The students keep arriving at Gilbert’s Higley Unified School District.
Soon, district leaders say, they’ll have to answer the question of where to put them.
More than 400 additional students are on Higley’s 10 campuses compared to this time last year.
Superintendent Denise Birdwell said that trend will continue. If projections come true, six campuses will be overcrowded by August 2013.
Voters in the Higley district approved bonds to fund construction of two new campuses in 2006. But with the decline of the economy and property values, the district lost the ability to spend those bonds.
Legislative action could have changed that last year. But lawmakers never let the plan go to a vote.
So Higley is getting creative, taking a page out of construction funding that’s used at the university and state levels in Arizona, and in the education arena across the country.
It wants to lease buildings — new schools, designed by the district for the district.
But first, Higley needs permission to lease beyond the five years now allowed in statute.
To go beyond that limit, district schools in Arizona must get voter approval. So that’s why, on the Nov. 6 ballot, Higley voters will see a lease question.
And with a plan to lease buildings, that’s also why voters will see a capital outlay override on the ballot.
The first question allows the district to sign a longer lease — which shows the district has “financial fortitude,” Birdwell said. The second question will help pay for the lease.
If everything falls into place, the district will have new middle schools by August 2013 on two pieces of land it already owns, one each on its northern and southern ends.
The land will be leased to a nonprofit company, which — using funds it secures through the sale of bonds — will build the schools. Those schools will then be leased back to the Higley district.
At the end of the 30-year lease, the nonprofit group turns the campuses and the land over to the district.
Several examples of this are already in place, including in the East Valley, said Gary Aller, president of Educational Facilities Development Services, which formed last year to help education and health-care entities fund new buildings. At Mesa’s ASU Polytechnic new student housing is currently under construction.
“The universities have done probably a billion dollars worth of student housing using this methodology,” Aller said.
One of Aller’s founding partners worked on that deal, he said.
The state has other projects, as well. The latest were the Arizona Fish and Game headquarters and the buildings and parking structures for the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality and the Arizona Department of Administration.
Aller’s company plans to work with Higley.
“I think it’s good for everybody. It doesn’t put any burden on the state. It doesn’t put any additional asset value on the district or debt on the district. So if property values come back up, they can still issue bonds. They can even use the money from a bond issue to pay off the lease and take the buildings,” he said. “I think it’s going to be a tool we’ll use into the future to solve social problems we’re having.”
Chuck Essigs, longtime school funding expert in Arizona and the government liaison for the Arizona Association of School Business Officials, said Higley’s drive to find financing for school construction is also “an indication of the funding problems in Arizona.”
Key to the issue, Essigs said, is that school districts’ bonding capacities were cut in half in 1998 when the state settled a court issue surrounding school capital financing. The courts ruled that it was unfair — and unconstitutional — that bonds were used to fund school construction because districts of lesser wealth were not on an even playing field with other districts.
The state took over school construction and maintenance with the School Facilities Board.
“The idea is you wouldn’t need the bonding capacity you had. The Constitution still allows bonding to be twice what it is, compared with the law. But the state’s idea was, ‘We’re going to build new schools and give out hundreds of millions in building renewal funds to keep buildings in good condition.’ But that source of revenue has dried up,” he said, putting the burden back on the districts.
Higley’s Birdwell believes her district’s plans for school construction could impact districts across Arizona.
“If it works as smoothly as we hope it goes, it could change the way schools are financed in the future,” she said.
Contact writer: (480) 898-6549 or mreese@evtrib.com
timeforthebeach posted at 8:38 pm on Tue, Aug 21, 2012.
There is plenty of room in the schools. The schools look overcrowded because they don't want to hire more teachers. Lots of students with one teacher. But they have plenty of classrooms. Higley Elementary has lots extra rooms. All the schools have extra rooms. When they map out their schools they look like the rooms are all taken up like a special room used for after school detention that is not used all day. Higley High School leases out its entire 400 building to another school. We are going to over build and end up with empty schools one day in the middle of our neighborhoods. I really don't understand the push for building more schools.
soricobob posted at 4:53 am on Wed, Aug 22, 2012.
It's so nice to read about how school districts are being creative. After all, this is how charter schools build, why shouldn't school districts? I know Higley is crowded, and the State rates them among the top 5 districts. Looks like Birdwell is doing a better job than when she plagiarized that letter to staff.
HigleyKnight posted at 8:08 am on Wed, Aug 22, 2012.
It is time to be creative. 500 new students year after year, what rooms that were available are filling up fast. Now with 11,000 students that means the 8 elementaries school all average 1000 students.
timeforthebeach posted at 5:46 pm on Wed, Aug 22, 2012.
Actually only one of the elementary schools has 1,000 students, Higley Elementary has 595 and Centennial has 692. Why not use the 400 building at Higley Hight for a Junior High instead of leasing it out to another school?
HigleyKnight posted at 8:50 pm on Wed, Aug 22, 2012.
Check your numbers, picked up the kids from HEMS today and there are 800 students. Got to be at least five schools with over a 1000, I remember when Cortina had 1300 a few years back. I don't know about any other school renting out HHS.
timeforthebeach posted at 9:41 pm on Wed, Aug 22, 2012.
Go to schooldiggers.com Almost every school in the HUSD is going down in enrollment. And has been going down over the past couple of years. As for the HHS 400 building, why don't you take a walk through the 400 building and find out for yourself. .
Hope4all posted at 10:56 pm on Wed, Aug 22, 2012.
It is hard for me to fathom that there are not other solutions that HUSD can take. The thought of having this closed off administration staff and school board make another bad financial situation frustrates me as a tax payer. To be burdened with a not for profit leasing company, that will turn a profit for investors on the backs of current and future taxpayers is unwise. I think the recent state audit discovered that the solar system HUSD board approved for their bus yard will cost more money for electricity, due to the lease accelerators they accepted in the contract, than if they never had solar should raise an alarm to their lease negotiating skills. To think that we could be burdened with a 30 year lease on two buildings that may be unneeded in half the years should make one question the logical, or shall I say illogical process Birdwell and her board are proposing. We need a change at the school board level that can make a positive difference for our current and future students and make sure taxpayers get the bang for their buck. Please do not vote in favor of what HUSD is currently proposing. Help make a positive change by electing new members to the HUSD Board. The current players have been there too long and all drink the same cool aid coming out of Birdwell's fountain. Save our kids, save our schools: Save Higley!
proudhigleyparent posted at 6:07 pm on Thu, Aug 23, 2012.
I think we all need to listenand check out the facts. Centennial is actually at 1,112 students as of the end of the first week of school. Cortina is also very large. We will not have empty schools. The main point is we as a district NEED middle schools for our kids. This will give them access to different types of classes, smaller class sizes, and it will be a great way to prepare them for high school. The 3 initiatives should be a no brainer. The M&O initiative is a renewal of an existing override to help support all maintenance and operations for all of our district schools. The capital override is needed to help support all of our students with materials, technology etc. And the lease initative is to help us build our middle schools that are desperately needed. I believe that 2 of the measures do NOT have a tax increase at all because they are a renewal of an existing override. The one that has a possible tax increase equals out to about 5.00 a month. If you have kids in schools in the district we want this to help support them. If you do not have kids in the district you still want this.... better schools make for better home values and a district that people want to purchase homes and live in.
higleyparent posted at 6:42 am on Fri, Aug 24, 2012.
How many boundary exemptions are there in Higley? How about additional other schools being built like ALA and others, that may help with additional classrooms. How is Higley going to possibly find qualified teachers to staff these new buildings? My kids school has such a high teacher turnover, this hiring task alone would caution me to expand. I am not sold on the argument that we need middle schools either . I moved my children back to HIgley because they provided a k-8 school where my child would have some consistency in school. We've had new teachers in the middle of the year, and neighbors constantly leaving and foreclosing all around us. Not to mention renters that move in and leave even sooner. I think the district needs to consider rezoning school boundries. Even though my child's school is over 1000 students, they are still not at capacity in any of their classrooms.
proudhigleyparent posted at 9:37 am on Fri, Aug 24, 2012.
I do not know the specific number of "boundary exemptions" but we need to remember that Higley (along with other districts in the state) is a district of CHOICE. Families choose to send their kids to our schools and we should recognize that choice just as we recognize people's choice to send their children to charter schools, private schools or to homeschool. Regardless of your feelings on middle schools, we need more schools in our area. EVERY SINGLE SCHOOL has over 850 kids (being Higley Elementary) and we currently have 4 schools that are well over 1,000 kids. In the past 10 years 450+ students have ben moving into Higley every single year and as I drive around I see construction picking up again... between new and existing homes (and yes even foreclosures and rentals) even more children will be moving here. The fact is that Gilbert has been getting nationwide press as of late as being one of the top small towns in our country. Higley district is also recognized as an A ranked school and #1 in the south east valley. This is something we should be proud of. This also means that more and more people are going to want to move into Gilbert from other areas of the state or out of state.
Now, as far as the leasing model for building new schools. I see this as a really creative and POSITIVE way to help with our crowds. This model allows the district to build schools without any debt from bonds. We should be excited and relieved to NOT have the added burden of bond debt. This is a fiscally conservative solution no matter which way you look at it. The initiatives are not going to increase taxes but continue what we already have in place.
I love the fact that people want to come to our schools and district. This means a lot is being done RIGHT.
I urge everyone to take a look at the department if Ed's website and see the facts about the rankings and grades for our schools. I think you will see that Higley is worth our efforts and investment.
Arizona Department of Education
http://www.azed.gov
concernedcitizen posted at 4:18 pm on Fri, Aug 24, 2012.
Invest in Higley, pass the lease option this November.
Here's why:
Voters already approved the money to be spent for building middle schools (which is why the district already has the land). They didn't want to build the schools until there was a need for it, because then they would be paying more interest on empty classrooms, more taxpayer dollars that would have been wasted.
With property values going way down, they cannot use the rest of that money that voters had already approved several years ago for this very purpose. The state school facilities board isn't providing hardly anything (a good analogy is, if you need 100 2X4's to build the school, the SFB is providing 1 toothpick, monetarily speaking).
And from what I hear, any property tax increase on homeowners from passing the lease option would be minimal to none.
Every school might not be overcrowded yet, but they are all getting close. Whatever schooldiggers.com is, it is definitely incorrect. You don't go from a district of about 9000 just 3 years ago to 11,000 and call that declining student population. (Obviously you weren't educated in Higley!)
Once these two middle schools open up, the district will not need to worry about building schools for quite awhile. Moving 7th and 8th graders out of the K-8 schools will free up 200-300 spots for younger grade students in the future at each site.
The other reason, and in my opinion the more important reason, is this will allow the district to provide more opportunities, both academically and with electives, for students. Take band for example-band is divided by grade level, but what if you have an 8th grader who wants to do band but is a beginner and is put with other band students who are in their 4th year of band? That's like putting a child who is barely learning fractions in with algebra students. Either one group will be slowed down or the other group will get frustrated and give up.
There will also be more elective choices again, which have diminished at the middle school level because of recent budget constraints caused by the state budget. By having those choices, more kids have something to look forward to while at school and thus do better academically.
By allowing more choice and by being able to put kids in classes that meet their levels and their needs, academically speaking, kids will flourish more in their learning. And that is the main point of all of this.
Everyone has a right to think what they wish on this topic, but do look at what changes and improvements have come, both in school/district labels the last 2-3 years as well as the service administrators and teachers are providing the students and community. There is a very positive, forward-thinking feeling in regards to the Higley District, and everyone that I've talked to is working their tails off to study data and drive their instruction on the most relevant and up-to-date data they can get for each student. They are working their tails off to meet the needs of the students better than most districts out there do.
Whether or not you agree also, a large part of your property values are because of the success of the Higley District. Like it or not, it wouldn't hurt to support the district in this endeavor, because in the end it still helps you and your property values.
Those are just a few reasons. There are definitely a lot more pros than cons. Don't listen to the folks who say there is so much room at all the schools. Yes, that may be partly true, but there isn't as much as they are saying. Have they physically been in those schools/rooms and seen? Have they even noticed how so many classrooms have 30+ students, which 30 students is about the max you can have without drastically reducing the quality of the education.
Vote yes for the lease option in November. It will only do good.
Higley2012 posted at 9:01 pm on Mon, Sep 10, 2012.
Here's the thing. Every school is overcrowded. There are absolutely no options for these kids. Families are leaving because there are no options, not because of the teachers. However, if they are leaving because of the middle school teachers, it goes back to my first point: There are no options! An 8th grader only gets to have 1 LA teacher, 1 math teacher, 1 science teacher. They have a choice between year-round band or quarterly art, music, and p.e. What about foreign language? Theatre? Dance? Applied Technology? Competitive sports teams? A right of passage to be a REAL middle school student? This is necessary to not hold our youth back. Give them a choice. Give them a voice.