The Arizona Supreme Court ruled last week that the state is not responsible for court-ordered expenses related to a longtime desegregation case in the Tucson Unified School District.
Now, the state doesn’t have to reimburse Pima County for taxes levied to pay for Tucson Unified's programs designed to bring the district into compliance and equitably serve all students.
The Show spoke more about the financial implications with Adelita Grijalva, chair of the Pima County Board of Supervisors and former member of the Tucson Unified School District Governing Board — starting with why the case began.
Interview highlights
ADELITA GRIJALVA: One of the reasons that TUSD was, I think, rightfully put under court oversight is because we had dual school systems. We had schools for children of color and schools for everybody else, and they were not equal, not equitable. And so we had to go through a series and decades of federal oversight look like. What a unitary status plan looked like for a minute there. I was on the TUSD governing board for 20 years. For a moment there, about a year and a half, we were unitary. And then we were brought back under court oversight because we — the argument was we didn't fully address the needs of students of color, right?
So how has the district in the last several years then been able to do that? It was released from court order finally in 2022. Does that mean all is, well?
GRIJALVA: It means that everything is equitable and equal. You know, when we first came under court order — and I was a student in TUSD, I graduated from Pueblo High school in 1989. And we knew in just going and visiting other campuses that some campuses on the east side of town had better access to facilities. Their stuff looked nicer, their books look newer, than we had at our school. And that was part of the argument.
And so making sure that addressing the need for access to a quality education, including discipline, disparities, facilities and technology, transportation, access, community engagement. All of those were benchmarks that we had to meet. And according to the judge, we did.
Let's talk a little bit about what difference that's probably made for students. You're on the county board of supervisors now, no longer with the TUSD board. But has that long journey toward equitable made a big difference in the lives of the kids in Tucson who go to this district?
GRIJALVA: Absolutely. ... I can see the difference from when I was a student. My children actually attend all the same schools that I did. And we can — you see the difference. Because, for the most part, it not only allowed for access and, and quality in that way, but we also opened up magnet programs. I mean, so there aren't these limitations based on where you live. Transportation is being offered to a lot of different programs that highlight arts and music, dual language, technology. And then all of those programs continue to evolve based on the needs of our community and the interests of students.
And so I think that the district is doing the best they can to make sure that everything is equitable and accessible for any child, regardless of what side of town they live in.
The Arizona Supreme Court recently ruled that the state does not have to reimburse Pima County for taxes levied for the programs that stem from the this decades-long desegregation case. First of all, what do those programs look like?
GRIJALVA: Well, I mean, they are throughout the school system. And so you have math interventionist, reading, interventionist, aides in different classrooms depending on what the program is. ... There's so many advanced learning experience programs that are paid for out of deseg funds. And so what this means because it's not all of the deseg, it's a percentage over. So it looks like $8 [million] or $9 million that will not be reimbursed.
How much of a cost burden will that be on, on the district itself on the taxpayers in that district in terms of trying to budget going forward just as the school year is getting underway?
GRIJALVA: Well, the programs will still continue it. They'll just have to be impacted in some way to reduce by $8 [million] or $9 million, if that's the direction that the TUSD board decides to go into. But I do think it's important for the district to continue to provide these programs. Because what we're saying here is that it's these programs and the equity across the district that prevents a sliding into a dual system again. Where we have a system and schools that are the haves and the have nots, that's what we want to ensure does not happen.
And so being unitary means that we still have requirements that are court ordered in order to meet the expectation that we're not going to fall backwards into a dual school system. And, and remember when there's any achievement gap, what ends up happening is those that are impacted are children of color and children in poverty. And that's what we're trying to make sure — that all of the students have equitable access to really amazing programs. and that's what TUSD has done. And I know that they'll continue to do and hopefully, if there are any cuts that have to be made that they can be made as far away from the classroom as possible.
