Amphitheater Unified School District may be closing four of its 12 elementary schools by next school year.
School district officials say this is a result of [severe enrollment shortfalls]( Review of Superintendent's Recommendation for Consolidation) that are costing the district an approximate [$5 million]( Study and Approval of the Revised Expenditure Budget #2 for FY 2025-2026 Public Hearing) in day-to-day expenses like utilities, supplies and salaries.
At a public meeting on Tuesday night, Amphi Superintendent Todd Jaeger gave his official recommendation to close the schools to the governing board, and was met with parents and staff who demanded transparency and claimed the district did not involve them in the decision-making process.
“Tonight matters. And we’ll sit here until 12 o’clock if we need to. 1 o’clock. 3 a.m. if you guys want to draw it out as long as you want to,” parent Megan Mascareño said, addressing the board during the public comment period.
About 50 parents and staff members attended the meeting at Canyon del Oro High School, most from Copper Creek, a school that has been selected for closure. A livestream of the meeting was not provided.
The district first announced the possibility of school closures in early October. In that email, Jaeger said a decision would be made in December on the specific schools that would be closing, as would implementation of those changes.
Since then, parents say they have been uncertain about the future of their children's schooling, and searching for answers to questions that they feel the district has not delivered on.
At the end of October, the district sent an email to the Amphi community with an upcoming timeline of events, which included notice of three “community meetings by feeder pattern to discuss the recommendations, answer questions and gather feedback.” Feeder pattern refers to the flow of elementary schools to middle schools to high schools.
Dates, times and locations were specified for the meetings, but specific school closures were not announced until Nov. 17, with the meetings following on Nov. 19, 20 and 21.
Jaeger’s initial recommendation was revised on Dec. 2 and proposed Tuesday night to the Amphi Governing Board, which is scheduled to vote on the motion on Jan. 13.
His official recommendation is as follows:
+ Close Copper Creek (A-rated) and consolidate it with Wilson K-8 (A-rated) and Harelson (A-rated) Elementary School + Close Donaldson (A-rated) and consolidate it with Mesa Verde (A-rated) Elementary School + Close Nash (C-rated) and consolidate it with Keeling (A-rated) and Walker (B-rated) elementary schools + Close Holaway (C-rated) and consolidate it with Rio Vista Elementary School (C-rated) + Small sections of the attendance boundaries of Donaldson and Rio Vista will also be adjusted to enroll students within those areas at Walker
All letter grade data comes from the Arizona State Board of Education.
Low enrollment = less funding
The state spends about $10,000 a year on each student. According to U.S. Census data, that puts Arizona among the two lowest-spending states per pupil.
Enrollment declines are expected to continue in three of the four schools on the chopping block next year, which Amphi officials say are largely due to Pima County’s declining birth rate as well as an increase in state-issued vouchers granted to private and homeschooling families.
At Tuesday night’s meeting, Jaeger presented what he called a “sobering” and “terrifying” statistic: That this year’s entire kindergarten cohort was half the number of students in the district’s graduating class.
“In 11 years as that continues — if that continues — this district will go from the current 10,500 students that it has to 5,250 students,” he said.
The district estimated that roughly [$7 million]( Consolidation Recommendation PowerPoint) was spent last year on things like keeping the lights on and the AC running in rooms that were not being used.
Jaeger repeatedly pointed to the urgency of Amphi’s situation, and acknowledged parents’ concerns.
“I know there have been other suggestions, some of them being along the lines of: ‘Let’s just wait. Let’s just not do this. Let’s study this longer,’” he said. “We don’t have time to do that.”
But some parents and staff want the district to consider more than just numbers and money.
“I understand that budget dictates closures, but these closures must be based on more than operating costs,” Special Education teacher Gina David said. “As educators, we must base this decision on our students, and what will cause the least amount of disruption.”
On top of millions in federally withheld education funds, the district said the enrollment decline has caused a major budget deficit and the inability to carry over a single dollar in funds to next fiscal year.
Those hundreds of millions that the Trump administration withheld from the state education department was set to be distributed in full this October after Attorney General Kris Mayes secured an agreement on the release.
Scott Little, the district’s chief financial officer, told AZPM that 85% of Amphi’s expenses go toward wages and benefits.
With the closures, he said “the biggest savings for us comes in not having more administration in a school that's not needed.”
That means that while the district promises to attempt moving as many of the closing schools’ staff into other positions, it expects to eliminate some clerical roles.
Another expense the district anticipates it will save on by closing the four schools is utility and operations of buildings. Little said that can take several years since the district needs voter approval to sell school property.
Skeptics demand more accurate data
One Copper Creek mom, Halley Lowry, sent three letters to the Amphi Governing Board this month, citing an Arizona statute that requires 10 days notice for public meetings regarding school closures.
But the district defends its timeline. Amphi spokesperson Michelle Valenzuela said that because the district did not consider the three November community meetings as public meetings, the district is in full compliance with the law. She noted that the district gave the community more than 10 days notice of Tuesday’s meeting and the Jan. 13 meeting, which they do consider public meetings.
“I think the confusion on the part of some people is thinking that the community meetings serve as the public meeting. But tonight (Tuesday) is the public meeting,” Valenzuela said.
Superintendent Todd Jaeger was not available to comment on the closure as of Tuesday morning.
One Holaway parent, Caitlin Provencio, says her family has been part of the century-old district for three generations.
“You say this needs to be done now, but that sounds like a failure on your end to let it get this far. And we, as families, are paying the price for a rushed decision,” she said to the board.
An August letter and list of deficiencies from the Arizona Auditor General shows Amphi’s noncompliance with financial reporting rules in Fiscal Year 2024. Some parents like Lowry are concerned that the budgeting deficiencies reflected in the report may have caused a misinformed decision to close the four schools.
“They're faced with a very serious decision and they're trying to do what they can, but I also think that it's irresponsible to do it at this stage when they don't have a complete financial picture,” Lowry said.
Little said its noncompliance with those rules, however, is partially a result of spreadsheet errors and typos, and “not anything material by any means.” He said some of the deficiencies “are as simple as [recording] an expense in one month that should have belonged in another month.”
Both Little and the Arizona Auditor General’s office confirmed with AZPM that Amphi’s revisions to its financial reporting are being reviewed and will soon be reassessed for compliance.
Amphi’s vision
Towards the end of his proposal, Jaeger assured the audience that services like Special Education, transportation and food would remain unchanged with the consolidations.
Students enrolled under open enrollment policy at the closing schools will automatically be enrolled into their welcoming schools.
Jaeger also said that consolidating more students and teachers into fewer schools would strengthen extracurricular programs and ensure more classrooms are filled across grade levels.
The Amphi community can expect a final decision on the closures at the organizational public board meeting on Jan. 13.
