A state commission has proposed splitting high school districts in metropolitan Phoenix into smaller K-12 districts.
Under the proposal, Phoenix Union High School District would disappear and become five new and separate K-12 districts. Glendale Union and Tempe Union high school districts also could be reshaped into new K-12 districts.
The proposals will be put out for public comment, with a final proposal next year and a vote in 2008.
Martin Shultz, who heads the commission, said the goal is to improve the efficiency of student learning in each district through one streamlined K-12 curriculum.
Each district also would have one teacher training program and one method of assessing student progress. Shultz said that to benefit kids and save money, districts should be no smaller than 6,000 students and no larger than 60,000.
Raj Chopra, the retiring superintendent of Phoenix Union, supports the commission’s goal of linking high school districts to the elementary schools that feed into their campuses.
But he worries that five small districts couldn’t find the cash, the school board leadership or the talented administrators and teachers to make them work.
The statewide School District Redistricting Commission ruled out combining Phoenix Union into a 110,000-student K-12 district. It would have topped Arizona’s largest district, Mesa Unified, by 40,000 kids. Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.