Upper Verde Valley school district consolidation history

With Tuesday's voter rejection of the consolidation of the Mingus Union and Cottonwood-Oak Creek school districts, here is a look back at the history of school district consolidation in the Upper Verde Valley, dating back to 1952.

• 1952: Yavapai County Board of Supervisors and area school boards appoint survey team to study consolidation

• 1953: Survey team brings back three recommendations: 1) consolidate existing districts, 2) establish union high school district, 3) or, leave districts as they stand. School boards vote to leave school districts in existing form.

• March 9, 1954: Voters approved the consolidation of the Cottonwood School District and the Oak Creek School District No. 16, both of Yavapai County. The results of the consolidation election in Cottonwood School District was 306 votes in favor of consolidation and 11 votes against; and in Oak Creek School District No. 16 there were 76 votes cast in favor of consolidation and 75 against.

• December 6, 1957: Voters approve establishment of Mingus Union High School District, consolidating the former Cottonwood, Clarkdale and Jerome high schools into one union district with one high school to serve the entire Upper Verde Valley. On January 25, 1958, Cottonwood joined West Sedona, Jerome, and Clarkdale in the consolidated school known as Verde Valley Union High School. Classes were held in the Clarkdale High School Building. On July 1, 1958, with the recommendation of the combined student bodies, the School Board changed the name to "Mingus Union High School." The school drew 250 students from 531 square miles of the Verde Valley. The high school staff numbered 11. Mingus Union High School continued to be in Clarkdale until 1960.

• 1958: Willard School District #44, 1920- 1958, Bridgeport, Arizona. Willard School was built in the 1920s on 2.2 acres donated by United Verde Extension on UVX Road in Bridgeport. In 1958, Willard School was annexed into Cottonwood-Oak Creek School District. (Source: Julie Larson Powerpoint)

1959: After a year of remodeling, Mingus Union High School was moved from Clarkdale to the old Jerome High School on the Hogback. Students from all over the Verde Valley were bused up the hill for the next 12 years. Cottonwood School had 520 students. Mingus Union High School had 290 students. (Verde Independent; September 3, 1959.)

1968 -- Mingus Union High School: The UVX Land Company and the Verde Land and Development Company offered the Mingus Union High School Board 60 undeveloped acres near the junction of Hwy. 89A and 260 as the site for a school, provided construction began within 5 years, on October 31, 1968. The board accepted the offer. A Valley-wide $1,490,000 bond issue to finance the new school to be built at Cottonwood passed 713 to 570 on May 13, 1969. Official groundbreaking ceremonies on March 16, 1971, marked the beginning of construction.

• Early 1981: Petitions with 229 Clarkdale-Jerome resident signatures and 1,212 Cottonwood-Oak Creek resident signatures are presented to both school boards, which in turn request the state prepare a consolidation study for both districts.

• October 1981: Cottonwood-Oak Creek/Verde Consolidation Study released, which addressed programs, financial advantages and disadvantages and the local political climate on such a school district merger.

• Late 1981: Both school boards decline to move forward with a consolidation election.

• Feb. 20, 1986: Local school district administrators call joint meeting to discuss consolidation. Mingus Union Board President Hamp Merrill characterized the gathering as “a meeting of anti-consolidation.”

• Aug. 16, 1990: Local school boards hold joint meeting to discuss continuity, social concerns and special needs students. Consolidation is added in the week prior to the meeting at the request of Cottonwood-Oak Creek board members, who were in the process of hiring a new superintendent.

• 1992: Sedona Unified School District was formed, splitting off from the Cottonwood-Oak Creek and Mingus Union school districts.

• June 9, 1992: Cottonwood-Oak Creek Board, after ending contract school bus service, has joint meeting with Mingus to discuss jointly operating transportation services. No decision was reached. School boards agree to meet again in 1993 with Clarkdale-Jerome to renew transportation services discussion and also discuss whether additional funding, available through consolidation, would assist with the transportation questions.

• Oct. 22, 1992: A meeting is called to discuss consolidation issue among potential new board members and current existing board members. The meeting is canceled after a candidate forum is scheduled on the same date.

• Jan. 28, 1993: Joint board meeting on consolidation with Mingus, Cottonwood-Oak Creek and Clarkdale-Jerome ends with no action taken.

• Oct. 8, 1997: Consolidation talks begin again at the request of a citizens group interested in seeing the consolidation question finally put to a public vote.

• Dec. 12, 1997: Yavapai County Recorder’s Office confirms the success of a consolidation election petition drive, and a March 10, 1998 election is called.

• March 10, 1998: Upper Verde school district consolidation is soundly rejected by voters: 85 percent of the voters in the Clarkdale-Jerome District say no, and 59 percent of the voters in the Cottonwood-Oak Creek District likewise voted no.

• March 12, 2001: Consolidation discussions are renewed after special state legislation is approved to provide incentive money for districts that choose to consolidation, and to allow consolidation to take place by vote of the respective school boards. The Mingus Union School Board rejected the measure by a 4-0 vote.

• 2005 to 2008: The Arizona Legislature authorized the formation of a special committee to research and recommend that 78 Arizona districts put the question to their voters as to whether they should be unified. The three school districts in the Upper Verde Valley were among those targeted in this state-mandated election. The Clarkdale-Jerome District was later removed, although its voters still cast ballots as part of the Mingus Union District. Ultimately, local voters rejected the consolidation question, as did most every other school district in Arizona, although the margins were much closer than they were in the 1998 vote. As summarized in an October 2008 Verde Independent editorial, “The people in the Upper Verde Valley need to be the ones who devise the framework for what school district unification will become, not the State of Arizona.”

• January 2010: Cottonwood-Oak Creek and Mingus Union school boards agree to a new round of talks on school district unification.

• Jan. 15, 2010: In a 3-2 split vote, the Mingus Union School Board voted Thursday night to form a resolution to proceed with the first steps toward unification with Cottonwood-Oak Creek School District. The C-OC board passed a similar resolution during its scheduled meeting Tuesday night. There has been a general consensus between both boards that unification likely won’t happen without financial aid from the state. MUHS Board President John Tavasci Jr. said, “Moving forward with unification makes good sense.”

• July 14, 2010: Cottonwood-Oak Creek School Board votes 4-1 to withdraw from consolidation talks with Mingus, citing no confidence in the Mingus Union High School administration.

• December 2012 – Warner Report (58 pages) on Upper Verde School District consolidation released.

• January 2017: Former Mingus Union School Board President Andy Groseta announces formation of a grass roots committee to consolidate the Upper Verde Valley’s three school districts. The Clarkdale-Jerome School Board quickly announced it was not interested in being part of such a merger. The Cottonwood-Oak Creek and Mingus Union school boards agree to the formation of a special committee to establish a list of pros and cons on school district consolidation.

• Dec. 7, 2017: Cottonwood-Oak Creek School Board requests county school superintendent call a November 2018 election for the consolidation of the Mingus Union and Cottonwood-Oak Creek School Districts. In June 2018, the Mingus Union School Board unanimously said that consolidating with Cottonwood-Oak Creek was not in the best interest of the students the district serves.

• May 1, 2018: Consolidation Study Committee members cannot agree on closing statement. Committee dissolves.

• May 17, 2018: Gov. Doug Ducey signs SB1254, which amends Arizona law on the manner in which school districts can be consolidated.

• June 4, 2018: Committee for Better Upper Verde Valley Schools – 2018 turns in petitions with 2,312 signatures to Yavapai County School Superintendent’s Office to have the consolidation question placed on the November 2018 ballot

• July 5, 2018: Yavapai County School Superintendent Tim Carter confirms the proposed Mingus Union/Cottonwood-Oak Creek consolidation election will be on the Nov. 6 General Election ballot.

• July 12, 2018: Mingus Union School Board and related parties file lawsuit against Yavapai County School Superintendent Tim Carter, Yavapai County Recorder, Yavapai County Election Director, Yavapai County Board of Supervisors and the Committee for Better Upper Verde Valley Schools to block the Nov. 6, 2018 consolidation election.

• Aug. 24, 2018: Presiding Yavapai County Superior Court Judge David Mackey ruled for a “neighborly compromise” in a multiple-party lawsuit concerning the constitutionality and petition legality of a ballot question on whether or not the two districts should merge, and, in effect, canceled the Nov. 6, 2018 consolidation election.

• Nov. 6, 2018: Cottonwood-Oak Creek School Board voted 5-0 Tuesday on a motion to “request that the Yavapai County School Superintendent call an election to determine the question of consolidation” on Nov. 5, 2019. The Mingus Union School Board declined to take such action.

• Aug. 6, 2019: The Committee for Better Upper Verde Valley Schools is not required to seek a consolidation election in 2019, Yavapai County Superior Court Judge David Mackey ruled Friday. Committee members said they will pursue an election on merging the school districts into one in November 2020.

• Nov. 3, 2020: Voters in the Cottonwood-Oak Creek, Mingus Union and Clarkdale-Jerome school districts decidedly voted in opposition to the consolidation of the Cottonwood-Oak Creek and Mingus Union districts. Voters in the Cottonwood-Oak Creek and Mingus Union districts rejected consolidation by a 63-37 percent margin. Almost 75% of Clarkdale-Jerome voters rejected consolidation.

-Verde Independent archives and Julie Larson historical research