Streamlining Arizona schools could put money back in the classroom

PHOENIX - When schools were first built in Arizona, they were small, usually one room buildings. Students were only expected to study until the eighth grade.

Today's schools consist of many buildings on a large campus.

In Arizona, the public school system costs about $9 billion a year in taxpayer funds to operate.

By 1975, all new schools had to be unified meaning they went from kindergarten to 12th grade.

Massive Redundancy

As a result, Arizona currently has 227 school districts. Some have only elementary schools, some consist of just high school, and some are unified.  

State Representative John Fillmore is trying to change what he calls a massive redundancy. Fillmore tells ABC15 that with multiple districts come multiple administrators, multiple department heads and multiple superintendents.

“I never want to see anybody lose their job, but I want to see our kids educated. If you have a duplication of effort in any school district and a waste of funds that is being taken away from the kids and the teachers and the classroom, then obviously we have a problem,” Fillmore said.

Fillmore not only wants to unify school districts, he also wants to consolidate smaller ones. He spearheaded a legislative committee to work on the issue.

The Problem

Some rural schools only have a few dozen students and some are miles and miles apart.

In Maricopa, Mobile Elementary has only 20 students.

In the first committee meeting, Cochise County was used as an example. The county has 12 small districts with about a dozen employees working for each. One of the schools has only two students.

Maricopa County has one school district with only 26 students.

The legislative committee was designed to solve two problems.

The first issue is unification, which would align the curriculum for students from kindergarten through 12th grade.

The second issue deals with consolidation, which would combine smaller schools and districts to share space and services.

The goal of consolidation and unification is to save money on administrative costs and supplies and put that excess money back into the classroom.

“When it is all said and done, a good portion of all the money that we're able to save immediately will go to the teachers,” Fillmore said.

Tina Petrulla is a retired Arizona teacher who supports consolidation.

“It is all about the money,” Petrulla said. “I don't believe the children are on the front of people's consciousness.”

She taught in a district in Phoenix that was not unified.

Petrulla said the people in charge of unifying or consolidating are the very people who may lose their jobs. She worries the fox is guarding the hen house.

“Department heads and superintendents don't want to take a cut in pay or possibly lose their job,” she said.

Opponents to unification say they don't want to lose local control of their schools. And some smaller communities may lose the use of the school for local events, as well.

According to the U.S. Department of Education, not only does Arizona score consistently low on tests, the state also spends the least amount of money per student in the country.

The Outcome

Supporters say unification and consolidation may save an estimated $900 million a year.

“School districts should begin to look at ways schools can share their services,” said Jeff Kleck, Superintendent of Maricopa Unified School District.

Kleck said he cut his budget as far as it can go. He would like to share services with nearby schools.

“Given the economic times, I think we might be able to save some money overall across the state,” Kleck said.

Kleck would like to see some consolidation take place before schools are forced to close.

“Ultimately, this is about getting more money to the classroom, educating the kids and giving our kids in the state of Arizona a future,” Rep. Fillmore said.

The legislative committee's recommendation letter is on its way to the Governor. The committee  expects to present a bill this session.

The first recommendation is to create feasibility studies within each of the state’s 15 counties.

Fillmore would like to have the administrative oversight at the county level.

“Anything that we can do to put more money into our classroom, more money into the teachers and get rid of some of the waste," Fillmore said. “We have 227 school districts. We only have 15 counties. Something is woefully wrong here.”