TUSD could close up to 10 schools

During a news conference Thursday, TUSD Superintendent Gabriel Trujillo said the district will target six to 10 schools in a phased plan. Last spring, board member Val Romero told Channel 13 News the district should close 17 schools.

“Physically, if you wanted to max out every campus, every campus’ fire code, like no available seats, you could close about 20 schools,” Trujillo said. “Is that any kind of a proposal that I'm going to bring? Absolutely not.”

The district will plan the changes over the next few years rather than all at once. If minimal renovations are needed, it could consolidate, close or change grade levels for schools as soon as the 2027-28 school year. If more renovations are needed, the district would delay changes to certain schools by a few years.

“It would be one vote for action, but it would be a detailed case plan,” Trujillo said.

The district’s governing board is currently set to vote on a plan in December, according to a plan approved Tuesday.

The district will hold community meetings at Sahuaro, Cholla and Catalina high schools in September. The meetings will be open to all TUSD families, community members and staff members to voice any concerns they have with looming school closures.

Rather than giving a straight list of schools that could close, Trujillo and contracted consultant Bill De La Cruz of De La Cruz Leadership Solutions told the governing board Tuesday the sessions would walk people through declining enrollment, birth-rate trends, building utilization and student losses to charter schools and Empowerment Scholarship Account voucher-funded schools in plain language.

School communities, including administrators, teachers and other staff members, and families will be alerted in October and November about any closures or changes that will be brought to the board in December.

The plan is being led by consultant De La Cruz, working alongside Trujillo and two advisory bodies: an internal district task force and a superintendent's advisory committee.

The district has a $75,000 contract with the consulting company, which Trujillo called a “safeguard.”

“Because we want authentic engagement, and when it's the administration leading and facilitating the process, there's a perception that we've got our thumb on the scale, just our positions could exert undue influence on community members or employees,” Trujillo said. “When it's a third-party facilitator, that really is taken care of.”

He also said the district doesn’t want to make the same mistakes of its past. TUSD faced public backlash during its 2012 decision to close 11 neighborhood schools, due to racial equity concerns, transparency issues and lack of a clear long-term plan.

“I really feel like our team needs professional assistance. This is our first time out; we weren't here in 2010 and 2012,” Trujillo said Thursday. “There were two previous phases of closures here in the Tucson Unified School District. Both of those processes were cautionary tales in what we don't want to do again.”

An advisory committee made up of 22 people will also have a say in the superintendent’s final plan that will be presented to the board in December. Trujillo said the district worked with board members to pick the representation on the committee, though it did not go to the board for a vote.

The committee includes representatives from the teachers' union, all City Council wards, all Pima County supervisors' offices, a few principals, small-business leaders, blue-collar leaders from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, and representatives from the University of Arizona.

The district has not put out a list of names of the committee members, but Trujillo said it will release them as early as Monday along with any data it will be reviewing at a closed-door, eight-hour meeting Saturday, Aug. 29, of district officials, the committee and the consultant. 

The committee, district officials and the consulting company will review operating costs for all 88 TUSD schools, revenue the schools generate, enrollment trends, birth rates in areas and other regional data that play a role in final decisions. Trujillo said special programs, such as schools that serve special needs students, will also be taken into consideration.

“We do exceptional education servicing very, very well. We have a large spectrum of services available,” he said.

Why the district is closing schools

Trujillo said that just five years ago, 56,000 eligible students lived in Tucson Unified’s general enrollment zone. The number is now about 52,500.

A loss of families to other areas, such as Marana and Sahuarita, along with declining birth rates, more charter schools in Pima County and the expansion of the state's universal Empowerment Scholarship Account program are all leading factors in the need to close schools, he said.

“Some (factors) are a result of some generational changes in demographics,” Trujillo said. “Others, to be honest, are very intentional efforts to deconstruct and destroy the public educational system here in Arizona. Intentional acts by a Legislature that really does not want to fund a traditional public school system.”

The district also saw an 11% decrease in overall kindergarten enrollment.

“That 11% is going to move up each grade level and affect us,” Trujillo said. “It's not to say that TUSD, like any other school district, can't make any improvements. Absolutely, we can … but they are factors that have contributed to a pretty sizable enrollment loss that is going to continue on into the future.”