TUSD details five school closures that would save $3.4 million a year as board members question the pace

TUSD details five school closures that would save $3.4 million a year as board members question the pace

TUCSON — Tucson Unified School District administrators on Tuesday, Oct. 27, detailed plans to close four elementary schools and move Magee Middle School into Sabino High School for the 2027-28 school year. Together the moves would save about $3.4 million a year, by the district's estimates. The Governing Board took no vote at the special study session. Board member Jennifer Eckstrom said the board had been "the last to know." A final vote could come Dec. 8.

All five board members attended the meeting at Palo Verde High Magnet School, which board President Ravi Shah opened by calling the closures likely "the most difficult and consequential decisions" the board would make.

The five proposals

Each scenario included enrollment, staffing and savings figures from Chief Financial Officer Ricky Hernández. Each assumed 85% of displaced students would follow their school to the receiving campus.

• Collier Elementary to Bloom Elementary: Collier has 93 students and is at 38% facility utilization. It costs $1.6 million to operate, close to $1 million more than it brings in, Superintendent Gabriel Trujillo said. The schools are 4 miles apart. The merger would cut six teaching positions and about seven non-teaching positions. It would save $1,030,643 a year, and the combined school would be at 77% utilization. The district put the property's value at $1.8 million, and $2,466,000 in unspent bond money would be freed for other schools. Collier's seven or eight sixth graders would have to go elsewhere because Bloom has no room for a sixth grade, Trujillo said.
• Cragin Elementary to Blenman Elementary: Cragin has 177 students, and the schools are 1.9 miles apart. The merger would eliminate three teaching jobs and 5.5 non-teaching full-time equivalents. It would save $660,556 a year. The property is valued at about $2 million, and the plan would free $2.1 million in bond funds. Trujillo said an engineer's report on cracked classrooms indicated major foundation work, and the campus likely needs new water lines and HVAC.
• Dunham Elementary to Marshall Elementary: Dunham has 124 students in a building designed for 350. Marshall has about 200 students and a capacity of 550. The schools are 1.3 miles apart. The merger would save $699,351 a year. The property is valued at $1.7 million, and $2,366,000 in bond funds would be freed.
• Hudlow Elementary to W. Arthur Sewell Elementary: The schools are 2.5 miles apart and have nearly identical enrollments, 132 and 125. Trujillo said Sewell was chosen because of investments already made or approved there: $1.4 million for HVAC, $1.8 million committed to water line replacement and a state building renewal grant for a full roof replacement. The merger would save $494,940 a year. The property is valued at $1 million.
• Magee Middle School into Sabino High School: The plan would create a grades 6-12 "secondary academy" with a separate bell schedule, lunch, teachers and sports for middle schoolers. Magee has 266 students. Sabino has 767 and is approaching half full. A board member put the distance at almost 8 miles, and the district would run nonstop express buses. A classroom wing at Sabino was renovated for a similar plan around 2013 and is largely ready. The merger would save $514,482 a year. Magee's property is valued at $3.2 million, and $3.1 million in bond funds would be freed.

The district committed to several conditions across the proposals:

• Self-contained special education classes would move intact.
• Affected families would get free before- and after-school care.
• Transportation would be guaranteed, with added routes.
• Arts programs would be expanded.

Hernández said the child care commitment is currently for one year and would not come out of the projected savings. Trujillo described it as a pilot to test whether free care draws families from outside the district. The city's KIDCO after-school program used at several receiving schools is raising tuition 25% to $85 a month for city residents starting July 1, a City of Tucson decision, Hernández said.

Selling closed campuses requires voter approval, Operations Program Manager Bryant Nodine said. A sale could then take three to six months, or 12 to 24 months if rezoning is needed. Hernández said the district's mail-only override election cost about $850,000 and that a sale measure on the 2028 presidential ballot would likely cost half that or less.

Board members challenge rationale and timing

Trujillo said the goal was not primarily financial but a "better TUSD" with stronger programs to attract students back. "Is it a budget conversation? Sure. Partly," Trujillo said.

"I don't remember having a discussion about consolidating because we wanted better programs for students," Eckstrom said. "I thought it was strictly before the budget." Eckstrom said proposals "trickled down" to the public before the board was briefed. "I feel that I don't have enough knowledge to make a decision right now," Eckstrom said.

Board member Sadie Shaw said much of the material arrived the Thursday before the meeting. Shaw questioned why the consolidation committee had been told about 20% of displaced students were lost in past closures, while the agenda materials gave figures from 9.3% to 15%. Hernández said the 15% figure is the basis for current projections.

Shaw also questioned the Magee plan, suggesting making Sabino a grades 7-12 school without closing Magee, or making Magee a dual-language K-8. "I really do feel like we will lose all of Collier" under the Magee plan, Shaw said. Shah asked whether nearby Gridley Middle School could absorb sixth graders so Sabino could serve grades 7-12. Trujillo said the committee wanted to keep grade cohorts together and avoid crowding Gridley, which Trujillo said already has higher class sizes than many other middle schools. Trujillo also said one-teacher sixth grades on the east side have struggled.

Eckstrom also pressed consultant Bill de la Cruz over a community engagement summary that Eckstrom called mostly positive. Eckstrom asked for all raw feedback, and de la Cruz agreed to provide it. De la Cruz said the team heard from about 645 to 650 people.

In closing remarks, board member Val Romero noted the district is on the Arizona Auditor General's high-risk list because it is spending more than it takes in. Romero said a state takeover would leave decisions out of the board's hands. Another board member called talk of a state takeover harmful, said the district was "nowhere near that," and urged a pause on closures this year. A third board member said the board has cut about $9 million from central administration over the past two years.

Financial backdrop and history

Hernández said the district has spent one-time fund balance on about $7 million in ongoing raises, likening it to "overdrafting our checking account and dipping into our savings." Budget carryforward peaked at $28 million in 2023 and now stands at $10 million. Hernández also cited:

• $141 million in withheld state capital funding, worth $205 million today, against a budget of just over $400 million
• The 2025 expiration of Proposition 123, which had provided $2.6 million to $3.4 million a year
• The universal ESA voucher expansion
• An enrollment decline of 2.8% this year

District analysts said about 15% of continuing students at closed schools left the district after the 2010 and 2013 closures, compared with a normal rate of about 10%. That gap amounts to an estimated additional loss of 100 and 175 students. Hernández said the projected $4.5 million in savings from the 2013 closures could not be verified.

Public comment

About 19 people spoke, and letters were read. Several parents of students at Cragin, Collier, Bloom, Hudlow and Dunham opposed the plans:

• A Collier parent said the family's three children would move to a closer school in a neighboring district and urged a sensitivity analysis of the 85% retention assumption.
• The Cragin PTO president asked why Blenman students could not move to Cragin instead.
• A school bus driver argued that lost per-student revenue would offset much of the projected savings.
• Other speakers said the plans target the east side and criticized the consolidation committee's makeup. One said parents made up 16% of the committee and political staff from ward offices 35%.

Also discussed:

• Board Clerk Natalie Luna Rose asked that consolidation committee members be invited to speak at the next study session. Luna Rose also asked that the district contact the new city manager about parking, traffic and flood-control plans near Sewell before any move.
• On Nov. 10 at Sahuaro High School, the board will review three more proposals for 2028-29, including a previously released Secrist-Santa Rita plan. A public hearing is set for Nov. 17, also at Sahuaro. After a board member asked for a midtown meeting site, Trujillo agreed and said the calendar would be revised.

This report was drafted by Claude Opus 5.5 from a live transcript produced by Deepgram Nova-2, then reviewed and edited by Nicholas De Leon with Claude Opus 5.5, and published at 10:10 PM MST on October 27, 2026. Read more about how this is made.