$250M JTED bond passes as Tucson-area school races solidify

TUSD governing board

Incumbent Jennifer Eckstrom and newcomer Pilar Acosta Ruiz are likely to take the two open seats on the Tucson Unified School District governing board through 2030.

With 99.6% of votes counted, Eckstrom led the race with over 30% of the vote while Acosta Ruiz took almost 19%, beating out incumbent Val Romero, who fell short with 18%, over 1,700 votes.

“I’m looking forward to working with a board in unity to serve the students and the staff for a better TUSD community,” Acosta Ruiz told the Star Tuesday night.

Acosta Ruiz, a longtime Tucson resident, will come into the position dealing with the aftermath of school closures. The district has proposed closing eight schools, with a vote planned for Dec. 8.

She said while her ideas might be “too little to late” to address the harm closures can have on families, she still wants to try and establish a better system for analyzing how closures affect students and parents.

“I really think we need to do, that I don't think was done in general, is to reach out to families that have left in the past and ask them why they've left and see what we can do to bring them back as far as fixing the problems that have caused them to leave,” she said. “We got to reach out to families and see, you know, what can we do to bring them back.”

Eckstrom told the Star Wednesday morning she’s thankful voters trusted her with another four years.

“The work continues today. There's no days off for me,” she said.

Eckstrom has been a strong advocate throughout the closure process to delay the vote date, claiming the process is moving too fast. TUSD Superintendent Gabriel Trujillo has said he believes the current board deserves to be the one to vote on the closure proposals. But Eckstrom told the Star she feels Acosta Ruiz could make an educated decision if the rest of the board was up for delaying the vote.

“I'm hoping that the governing board decides to slow things down a bit,” she said. “She's a smart lady. I'm confident in her abilities, and she can make this decision. But you know, I'm just one voice on the governing board.”

Amphitheater governing board

Candidates Elizabeth Slater and Nina Godlewski led the Amphitheater Public Schools race for two open four-year seats on the governing board. They took 36% and 34% of the vote, results showed. John Fife trailed with 29% of the vote.

Incumbent Michael Gemma led the race for an open two-year seat, taking 52% of the vote. Kimberly Outlaw Ryan fell with 48%.

Elizabeth Slater, the CEO of nonprofit dropout prevention organization Youth On Their Own, told the Star in August she was running for the Amphi governing board because she believes in the “power of public education” and sees getting involved with the district as a way of supporting that.

Nina Godlewski, a recently retired Amphi teacher of 19 years, said she believes “in the quality of the district” and ran for governing board because she “isn’t done contributing to” her community.

Michael Gemma, former Canyon del Oro High School principal and current governing board member, ran to maintain his position after being appointed to the board last year. He said he’d like to help the two new four-year members adjust to being on the board.

Tanque Verde governing board

Beth Peterson and Thomas Trask led the Tanque Verde Unified School District race for two open seats on the governing board. They took 40% and 31% of the early vote.

Piper Jordan trailed closely behind with 29% of the vote.

Peterson, currently the board president, told the Star she was running for re-election to continue the goals the current board has set for 2030.

“I feel like there's so much work that we've been successful with, but we continue to have more to do,” she said in August. Some of these goals include reaching an 80% student passing rate on state assessments and providing tailored opportunities that match individual student strengths and post-graduation goals.

Thomas Trask, a retired United States Air Force officer and current board clerk, told the Star in an email interview that he was running for re-election because “the work of the last four years is not finished.”

JTED bond

Pima County Joint Technical Education District got its first-ever bond. With 99.6% of the votes counted, Proposition 427 — a $250 million bond measure — was ahead by about 51% to 49%.

Pima JTED, which has served Southern Arizona students since 2007, is a public school district that provides tuition-free career and technical education, or CTE, programs for high school sophomores, juniors and seniors, as well as residents ages 22 and under without a diploma or GED.

The CTE district asked voters to fund facility expansions and address surging enrollment demands.

The district works with 11 Pima County school districts, two Santa Cruz County school districts and one Pinal County school district.

The $250 million would be split into two major categories: $186 million would go toward central campus projects, while about $64 million would go to four member districts that submitted funding proposals, including Ajo, Baboquivari, Marana and Vail unified school districts.

“We are grateful to everyone who placed their trust in us and our partners. We look forward to expanding our efforts to provide transformational educational opportunities to more students while driving economic development throughout our region,” Kathy Prather, Pima JTED superintendent and CEO said in a news release Friday celebrating the win.

The tax impact on homeowners in Pima County and parts of Santa Cruz and Pinal counties would be $0.14 per $100 of assessed value — about $41 a year for a $250,000 home.

Unlike for traditional public school districts, the state does not provide dedicated funding for new facilities or transportation for CTE districts.

Amphitheater’s property sale proposition

Pima County voters approved the sale of six Amphitheater Public Schools properties, early election results showed, allowing the district to start looking for buyers.

Proposition 426, which asked voters to approve the sale or long-term lease of six sites, received 74% voter approval.

The sites include Donaldson, Nash, Holaway and Copper Creek elementary schools, which closed earlier this year, along with an unused plot of land and a lab that was home to the now-scrapped agriculture program. Sale or rent money would help the district with capital expenditures, including furniture, buses or building renovations.

School override results

Some Pima County school district overrides have a future, and some might not, election results showed.

With 99.6% of the vote counted, Vail and Tanque Verde school districts’ overrides received 64% and 56% approval, while Sahuarita’s override received a 51% rejection.

Vail Unified School District’s Prop. 423 will continue the current 12.5% override. It will generate about $15.3 million in property taxes annually.

Tanque Verde’s Prop. 429 will continue the current 15% override. It will generate about $2.3 million in property taxes annually.

Sahuarita’s Prop. 428 would continue the current 15% override. It would generate about $6.4 million a year annually.