DVUSD preparing for growth
New schools, more teachers on the books
by Brian DiTullio

DVUSD – The Deer Valley Unified School District is gearing up to service the ever‑growing student population.

Director of Fiscal Services Jim Migliorino gave a brief presentation at the April 10 meeting to the Governing Board about the anticipated 2.8 percent growth in the student population. He sat down with The Desert Advocate a few days later to give a more detailed outlook of the future.

Growth is typically projected at two percent, but Migliorino noted the addition of all‑day kindergarten next year has skewed those numbers slightly higher.

While no new schools are scheduled to open this year, relief should come for Sunset Ridge Elementary School in August 2008 when a new elementary school opens in the Valley Vista development south of Carefree Highway and east of I‑17.

Several parents have complained about the crowded fifth‑grade class rooms at Sunset Ridge over the past few meetings. Migliorino pointed to four new portable classrooms going up for the next school year to help better distribute the students until the new school opens.

The new elementary school, which has not been named yet, isn’t the only new school on the drawing board. Migliorino said the district is hoping to build another elementary school in the area of Happy Valley Road and I‑17 to open in 2009 or 2010, and the district was just given approval to build a sixth high school to open in 2011.

The location for the proposed high school still needs to be determined. Migliorino said the district is evaluating the growth trends to choose the best location for the new high school and will make its decision sometime next year.                                

The district currently has five high schools, three middle schools, 16 K‑6 schools, and 10 K‑8 schools.

Addressing overcrowding issues, especially toward the end of the school year, becomes tricky, said Migliorino. “Every decision we make has a financial implication,” he said, noting final budget revisions are due to the state next month.

With the school year so close to ending, the district, by law, is no longer allowed to split up classes. DVUSD may hire teacher aides, but it can’t start new classrooms.

“Teacher aides provide some relief, but not necessarily direct relief,” he said, adding the duties of a teacher’s aide vary from classroom to classroom.

However, the district has begun hiring teachers for the new school year, said Migliorino, and intends to budget for the anticipated growth.

“The district has hired 73 new certified staff for next year, 61 of them are kindergarten teachers.”

As for the crowding at Sunset Ridge, Migliorino said an additional teacher for sixth grade is one of the new hires for next year to help shrink the classrooms for that grade, and that DVUSD is also adding classrooms for third and fourth grades.

From a budget standpoint, Migliorino said the figures look good. The adopted budget is $176,069,479 with a projected carry forward of $979,094, a little above the historical average.