QUEEN CREEK, Ariz. — Several schools aren’t getting the money they asked voters for.
Eleven school districts in Maricopa County had bonds on the ballot; five of them failed.
The Higley Unified School District as well as the Queen Creek Unified School District both asked for bonds on elections two years in a row and saw them fail.
In Queen Creek, the district reduced the bound amount by nearly $90 million, but voters like William Jones still said no. The bond did not pass, with votes in favor of no 55% to 45%.
Jones says his student attends a charter school, and he doesn’t want to give public schools more money. He feels it’s not effective for students’ education and schools keep asking for money.
“It’s really infuriating for it to see it keep coming back around over and over and over and over again,” he told ABC15.
While Voter Gianmarco Minin doesn’t have a child in school just yet, he voted to pass it. He believes schools need more money, although, he’s not surprised the bond didn’t pass.
“It feels like people don't really care about education so much... Maybe they don't have kids or anything like that. [It] just kind of sucks to see that,” he said.
A spokesperson with QCUSD said they had a contingency plan in case the bond didn’t pass. The district says it has tremendous growth, and there needs to be some sort of plan to help accommodate all the students. It will take money from the maintenance and operations budget to buy portables, which they do feel like is not as suitable as traditional school buildings.
The district will also apply to get funding through the statewide School Facilities Oversight Board to help pay for at least one new elementary school, though, they don’t know how much they will get and the process may take longer.
The governing board makes the decision on what else to do moving forward, and if it will ask for another bond. However, the board will have some different members come January.
While bonds for some schools didn’t pass, many more budget overrides were successful.
