Apache Junction Figured It Out. Why Can’t Scottsdale Unified?

By Ronald Sampson

Nobody expected Apache Junction to teach Scottsdale a lesson in public education yet here we are.

While Scottsdale Unified debates which neighborhood schools to close, Apache Junction Unified has quietly done something clever: it stopped treating families who use Empowerment Scholarship Accounts as a lost cause. Instead, it started treating them as customers.

What Apache Junction Built

The program is called AJUSD FLEX. Families using ESA funds can buy into the district a piece at a time. A high schooler can take a single class for credit for $600 a semester. Athletes can join a team for the same price. Meanwhile, elementary students can attend in-person classes for $450 a semester.

The logic is simple. That ESA money is already leaving the district, and Apache Junction decided to win some of it back. In other words, the district looked at the world as it is, not as it wishes it were.

You can love or hate the voucher program. Either way, it isn’t going anywhere soon. The only real question is which districts adapt.

What Scottsdale Unified Built

SUSD, by contrast, has a closure list. Seven schools are under consideration after enrollment fell 23% over the past decade. A public hearing is set for September 22, and the board plans to decide in October.

Parents are already poking holes in the district’s math. One mother told the board that Laguna Prep’s capacity was presented as 638 students. She says the real number is 891. That is not a rounding error.

A Football Team Tells the Story

Then there is Saguaro. The program has 14 state championships. This fall, however, it had only 35 players and could not field freshman or junior varsity teams. After a 62-0 loss to Desert Mountain, the district canceled the Battle for Scottsdale against Chaparral, citing player safety.

That call was probably right. Still, it should alarm everyone. When a football dynasty in Scottsdale cannot fill a roster, many families have already voted with their feet.

Lead or Keep Closing

Scottsdale Unified has advantages Apache Junction can only dream about: strong neighborhoods, engaged parents and a name that still means something. What it lacks is imagination.

Closing buildings is not a strategy. It is an admission. Before the board votes, it should ask one simple question: what would it take to bring those families back?

Apache Junction has already answered that question. Scottsdale should be paying attention.