In a flurry of closed-door meetings last week, school boards in the East Valley and Cave Creek each plotted a joint strategy to fight the East Valley Institute of Technology over millions in vocational training dollars.
The EVIT Governing Board also met behind closed doors Sept. 8 over the same dispute prior to those boards’ executive sessions.
Those sessions were held either Sept. 9 or 10 by the boards for J.O. Combs, Chandler Unified, Apache Junction Unified, Gilbert Public Schools, Queen Creek Unified, Cave Creek Unified and Tempe Union.
Those districts, as well as Fountain Hills and Higley Unified, have been engaged in a months-long fight over funding for the career and technical education (CTE) programs they sponsor for some 24,000 juniors and seniors on their own high school campuses and the degree of control EVIT wants over their operation.
In addition to their on-site courses, those districts, together with Mesa Public Schools and Scottsdale Unified, send a total of about 8,000 high school juniors and seniors for half-day classes in other CTE programs at one of EVIT’s two Mesa campuses.
The focus of last week’s closed-door meetings by the districts was to carve out a strategy that could end up in a lawsuit. Fountain Hills and Higley Unified meet this week and are expected to hold the same closed-door meetings for the same purpose.
Five boards – Combs, Chandler Unified, Tempe Union, Apache Junction and Queen Creek – also publicly approved hiring attorney Osborn Maledon as special counsel to lead negotiations and “possible legal action” in the EVIT dispute. The other two districts did not have his hiring on their agenda but are expected to do the same.
None of the agendas indicated a fee schedule for his services.
EVIT in a release on Thursday criticized the boards’ actions, stating, “This decision is deeply disappointing and forces taxpayers in their respective communities to bear unnecessary legal expenses driven by misinformation and fear.
“It diverts valuable resources away from classrooms and into courtrooms.
EVIT Superintendent Dr. Chad Wilson said in the release, “This is puzzling. Straightforward solutions exist, so it’s confusing why these districts are choosing to waste taxpayer money and time on legal disputes.”
At issue are each district’s intergovernmental agreement (IGA) with EVIT that cover funding for their on-site CTE programs.
The agreements all expired – after a two-month extension – on Aug. 31.
Mesa Public Schools and Scottsdale approved their new IGAs over the summer and Wilson in an interview said he approved them about four weeks ago. He said his board authorized him to sign any IGA that met his requirements.
The boards that met last week in each case reconvened publicly after their closed-door sessions to unanimously approve a vaguely worded statement to follow the “direction provided” by their legal counsel.
No explanation of that direction was provided in most cases, although a subsequent vote by four boards broadly hinted at it.
In all cases, the board agendas indicated the private sessions involved “the subject of negotiation, in pending or contemplated litigation or in settlement discussions conducted in order to avoid or resolve litigation” with EVIT.
At the Chandler meeting, board member Kurt Rohrs cast the lone vote against including legal action. He wanted the law firm to come back and ask for that only when all other options have been explored.
Chandler and the eight other districts are balking at EVIT’s demand to reduce by the money it passes to the districts for their on-site CTE programs and for more accountability in their operation.
Wilson early this year cited a blistering state Auditor General report from March 2024 as the reason for needing more control of the district programs. And with that control, he said, EVIT needs to keep some of the money it’s been sending the districts.
The audit said neither EVIT nor its member districts collected “complete data or use key student outcome data to help assess effectiveness” of their programs.
EVIT “did not use outcome data it collected to assess the quality of its programs and could not demonstrate the $85.9 million it spent on programs was effective in preparing students for high-need occupations,” it said.
“It is important that (districts like EVIT) determine whether their programs are preparing students for high-need occupations and then use that information to evaluate and support their member districts’ satellite campus programs to ensure quality and compliance.”
Without that data, the audit noted, EVIT “could not demonstrate to students, parents, the public, and state policymakers that its programs were effective in achieving its statutory purpose of preparing students for entry into high-need occupations.”
Wilson in April provided his governing board with data that that showed the passing rates in some district CTE programs were below state averages.
In the interview, he also said “someone is responsible” for the notion running through the nine districts that EVIT wants to kill off their high school CTE programs.
That notion, Wilson said, is false, especially since EVIT’s Mesa campuses couldn’t accommodate all the thousands of students in their high school CTE programs.
At the Chandler Unified Governing Board meeting Sept. 10, over 20 students, teachers and parents spoke on behalf of their local CTE programs.
Board member Ryan Heap later said, ”I think that in this serious matter, as we’re proposing potential legal action, it is because I regard CTE as one of the strengths of Chandler and the IGA that has been proposed at this point would have a significant financial impact, and it’s not something that I would like to see.”
Wilson said that EVIT currently passes to the member districts about 83% of the funding it receives from the state. That percentage is far higher than the other five CTE districts in Arizona that operate like EVIT does.
He said the EVIT wants to trim the total allocation to those districts by about $1 million in all, and pointed to what each district hasn’t even spent on CTE programs that EVIT gave them.
Those accumulated dollars include over $15.67 million at Tempe Union, $9.87 million for Chandler, and $9.17 million for Gilbert Public Schools. Other amounts range from $127,000 for Fountain Hills to $5.59 million for Mesa.
“I don’t think people really understand that the CTE programs at the satellite level are ultimately the responsibility of the EVIT Governing Board,” Wilson said.
“And so part of what we’re wanting to do in the new IGA is put a quality rubric that kind of allows us to look at data, both at the central and the satellite campuses, and make decisions that are in the best interest of students in terms of outcomes.
He said EVIT intends to reduce the funding to the districts by about 1% across the board to defray the extra costs of more supervision of its programs and those at the districts.
The nine districts issued an unusual joint statement in early August declaring they “are united in their goal: to preserve equitable access to high-quality, on-campus CTE programs that serve students’ best interests.
“Now more than ever, protecting satellite CTE programs means protecting Arizona’s future workforce,” they said. “All students deserve access to relevant, hands-on career training without sacrificing their electives, enduring long commutes, or losing connection to their school communities.”
Wilson in the interview disputed that characterization.
“I also think that there have been presentations by some of our member districts in which there were comments made that if the dollars are reduced, that those dollars would mean programs will be closed.”
“The EVIT Governing Board has never said we’re going to close programs. I’ve never said we’re going to close programs. Even governing boards never said we want everybody to go to the central campus, and yet that seems to be part of the narrative that is out there.
“And it’s not a narrative that we’re driving, but it’s a narrative that somebody’s driving.”
Wilson said he has been trying to meet with each of the seven districts separately and that they have insisted on joint meetings to discuss the new IGAs as well as help them plan their CTE programs for the 2026-27 school year.
For now, he said, no CTE program at any high school is in jeopardy, largely because those districts have unspent funds.
But he said that without new agreements, “we don’t believe we have the authority to pass money through because there’s no agreement in place that allows us to do that.”
He stressed, however, that current CTE students don’t have to worry, since their districts have more than enough funding with the possible exception of a few small districts.
Wilson also warned that a lawsuit could prolong the dispute for months.
“The taxpayer dollars that are being invested in CTE should be spent on CTE, not defending or litigating in the courthouse,” Wilson said.
Because state law forbids officials from publicly discussing what occurred behind closed doors, it is unclear what will happen as the stalemate continues in the absence of new IGAs between EVIT and the nine districts, though their programs are continuing for now.
This newspaper challenged Tempe Union’s vague agenda wording – which was nearly identical to the other boards’ agendas for last week’s meetings.
Tempe Union’s legal counsel, attorney Jordan Ellel, defended its closed-door session Sept. 10.
He said the Arizona Attorney General’s guide book on open meeting law states: “In order to preserve the confidentiality afforded by the Open Meeting Law, the best practice is for the public body, upon return to the open session, to vote to authorize its attorney to ‘proceed as instructed in the executive session.’
“The District has also agendized two additional proposed legal actions that further complies with the AG’s Office guidance that authorizing filing litigation does require a public vote,” he told this newspaper.
He added, “At this time, it is not clear whether litigation will be necessary given ongoing negotiations.”
