Buckeye teachers association seeks educator’s resignation

Maria Moreno has taught in the Buckeye Elementary School District for 17 years. In that time, she has seen educators leave because they couldn’t afford housing in the fast-growing Buckeye area and heard concerns about class sizes ballooning if district residents didn’t pass an override for increased funding.

So when she heard that the school board had paid Buckeye Superintendent Kristi Wilson $1.7 million in retirement credits and unused leave, and then kept it off her employment records, Moreno was shocked.

“Honestly, it felt like a punch in the gut,” said Moreno, a first grade teacher at WestPark Elementary School and president of the Buckeye Education Association. “Literally, I felt like the rug was pulled out from under my feet.”

Now, Moreno is one of more than 350 people who has signed a petition calling for the district governing board to ask for Wilson’s resignation.

“We the undersigned, including staff of the Buckeye Elementary School District (BESD), along with the community of Buckeye, Arizona, are disappointed, angry, and embarrassed by the facts made public recently in the Arizona Auditor General’s report of BESD,” the letter said. “We are collectively taking a Vote of No Confidence in Dr. Kristi Wilson’s ability to serve the district and community effectively.”

The district’s governing board president has continued to staunchly and vocally support Wilson and the board’s payments to her, and has strongly disagreed with the auditor general’s findings.

On Friday, board President Jane Hunt said she was “very disappointed” in the association’s call for a vote of no

confidence.

“Let’s make this clear first. The Buckeye Elementary School District Governing Board stands with Superintendent Dr. Kristi Wilson, rejects any calls for her resignation and strongly disagrees with this no confidence vote,” said Hunt in a written statement Friday. “This is particularly disappointing because Dr. Kristi Wilson has worked tirelessly to build a cooperative and productive relationship with all staff.”

Moreno said, however, letting Wilson go was the only way to continue trust with Buckeye families. “We don’t trust her anymore — she broke that trust.”

The association’s letter laid out a series of concerns with Wilson’s oversight of the district, including the low ranking of some of the district’s schools, the discrepancy between teacher pay raises and Wilson’s own salary, and the embarrassment caused by the public report.

In her response, Hunt said BESD teachers had received salary raises throughout Wilson’s tenure, including

average annual raises of 3.6% and an 11% raise in 2018. (In 2018, Arizona teachers walked out of their classrooms as part of the #RedForEd education movement. Gov. Doug Ducey signed a legislative package promising 10% raises for all Arizona teachers that same year.)

Buckeye educators’ average annual compensation stood at $47,882 in the 2022-2023 school year, up from $38,407 when Wilson first became superintendent, Hunt said.

The petition, and the auditor general’s numbers, challenge those figures.

The Buckeye Education Association said, “While Dr. Wilson was signing multi-million dollar compensation deals, her staff were getting 1% raises and asked to make do without during times of austerity.”

The district’s average teacher salary of $44,536 was about 15% below the state average, the auditor general found. Inflation in the past year alone has hit 8.5% nationally and 10.9% in metro Phoenix.

The education association’s letter also noted that, under Wilson’s leadership, schools had “garnered a D or F rating, while she uses her position to profit.” Moreno said that while teachers were held accountable for student performance, it did not seem the same was true for Wilson.

In the 2018-2019 school year, the last year for which Arizona gave schools letter grades, two of Buckeye’s schools had a B rating, one had a C rating, three had D ratings, and one was rated F.

While letter grades are used to assess student performance, they are heavily based on test scores, which some education advocates have said is not an accurate read on student achievement and closely correlates with student poverty levels.

In her response to the letter, Hunt said the Buckeye Education Association includes 83 of the district’s 275 teachers.

As of Friday afternoon, 309 individuals had signed the Buckeye Education Association’s petition, which was housed on the Arizona Education Association website.

Moreno said Hunt’s figures underrepresented membership because some educators who were part of the association did not pay for membership from their payroll but paid from their personal banking account, for fear of retaliation.

The association’s letter also stated that Wilson didn’t represent the community she serves.

Buckeye Elementary School District, situated in the fast-growing Buckeye community, runs eight K-8 schools and two pre-kindergartens for 5,755 students and employs 707 staff members. The student body is 63% Latino and 23% white. The district has a poverty rate of 16%, and 65% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch.

In response to that assertion, Hunt said Wilson was a role model for young women: “With only 26% of U.S. public school superintendents being white females, she serves as a role model for girls interested in a career in education.”

The district did not respond to requests for comment on the status and timeline of the auditor general’s recommendations for the district and board, including that they work with the Arizona attorney general to determine whether the governing board was legally authorized to pay the money to Wilson, and recover any money identified as an overpayment.