Voters: ‘No’ to NUSD override

A few hundred Nogales voters defeated a budget override for the Nogales Unified School District No. 1 in Tuesday’s election.

“Yes” votes totaled 353 or 44.33 percent of the total ballots cast. But the 443 “no” votes, or 55.65 percent, prevailed.

Of the 9,685 active registered voters in the district, just 796 cast ballots on Tuesday, about 8.2 percent. That dismal turnout nearly paralleled the 2005 override election when 883 voters went to the polls.

There was a misconception among some voters that the override meant a new tax. It is not a new tax, said NUSD Finance Director Karla Soto.

In 2000, Nogales voters approved a maintenance and operations override for 4.15 percent of the state limit. It raised the property tax rate by a few cents to pay for extracurricular activities and higher salaries for teachers and staff.

In May 2005, voters renewed the override and increased it to 6.39 percent, Soto said. It was to provide about $9 million in additional funding over the next seven years. In 2010, the override will enter its sixth year and the percentage of funds it can raise will drop, to 4.26 percent and the district would collect just $1.2 million.

“I don’t think the community realizes how big this (the override) is,” said Fernando Parra, principal of Nogales High School, after the vote on Tuesday. “It’s going to have a huge impact.”

In the past nine years, override funds have paid addendums to teachers for their extra work as curriculum leaders, athletic coaches, and advisers for senior projects, music and drama, and the international baccalaureate program, Parra said. Next year, that extra pay will be phased out.

“The voters have spoken,” said NUSD Board President Dr. L. Hunter Nash. “Apparently they want less of a tax burden.”

NUSD Superintendent Shawn McCollough attributed the rejection to “low voter turnout and the financial situation the country is in. It may have been a bad time to ask for this,” he said.

When NUSD governing board members voted last July to ask for the override, they turned down a possible bond measure on the same ballot. A couple of members said they doubted the voters would approve both measures in the current recession.

“I am livid,” said former NUSD board member Heidi Ortiz. “The board sold it (the override) as a ‘no.’ Nobody pushed for it.”

When the override measure went on the ballot in 2005, she organized teachers and parents to put up “yes” signs, she said. After a heated campaign, the override was renewed by a vote of 503 to 380, according to a story in the Nogales International.

“The district cannot promote the override,” McCollough said. “It’s against the law.”

Instead, the district held a pre-election forum on the override, the same thing it did in 2005, he said.

Ortiz predicted, “We’re going to have to lay off teachers and crowd the classrooms.”

McCollough described the defeat as “a hurdle many school districts are facing.” He noted that voters in Tucson and Sahuarita also turned down override measures.

“I don’t want people to panic or overreact,” he said. “I’m confident we can make the necessary adjustments in next year’s budget without laying people off.”

McCollough hopes the district can bring the override back to the voters next year, before all the current funding is gone, he said. “I know the people of Nogales care about their schools.”