At odds over charter plans

School districts criticize Gilbert

Three years ago, Gilbert officials persuaded the Higley Unified School District not to purchase land for new schools at a prominent location. Earlier this month, the town gave initial approval for a new K-12 charter school at the same spot, a move that has angered officials with both Higley and Gilbert Unified School District.

District leaders are protesting the move and say town officials should first assess the need for a large charter school in Gilbert and the financial impact the proliferation of such schools, which are publicly funded, has had on their budgets.

American Leadership Academy wants to build a major campus on 42 acres near Loop 202 that would accommodate up to 2,500 students from kindergarten through high school. American Leadership Academy oper-

ates several other locations in the Valley, including in nearby Queen Creek, as part of an aggressive expansion in recent years.

The company is asking Gilbert officials to take the property, which it acquired earlier this year, into the town limits. The vacant land at the northwest corner of the freeway and Higley Road is in an unincorporated county island governed by Maricopa County.

‘We’re dividing the student enrollment pie over and over’

The proposed school site is within the Higley’s district boundaries. Officials for that district said they were dissuaded from purchasing the land at the corner in 2013 by Gilbert because the town’s master plan calls for commercial business development at that site, said Michael Fowler, facilities director for the school district.

“When we learned about the proposal for another school at the site, we were very disappointed,” Fowler said during a Dec. 1 hearing on the issue.

Fowler said the Higley district should have received first consideration for the site if the town’s vision changed.

Mayor Jenn Daniels, who voted for the pre-annexation agreement, said the town told both the academy and Higley schools that it wanted commercial development on the land.

“Higley looked at that, respected that, and changed course. (They) started looking to other sites,” she said. “We did not have that same experience with ALA. ALA looked at that, was given the same message and is choosing to develop in that site even though the town has asked that it not occur.”

Gilbert schools Superintendent Christina Kishimoto urged town officials to hit pause on the proposal until they have a better understanding of the community’s school needs.

“We have the highest number of, and a growing number of, charters schools in our community, yet we have seats available in our (district) schools. There’s no unmet demand,” she told the council, adding that about 35 charter schools, which are publicly funded alternatives to district schools, operate in Gilbert.

“We’re dividing the student enrollment pie over and over again,” she said.

That trend affects district budgets, as per-pupil school funding follows students when they leave a district school for a charter.

“I ask that you seriously consider the significant negative impact to GPS and Higley public schools if another charter school is approved in our district,” she said.

Charter schools’ effects on public districts are an ongoing issue

The Town Council voted 5-1 to authorize a pre-annexation agreement with American Leadership Academy for development of the campus, which would include football, baseball and softball fields. That agreement becomes effective if the council approves the annexation, which is slated for a public hearing and vote on Jan. 26.

The divide is the latest in a particularly passionate debate in Gilbert in recent years over charter schools and their effects on district schools. ALA officials said that making the school property part of the town would, in the long run, allow Gilbert to have input on the campus and its impacts.

Ralph Pew, a zoning attorney representing the academy, told the Town Council that municipalities in Arizona have little control over where schools can locate under state law, which effectively allows them in most areas regardless of zoning.

He said American Leadership Academy, by seeking annexation and the development agreement, is showing its willingness to work with the town in how the campus is built. That would not be the case if the development happened on county-governed land.

“Our hope is to exist together as partners in education,” he said. “We’re not here to demean or discredit in any way the wonderful public school system we enjoy here.”

Under the development agreement, the school would front the money for improvements on both the east and west sides of Higley Road to accommodate traffic, and the town would only reimburse the school for work completed on one side of the street, or about $500,000.

Pew noted the property designation would not change from a business park.

“We’re not destroying the town’s general plan, we’re not changing the patterns. We’re simply using the land for a school, which is what the state Legislature has enabled us to do,” he said.

Several council members who supported the development agreement said the alternative could be the school developing on the county island with no town oversight.

Councilman Eddie Cook was the lone “no” vote on the pre-annexation agreement.