Study finds area school districts among state’s least equitable

antelope ranks highest in county at no. 37 of 204 districts

A recent study conducted by WalletHub.com identified states with the most and least equitable public school districts, based on the average household income of each state and expenditures for schools per pupil as recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Center for Education Statistics.

Of 49 states – excluding Hawaii – Arizona ranked No. 43. An adjoining study narrowed in on the state specifically, using the same metrics to score 204 public school districts on equity highest-to-lowest.

On this chart, Antelope Union High School District ranked the highest of all Yuma County school districts, placing No. 37.

According to Antelope Superintendent Greg Copeland, this score is the fruition of the district’s hard work to maximize the financial support received by its 225 students.

“It has given credence that we are on a sound pathway to ensure our students are receiving the maximum amount of financial support in their instruction and throughout the system,” Copeland said. “Our team has been working diligently to find ways to make sure that our students receive the best dollars in the best way to ensure their overall academic life is one that comes out at the highest level they can possibly attain.”

Primarily, according to Copeland, the district does this by keeping students in focus as it determines how to best utilize its available funds.

“We look at how we can best use our dollars to ensure students receive the best outcome and the best resources and how that goes into play in supporting our community,” he said. “With food service, our team looks at how to provide nutritious meals at the highest level of quality that are also the most cost effective. Our transportation (department) utilizes their dollars for repairs in a way that maximizes them so those dollars can be funneled back toward students and their learning and their support. And our

instructional staff focuses on maximizing any available programs and really building a system together that is efficient and cost effective.”

Compared with Antelope, other East County districts didn’t fare as well in their score, with Wellton School District ranking No. 73, Mohawk Valley School District ranking No. 136 and Hyder School District (which houses Dateland Elementary School) ranking No. 191.

According to Copeland, this is largely due to the fact that Antelope “covers a larger area” than other districts in East Yuma County; and because Arizona funds its school districts on a per pupil basis, resources are not distributed evenly among them.

“They do the best they can with the resources that are allotted (to) them,” he said. “But there’s inequity in the funding given by the state. I think the other (East County) districts do a wonderful job of maximizing the dollars they receive. We all work together as a team in East County to support each other. We couldn’t be where we are now in our ranking if it wasn’t for the Datelands and the Mohawks and the Welltons.”

According to Mohawk Valley Superintendent Shanna Johnson, few things have magnified inequities among students quite like the COVID-19 pandemic. As distance learning is in the cards for many students this year – including Mohawk’s – a variety of factors are at play that tamper with the rural district’s efforts to educate.

“Many of our families do not have reliable internet,” Johnson said. “Some are trying to use their phone hotspots but we all know that this cannot sustain multiple children live streaming in Zoom sessions. We have hotspots provided by the (Arizona) Department of Education, but they are unreliable and have created a lot of work for our district to troubleshoot. Our parents who have to work do not have the money to pay tutors or babysitters – they barely earn enough to meet basic needs. Our teachers are working very hard to make this situation work, but they are now beginning to be faced with the realities of inequalities.”

Beyond East Yuma County, Crane School District ranked No. 114; Yuma School District One, No. 149; Yuma Union High School District, No. 150; Somerton School District, No. 175; and Gadsden School District, No. 178.

IDENTIFYING THE PROBLEM(S) According to Somerton School District Superintendent Laura Noel, one of the main roots that discrepancies stem from is the fact that the cost for

educating students varies district by district. School districts with more English Language Learners (ELLs), special education and migrant students, for example, require “greater intervention and resources that are not being provided in the home.” To fulfill these needs, districts resort to federal funding – a solution that tends to have several strings attached.

“Federal money is finicky, requires extensive management and (is) very prescriptive,” said Noel. “You have to do things their way or you don’t get the money. Federal money doesn’t increase when Arizona increases teacher wages or minimum wage. Over time the federal money does less and less.”

Districts’ capacity for voter-enacted bonds and overrides is another factor that “drives the greatest amount of inequity in funding of schools,” according to Crane’s Chief of Finance and Operations Dale Ponder.

“Bonds and overrides are temporary, local property-tax-funded measures that school districts can ask their voters to approve,” he said. “The higher the property values, the greater the bonding capacity is for the school district. The inverse is also true (that) where lower property values exist, smaller bonding capacity is available. The schools in the higher wealth property areas typically have the modern facilities and technology for their students to learn, and those in the lower property wealth areas, often in predominantly rural and minority communities, may not have access to the same resources.”

The rhyme and reason to this, according to Ponder, is largely attributable to “the value of a dollar” – which differs greatly between the two communities.

“The same $10 million general obligation bond in a less wealthy district will cost the local tax-payer more than the more affluent district, due to the values of the property within their district,” he said.

According to Noel, as a school district housed in a “less affluent” area, Somerton often receives the short end of the stick when it comes to bonds and overrides.

“Low-income areas typically have a low assessed value,” she said. “This means we cannot go for as much money for bonds or overrides (as more affluent districts). Some more affluent districts have overrides that continually renew to pay for additional teachers, 1:1 computers, supplies or programs they find important. There is a limit to how much can be sought for a bond or override, and it is based on assessed value.”

Unlike its more affluent peers in the county, Somerton is “not permitted” to request a bond substantial enough to build a new school building.

According to Noel, the district has received the state’s approval to build two new schools with funds allocated via the Arizona School Facilities Board (SFB) upon legislative approval. However, according to Noel, SFB does not currently have the funds for the project and the district cannot afford to supplement them.

“Over and over again, we get cut short,” Noel said. “We leverage the funding we have including local taxpayers who have passed bonds and overrides to support the system; it just isn’t enough to do what we would like to do.”

STEPS TO EVOKE CHANGE According to Copeland, if Arizona is going to climb the ranks in ensuring equity, leaders in education on both the state and local levels need to raise the bar.

“The one thing that has always troubled me is that Arizona is the seventh least equitable in the United States for providing for our students,” said Copeland. “We need to be better, we need to do better, we need to strive for better. We owe our students more – because they are our future and if we don’t build that equitable system that pulls us up, then we’re going to build a generation of people that are not maximizing their level of education and the opportunities that are allotted (to) them.”

A step in the right direction, from Copeland’s perspective, would be the development of a more “focused system” that provides equitable opportunities for students not just in elementary and secondary education, but post-secondary as well.

“We need to get together as one and build a systematic program of supporting education and supporting the methodologies and the proven practices that really drive instruction, that drive learning and drive support around those students to really build the whole child,” Copeland said. “That means funding increases, supporting educational opportunities for students and building teachers and administrators that support education – we really need to be focused on that. We need to be less (focused) on fighting over how much is enough and saying, ‘Enough is never enough.’”

According to Copeland, if these measures were implemented, equity would surge throughout Arizona’s public education system.

“If these things were put in place, Arizona would start to skyrocket,” he said.

Despite attempts by the Yuma Sun, Yuma School District One, Gadsden, Hyder and Wellton Elementary School Districts were unable to be reached for comment; Yuma Union High School District declined to comment.