Earlier this month Tucson Unified School District Superintendent H.T. Sanchez complained to the Arizona Senate Finance Committee that the District has little control of the use of desegregation monies. He argued that the desegregation monies, raised through District area property taxes, were strictly controlled by the Unitary Status Plan.
The Unitary Status Plan (USP) was agreed upon by the Special Master appointed by federal Judge David Bury, desegregation plaintiff representatives, and the District’s administration. Contrary to Sanchez’s claim, the USP contains few specific demands. Instead, the USP acts as a outline, with some limited specificity on issues ranging from transportation to teacher training.
In fact, the only area of the USP that offers any real details of performance expectations is the discipline portion, which was crafted primarily by the DOJ. While that portion has quietly created chaos in the classroom, the transportation services have garnered the most attention this month when one bus caught on fire while heading out to pick up children from school.
According to a statement released this week, Sanchez said, “Our maintenance crews as well as our leadership in transportation took precautions with our buses,” Dr. H.T. Sánchez, superintendent of Tucson Unified School District said. “But today we have decided we will take the ultimate precaution, and the buses that are very similar to the one where we had the incident occur have all been pulled offline, and we’re running other buses in their place.”
The fire surprised and outraged many parents, and Board member Michael Hicks. Hicks questioned how the buses could be in such poor condition considering how much money the District spends in that area.Unitary Status Plan (USP)
A cursory look at the desegregation budget shows that the District spends considerable money attracting students to schools and considerable money on transportation personnel.
| 3 | Traffic Safety Supervisors* | 131,852 |
| Transportation Facility Manager | 49,951 | |
| Unknown* | Transportation Bus drivers | 750,000 |
| 7 | Transportation Supervisors* | 317,138 |
| 2 | Scheduling Analysts | 81,307 |
| 2 | Upholsterer | 73,568 |
| Sub total | 1,403,816 | |
| Outside purchased Transportation | 1,600,000 | |
| GASOLINE | 475,000 | |
| DIESEL | 1,375,000 |
* District officials could not identify total number of drivers, or job descriptions and duties of supervisors.
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