The Tucson Unified School District is holding off on pursuing a bond election that, if successful, would have pumped millions of dollars into campus repairs, upgrades and safety features.
Saying that the timing is not right to ask voters to approve a tax increase, TUSD Superintendent H.T. Sanchez said the district will revisit the effort in 2017.
โWe felt that we got really good feedback from parents when we did focus groups that there was a desire to go out for a bond,โ Sanchez said. โBut as we went out into the business community and asked for their advice, they felt that what we were putting forward looked good and made sense but everyone we talked to felt this probably wasnโt the right time or the right atmosphere.โ
That advice, according to Sanchez, was based on the fact that Prop. 123, an education funding initiative that went to Arizona voters in May, was narrowly approved across the state but did not fare well with Southern Arizona voters. Add to that the failure of a county bond initiative last November and Sanchez was told that it would be best to separate the districtโs initiative from those two efforts.
โThe advice we got from people who know this work was when you strike out twice, you donโt want to be the third one,โ he said.
The district worked for months, developing a list of necessary repairs and conducting focus groups and surveys to identify what parents, students, teachers and community members want for schools. Proposed improvements included enhanced science labs, performing arts spaces, multipurpose rooms and libraries; creating technology hubs; and other renovations.
While a successful bond election would have been the fastest way to pay for the repairs and improvements, TUSD can draw from proceeds from the sale of closed schools to address immediate needs. That includes replacing air conditioning units that are beyond repair and old boilers for which parts can no longer be found, Sanchez said.
The stateโs school facilities board also approved funding for roofing projects and other repairs that the district will take on.
โWeโll hit the high-need areas but itโs still triage mode,โ Sanchez said. โItโs not something thatโs long-range and sustainable, and it only gets you so far, so weโll have to re-enter the bond conversation. Weโre not shelving it forever.โ
TUSD also allocated more than $5 million of Prop. 123 funds to purchase technology, textbooks, instructional materials and to cover other capital needs, although Sanchez says dipping into that money is a last resort.
By addressing what it can now, Sanchez says that might let TUSD decrease what it ultimately will ask taxpayers to fund when a bond election plan is pursued.
The TUSD Governing Board also approved a refinancing for about $70 million worth of bonds from 2004, which the district says will save taxpayers about $8 million.
