Phoenix’s Isaac School District has agreed to sell one of its middle schools to another district in order to keep schools open amid a budget crisis.
Isaac teachers have been working without pay since Tuesday.
The district was placed under state receivership earlier this month as it faced a massive budget shortfall. While its governing board met to approve the sale of the Isaac Middle School building Wednesday night, the Tolleson Union High School District board met to approve the purchase.
Tolleson Superintendent Jeremy Calles said while some people want the district to take more time to consider the idea, Isaac employees can’t wait.
“We have many people who live paycheck to paycheck [and] the first of the month is right around the corner and they may not be able to pay their rent, pay their mortgage," Calles said.
Tolleson will buy the property for $25 million, and the Isaac District will have 12 years to buy it back with 6% interest. The sale will not affect day-to-day operations at the middle school.
Isaac teacher Marisol Garcia released a statement after the agreement was reached. She wrote:
“Isaac members, without pay, stood up for their students and for each other to get us to this agreement to keep Isaac schools open. While we’re encouraged by tonight’s vote, we will continue to wait for further communication from the receiver tomorrow. Isaac educators were told repeatedly that the crisis would never get to this point, so we’ll know it’s resolved when checks are in hand.”
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Pam Lach is a digital humanities librarian at San Diego State University. This week, she is coming to ASU to give a talk called “The Stories We Still Need: Podcasting For Urgent Times.”
