Plans for the building of two new schools and the expansion of two other existing facilities are expected to move forward within the next year in one of the fastest-growing school districts in southern Arizona.
By a razor-thin margin of 88 votes, out of the nearly 26,000 cast ballots, residents of the Maricopa Unified School District last month approved a $70 million bond designed to fund the long-planned facility projects.
The two new schools will serve students from the kindergarten to 8th grade level, with one of those facilities going up in the Sorrento community, which has never before had its own school.
The expansion work will add new classroom space to the Desert Sunrise High School, located at 16200 N. Murphy Road. Built in 2022, the school last year had an enrollment of just over 600 students, with some projections saying that number could more than double in the next decade.
The second expansion project will focus on Maricopa High School, located at 45012 W. Honeycutt Avenue. A nearly 70-year-old structure, the high school is expected to see the building of more career and technical education space.
With a combination of ten elementary, middle, and high schools, the Maricopa Unified School District’s student enrollment has jumped in recent years from around 7,600 to more than 8,700.
December 10, 2024
By Garry Boulard
