(The Center Square) – Five schools in Roosevelt School District located in South Phoenix will be closing come August 2025. The governing school board members voted 4-1 to close these schools despite some pushback from parents.
Some community members felt the plan to close these schools was rushed with the governing board only receiving the recommendation on Nov. 12 and community members and parents only being given the opportunity to speak to the decision makers on Nov. 19.
However, after going into executive session at the request of board member Lawrence Robinson, he was the only board member to vote against closing the schools.
Superintendent Dani Portillo proposed the need to close schools at the end of October due to a $5 million deficit she blames on low enrollment and a report conducted by the auditor general showing that the district’s enrollment doesn’t justify the building maintenance costs.
“The most recent comprehensive auditor general report noted that our district’s cost and square footage utilization is well out of range when compared to districts of similar size,” Portillo said. “The auditor general has said that these discrepancies are due to us operating too many school buildings for the number of students that we have enrolled.”
While closing schools may be the necessary response to this deficit, Robinson noted that the discussion should not have been left until this late in the game.
“I can’t understand what the rush is right now,” Robinson said. “Without picking a side, I think we can agree to keep talking.”
At a public hearing on Tuesday, many community members noted that they had only been recently notified of the possibility of school closures and asked for the vote to be delayed. Robinson motioned to delay the vote, but the motion had no second. Furthermore, he filed an open meeting law violation motion with the Secretary of State which has yet to be addressed and hopes that the new governing board will repeal the vote.
That is another concern among community members; three out of the five board members are going to be replaced in January and will have to navigate the consequences of this vote. However, current board members said that they have the experience and information needed to make this decision.
“Bringing a new board up to speed would be a waste of effort,” said board member Ashley Hodge. “Our staff has made it clear that they want clarity in order to plan moving forward.”
“Just because it’s December, doesn’t mean we should wash our hands and walk away,” said Board President Shelley Jackson. “This board has taken the time to be able to make a decision like this.”
There are five schools slated to close which will displace about 1,364 students – Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School, Maxine O. Bush Elementary School, C.J. Jorgensen School, V.H. Lassen Elementary School and John R. Davis School.
The plan is to keep the schools functioning normally through the end of the 2024-25 school year and begin operating under the new school boundaries at the beginning of the 2025 school year.
MLK Elementary will combine with Percy L. Julian School, transitioning the school to a preschool-8th grade model. In the 2022-23 report card, Percy L. Julian received a “C” grade with 75% of students being minimally proficient in ELA and 76% being minimally proficient in math. This change would ideally reduce the total per-pupil expenditure per student which is almost $19,000 at MLK, but about $14,000 at Percy L. Julian. MLK Elementary will then be reconverted to an early childhood center.
Maxine O. Bush Elementary will merge with Cloves C. Campbell Sr. Elementary. This would ideally both improve education quality for Bush Elementary students, who are less proficient than Campbell Elementary students, and reduce the per-pupil expenditure costs which is $18,042 at Campbell, but $16,139 at Bush. Campbell would then be reopened in 2026 as a magnet school.
C.J. Jorgensen School students will be relocated to Ed & Verma Pastor Elementary School. Both schools have approximately the same per-pupil expenditure at about $15,000, but Jorgensen received a “B” grade while Pastor received a “C.” Additionally, about 30% of the teachers at Pastor are inexperienced.
V.H. Lassen Elementary will combine with Ignacio Conchos School. Again, both schools have about the same per-pupil expenditure at around $16,000, but Lassen has a slightly higher student proficiency rate.
John R. Davis School will merge with Sunland Elementary. The differences between the two schools are stark as John R. Davis received a “B” grade and had a higher proficiency rate than the district average. However, Sunland saw a “C” grade with 41.44% of students being chronically absent and 40% of teachers having emergency credentials are teaching out of their field. Sunland does have a lower per-pupil expenditure at almost $13,000 compared to John R. Davis’ $14,000.
Robinson has created a website stating that school closures are not necessary and urging the superintendent to pursue other options.
“The district has not fully explored or presented alternative solutions such as leasing unused spaces, implementing energy-saving initiatives or seeking additional grant funding,” reads the website. “The proposed school closures are a disproportionate response to the district’s financial challenges. A more balanced approach that includes exploring alternative revenue sources, cost-saving measures and community partnerships should be pursued to preserve the integrity of our neighborhood schools.”
The superintendent is partially blaming ESA vouchers for the budget deficit. There are 36 alternative non-district schools in the area that parents can use ESA funds to enroll their children in. Roosevelt, by comparison, has 18 schools. According to Portillo, there are approximately 900 students currently using ESA funding within the district’s boundaries to attend other schools.
However, universal school choice wasn’t enacted until July 2022 and the district’s enrollment has increased by more than 300 students since then, breaking a 10-year decline. Furthermore, district data suggests that the budget deficit is due to reliance on COVID-19 aid.
The Roosevelt School District received more than $67 million in ESSER funds, which were awarded between March 2020-21, and have since been tapped dry. The 2022-23 school year saw a 4% decline in revenue after increasing by $30 million from 2020 to 2022. However, the expenditures in 2022-23 rose by 17%.
The bulk of ESSER funds were used on instructional costs, more specifically instructional staff. However, a portion was also used on plant maintenance and operations.
Between 2019 and 2023, classroom spending increased by approximately $12 million. Non-classroom spending increased by about $3 million – this includes costs related to plant operation and maintenance, non-classroom administration and student transportation.
Most notable is the $48 million increase in non-operational spending. Factors that make up this category are the operation of non-instruction services, debt service, facilities acquisition and construction and “other financing uses.”
Between 2019 and 2023, the cost of the operation of non-instruction services increased by $1 million, the cost of facilities acquisition and construction increased by about $36 million, debt service costs increased by $7 million and “other financing uses,” which is not described, increased by about $4 million.
“It’s not how big the campus is that’s using up our money, it’s how the money is operated,” Robinson said.
