SW Valley Times

According to an examination of public records by the Goldwater Institute, administrators and school board members at the Tolleson Union High School District in Avondale used taxpayer funds to book accommodations for themselves at luxury resorts in Sedona and Tucson for professional development retreats – as it now asks those same taxpayers to agree to contribute additional monies through budget override and bond elections.

The Institute posted that District staff members “attend[ed] what amounted to multi-day vacations at four-star resorts – even as the District now wants voters to agree to tax themselves more to support additional spending.”

Tolleson Union High School District is one of 39 in Maricopa County alone asking voters to approve additional taxing in budget override and bond-based ballot proposals, to go towards improving school buildings and administrative costs, such as staff salaries and programs.

“The problem is that Tolleson Union, which is asking for approval for both a bond authorization and a District Additional Assistance Override, has been spending its existing taxpayer cash in some highly questionable ways. In both July 2023 and June 2024, for instance, Tolleson Union’s school administrators and school board members treated themselves to multi-day summer ‘retreats’ at four-star resorts in Sedona and Tucson, all on the taxpayers’ dime. Most school districts do hold retreats – for strategic planning and to discuss important goals that will drive their work for the coming year – but they typically happen at the District office, where the cost is minimal and the public can attend and participate,” the Institute wrote in its post.

“In contrast, Tolleson Union’s completely unnecessary trips may, in fact, have broken Arizona’s Open Meeting Law by not even providing the required public access to the meetings. At the two-day June 2024 Retreat held at the Hilton Sedona Resort at Bell Rock, Tolleson Union’s governing board failed to provide an agenda that stated the topics up for discussion. At both the 2023 and 2024 retreats, there was no meaningful way for the public to attend the proceedings, or even to watch a video stream or listen to an audio recording.”

As a result, the Institute filed a statement to be included on the Voter Information Ballot Pamphlet that voters will receive before the November election, letting Tolleson Union taxpayers know about the staff expenditures and submitted public records requests to find out exactly how much the trips had cost.

The Institute’s Senior Communications Manager Joe Setyon offered a statement on the situation.

“Taxpayers deserve to know when their tax money is being wasted – especially when those same taxpayers are being asked to approve even more spending. Ultimately, our public officials must always be accountable for how they spend taxpayer dollars,” Setyon told SW Valley Times.

The matter comes at a time when the District’s administration recently confirmed that an independent investigation is now underway, with respect to a sexual harassment complaint filed by Superintendent Jeremy Calles against the District’s Board President, Dr. Elda Luna-Nájera.

Calles contended that as a result of his bringing the complaint, the Board was attempting to fire him. Though before a special meeting which was open to the public, two Board members, Dr. Kino Flores and Steven Chapman, commented that was not the case.