parents jeered Maracay President Andy Warren, who said he represents current and future homeowners, as well as his company, he also supported the bond.

He said a big motivation to move into a community like the Meadows is to enjoy the entire fabric of living in a master-planned development, which includes playing with the neighborhood kids in parks, enjoying community amenities and growing up together in the same schools. He added Maracay is competing with several other builders and future builders in north Peoria and the proposed boundaries puts his company at a competitive disadvantage.

“The (proposed) border carves out one portion of the Meadows and rips it out from the fabric of the master plan and sets it into a different set of schools, which are fine schools, but it works at cross purposes to the intentions of the people who want to move into the community,” Mr. Warren said. “So, it really is not just matter of school choice but a lifestyle choice that people make when they move into these communities.”

However, he concluded that Maracay wants to help with the possible bond election.

“What we really want to do is rally with the rest of the community and get to the real solution, which is the bond,” he said. “We want  to focus on the bond. The district needs the resources and we want to roll-up our sleeves and work with the community and the district to solve the problem.”

Ms. Airey said much of the challenge the district faces with growth lies at the state level — the PUSD budget has been cut $250 million since 2009 along with a reduction in the capital budget.

“That is a significant amount of money when you consider the number of students we need to educate,” she said. “Serving every student in the district requires a certain level of support that we don’t adequately get from  the state.”

In Peoria, elementary schools are assigned to feed students to certain high schools. For example, Sunset Heights sends students to Liberty High School and Coyote Hills to Sunrise Mountain High School. If a student is assigned to a different elementary school, then he or she will feed into the high school that is assigned to that elementary school.

Under the proposal, neither current high school students nor seventh- and eighth-grade students will be affected by the change.