Acting in less than five hours from start to finish, the Legislature passed emergency legislation to put another financial ailing Maricopa County school district under state control.
The bill, approved by both the House and Senate with the two-thirds votes needed to take effect immediately upon Gov. Janet Napolitano’s signature, requires the state Board of Education to place the Tolleson-based Union Elementary District in receivership. The bill was signed by Gov. Janet Napolitano June 1.
The bill (H2612) also gives the district more time to correct its over-expenditures.
Similar receivership action was taken last week regarding another fast growing western Maricopa County district, Saddle Mountain Unified, also because of spending above state-imposed budget limits. That bill also gave several additional districts more time to correct their over-expenditures.
Lawmakers were told during a briefing on the Union Elementary issue that the district’s enrollment grew from 82 in 2002 to 1,300 currently, averaging about 20 new students a week.
The bill to put Saddle Mountain into receivership also extended into mid-2008 the state’s receivership law for school districts and authorized creation of a between-sessions legislative study committee on school district receivership issues.
Lawmakers had to do a separate bill on Union Elementary because word of the district’s problems didn’t reach lawmakers until after they had passed the bill on Saddle Mountain Unified.
Lawmakers expressed displeasure with the Union Elementary situation, but said they were willing to act because otherwise teachers and other employers wouldn’t be paid on time.
However, at some point it may be necessary to let a financially ailing district” burn down to send a stronger signal,” said Sen. John Huppenthal, R-20. “The problem we have now is this appears this is almost an epidemic.”
If a charter school engaged in similar mismanagement, it’d be shut down, according to Huppenthal. “It’s really unacceptable behavior,” he said.
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