Tucson Unified School District lost another one when voters Nov. 4 once again rejected the district’s request to exceed a 10 percent override of its operations budget. A person in business might be tempted to shrug off the loss without much surprise. After all, any business that has operated as poorly as TUSD would have been out of business long ago.

But as a taxpayer-supported entity, TUSD’s bloated bureaucracy, mismanagement and arrogance survived.

Being the largest school district in Pima County, TUSD’s failures are hurting this region’s hopes of being able to develop an educated, competitive workforce for when we ever get ourselves out of the national economic mess we’re in right now.

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TUSD officials need look no further than themselves for the reasons why the override failed. 

Yes, this was not the best year to ask taxpayers for more money but voters in Altar Valley, Catalina Foothills and Flowing Wells all approved school spending measures on Nov. 4.

Yes, teachers are underpaid but they’re notoriously underpaid throughout Arizona. Teacher salaries in TUSD are higher than most other local districts.

Yes, more children should have exposure to TUSD’s Opening Minds Through the Arts program but not everyone would have received it, even if the override had passed. Voters were left to figure out for themselves if their neighborhood school would have received it. Not a good position to be in with TUSD administrators’ history of not being forthright.

Yes, students stuck in TUSD’s academically underperforming schools should have the resources they need to get on pace. But TUSD’s decision-makers still don’t get it: A few weeks ago I drove by Duffy Elementary School, 5145 E. Fifth St., and the marquee carried this notice: “Yeah—We’re a performing plus school.” That’s it? That’s what you’re going to boast about? Getting an achievement profile from the Arizona Department of Education that is the equivalent of getting a C+ or B- on a report card. 

It took TUSD a long time to get as bad as it is. It could take longer to try to fix it. So let’s not fix it.

That’s right. Let’s do away with TUSD as we know it now. Break the district up into, say, three or four separate school districts. Some of the fringe areas could be moved into the neighboring districts of Flowing Wells, Tanque Verde, Catalina Foothills or Vail. They’re all districts that have better community support and more success in educating children.  

Studies disagree on the optimum size for a school district, but most generally agree smaller school districts allow for better student achievement because of the closer interaction between educators and families.

Further, virtually every study has found there are few efficiencies that come from very large school districts. Andrew Coulson, of the Cato Institute’s Center for Educational Freedom, studied optimal district size in five states (California, Florida, New York, Michigan and Texas) and concluded: “If (the) goal is to save tax revenues, then deconsolidation is a better option.”

Public schools aren’t broken. TUSD is broken. It’s time to get rid of it.

E-mail comments for publication to editor@azbiz.com. Contact David Hatfield at dhatfield@azbiz.com or (520) 295-4237.