In an effort to save the magnet status of five schools, Tucson Unified School District has struck a deal with the plaintiffs in its desegregation case.
By agreeing to a set of demands from the Latino plaintiffs, including filling teacher vacancies immediately and providing additional funding to support programming, the two parties came together to request that no court action be taken on the schools this year.
The request, filed Friday, would have to be approved by U.S. District Judge David Bury, since TUSD has been under a federal desegregation court order since the 1970s due to the plaintiffs’ lawsuit.
Magnet schools offer targeted education programs designed to entice students to leave their neighborhood schools and travel across town.
In Friday’s filing, the district acknowledged that Ochoa and Bonillas elementary, Safford K-8, Utterback Middle School and Cholla High School did not meet all of their goals to become more racially integrated.
As a result of those shortcomings, Special Master Willis Hawley, a national desegregation expert charged by the court with overseeing TUSD’s efforts, recommended that the schools be stripped of the magnet label and possibly some of the funding that comes with it.
But TUSD pointed to factors “beyond the control” of the schools, including 19 vacant teaching positions as of Oct. 6, all of which it pledged will be filled by Nov. 1, and the fact that the leadership at the campuses is relatively new, having no more than two years on site except at Cholla.
To give the schools a boost next school year, the campuses will have access to the list of teaching applicants at least two weeks ahead of non-magnet schools, TUSD said in the court filing.
Desegregation plaintiffs criticized TUSD for imposing its own cuts to magnet programs in three revisions of the desegregation budget. The district counter-argued that the total amount allotted to magnet programming had increased over the last year.
To gain support from the plaintiffs, however, TUSD agreed to restore the highest amount identified over the three budget revisions.
For Bonillas, that means an additional $19,000; Ochoa will receive $53,000 more; and Cholla’s allocation will increase by $8,000. There is no for change for Safford or Utterback.
Other magnet schools that lost funding over the course of the budget process will also have it restored.
If the judge approves the request, the schools would not be at risk of losing magnet status until next fall, when their progress will be evaluated based on enrollment on the 40th day of the new school year.
The district’s efforts will be monitored on a quarterly basis.
