Another Dysart Unified School District bond attempt remains headed for a loss, while newcomers Mary Jane Ziola, Denise E. Destiche and Stephen Skvara are still leading early results for spots on the DUSD Governing Board.
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.
Need to set up your free e-Newspaper all-access account? click here.
Non-subscribers
Click here to see your options for becoming a subscriber.
Register to comment
Click here create a free account for posting comments.
Note that free accounts do not include access to premium content on this site.
I am anchor
Subscriber Exclusive
Dysart Schools bond measure still failing; board race unchanged
Dysart Unified School District logo.
Independent Newsmedia/Delarita Ford
The Dysart Unified School District Governing Board Room, 15802 N. Parkview Place in Surprise, was the setting for recent discussions on student cell phone use during the Aug. 22 meeting.
Another Dysart Unified School District bond attempt remains headed for a loss, while newcomers Mary Jane Ziola, Denise E. Destiche and Stephen Skvara are still leading early results for spots on the DUSD Governing Board.
An estimated $127 million bond program is facing longshot odds with more than 80,000 votes recorded through the evening of Nov. 6.
About 53.9% of voters so far have said no on the measure that would bring land for a new high school and construction of an elementary school to the rapidly growing northwest Asante area of Surprise.
The bond would have also funded safety and security improvements, helped replace aging school buses and brought facility renovations at each school site.
DUSD voters have not approved a bond since 2006. The $122 million in bonds from that approval will be paid off in fiscal year 2028.
The bond would have cost the average homeowner of a home valued at $197,000, about $75 a year or a little more than $6 a month.
A community committee earlier this year identified several areas for which bond money would be used, including replacing aging air conditioning systems and security improvements such as gates, fencing and key card access.
The district also wanted to replace buses that were more than 15 years old.
In the Governing Board race, incumbent Jo Grant was on the outside looking in, finishing fourth out of four in initial voting.
Ziola had the highest share of the four with 27% of the vote, while Destiche (24.5%) and Skvara (23.0%) both made the cut in unofficial results.
Three seats are up for grabs, including Grant’s. Christine A.K. Pritchard and Chrystal Chaffin did not run for re-election.
Jason Stone can be reached at jstone@iniusa.org. We’d like to invite our readers to submit their civil comments, pro or con, on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org.
Meet Jason Jason Stone joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2019, after a distinguished three decade media career that included stops at the Arizona Republic, iHeart Media/Clear Channel and Beckett Sports Card magazine. He remembers when airports sold newspapers.
Community: He is a big supporter of the Valley's original sports team: The Phoenix Suns.
Education: Northern Arizona University with a BS in broadcast journalism and a minor in sports coaching.
Random Fact: The capital of Nebraska is Lincoln.
Hobbies: Surfing, backgammon and men who aren't afraid to cry.
By 
