Fountain Hills Republican Club (FHRC) sponsored a school bond forum Saturday, Sept. 16, for its members and interested guests.

The Community Center’s moveable walls came in handy when more than 120 attendees packed the forum which featured pro and con presentations on the Fountain Hills Unified School District (FHUSD) bond election request.

“For the past several decades, school districts have used bonds and overrides to provide funding for a variety of expenditures, which does not include additional salaries for classroom teachers,” FHRC Spokesperson Nancy Plencner said. “This upcoming election has stirred up a lot of dialogue, coming on the heels of an earlier bond that taxpayers are still paying off and a failed bond vote in 2022. The 2014 bond was $8 million for 10 years; this new bond, if passed, will be a $25 million obligation over 15 years.”

Also on the ballot, Plencner said the district is asking for voter approval to sell Four Peaks Elementary School, adding that the site is no longer utilized as a school.

“With a dropping enrollment, students have now been consolidated into another facility,” Plencner said. “Complicating the matter of whether to approve such a massive bond are the student outcomes that have been declining both in math and reading...”

Plencner also noted that parents of more than 1,000 Fountain Hills school-age students continue to send their children to schools outside of FHUSD. Current enrollment in the district’s kindergarten to 12th grades now stands at 1,174 students, she said. During the forum, Plencner said the financial management of the district was called into question

“According to the Arizona Auditor General, over 60 violations were reported having to do with oversight, transparency and documentation,” she said. These issues arose during the previous school superintendent’s tenure and, according to FHUSD Superintendent Cain Jagodzinski, are already being addressed.

Providing the “yes” side of the bond presentation Saturday was Art Tolis, a former Town Council member. On the “no” side was businessman Larry Meyers, who reminded the audience that, “Arizona funds each student at over $10,000 per child per year and the district is expected to manage to those dollars,” Plencner said of Meyers. Providing the district’s perspective was Jagodzinski.

“Here is the reality of today’s Fountain Hills demographics as it relates to the bond’s request: According to census bureau numbers, the average age in Fountain Hills is nearly 60,” Plencner said. “This population is not producing school-age children, and young families are not moving here due to the high cost of homes. Thus, year after year the school-age population in town is dropping by 10%.”

The Nov. 7 election is considered a special election, which means mail-in ballots only, Plencner said.

“The expense of this special election is being borne by the school district at a cost of $30,000,” she said, adding that mail-in ballots will begin to arrive in voters’ mailboxes in early October.

After the bond forum, an informal survey of attendees asked, “If given the program they had just heard, were they inclined to vote ‘no’ or ‘yes’ or ‘not vote at all.’” Plencner said 80% of those surveyed said they would be voting “no.”

For more information about the Fountain Hills Republican Club, visit fountainhillsrepublicanclub.com.