Yet one more growing school district in southern Arizona with an increasing need for facility funding. Based in Gilbert, which has seen a more than 200% growth in population in the last three decades, the Higley United School District is asking voters to approve a $95 million bond that will be partly used to buy land for the construction of a new school.
The Higley district has also witnessed unprecedented growth, more than doubling its enrollment numbers since the year 2000 to the current number of just over 13,500 students.
As proposed, the capital bond will also provide up to $27 million for a series of classroom additions and upgrade projects district-wide.
The bond will also fund any number of facility security upgrade initiatives, with $11 million targeting major maintenance projects including the replacement of HVAC systems and installing new roofing and flooring.
District officials have maintained that the bond is particularly needed to help make up for a loss of state funding, now in excess of $4.5 billion. While some of that funding has been partially restored, an official statement from the Higley district says that the state restoration has not been “sufficient to accommodate expected growth in the district.”
A district measuring around 24 square miles, Higley also serves the equally growing town of Queen Creek.
By Garry Boulard
