Flying High: Agua Fria School District Officials Spent Over $343K On Out-of-State Travel In Less Than a Year

In just under a year, Agua Fria Union High School District (AFUHSD) has approved at least over $343,000 on out-of-state travel requests for its administrators and governing board members.

Former Goodyear council member Jen Barber — who goes by “West Valley Jen” on X and runs a group called West Valley Families — discovered the many, costly travel requests and noticed how they were adding up.

The Goodyear resident also noted that the costs may add up significantly — possibly to thousands more — overnight, since the travel requests came with the caveat that the district superintendent could substitute names for the trips as needed.

Barber clarified that board president Gina DeCoste told her that staff don’t take advantage of out-of-state travel. Barber said that her attempts at further communication from the district have been rebuffed, and that the district’s counsel was now speaking with her.

Agua Fria Union High School District: At tonight’s governing board meeting, the Consent Agenda includes $32,705 in out-of-state travel requests. Two AFUHSD governing board members join 14 district officials in requesting travel monies. And one governing board member, Eric Cultum,… pic.twitter.com/tV63wkGGq5

— West Valley Jen (@WestValleyFams) May 14, 2024

During the district’s recent board meeting, the board approved the out-of-state travel requests for two of its members — Eric Cultum and Vickie Landis — along with other district officials to tour three Los Angeles, California academies over the course of three days.

Cultum also received two other travel request approvals: one to attend the SkillsUSA National Competition in Atlanta, Georgia for four days at the cost of over $2,400 from the district’s M&O funds; another to attend the FCCLA 2024 in Seattle, Washington for four days at the cost of over $4,400 from the district’s CTE funds.

Cultum isn’t the district’s only frequent flier this school year.

AFUHSD’s senior executive officer for communications & strategic alliances, Megan Griego, has had seven out-of-state travel requests; deputy superintendent of academics & schools Phillip Nowlin has had six; and deputy superintendent of operations Tom Huffman has had five.

The hundreds of thousands in frequent out-of-state staff travel doesn’t mean the district has an abundance of spending power, however; district leaders are considering their options for getting more money from the community.

Ahead of Tuesday’s meeting, the board discussed another exploratory bond and district additional assistance override during its study session.

Last November, AFUHSD passed a $197 million bond initiative. Those bond funds were marketed as necessary for certain maintenance and facility updates across the Agua Fria, Canyon View, Desert Edge, Millennium, and Verrado high schools as well as districtwide.

One of the biggest projects the bond aimed to fund was a new high school, named Goodyear High School on Tuesday, to eliminate overcrowding.

The $197 million bond came with an estimation of an annual tax rate at $13.51 monthly per average household.

AFUHSD’s major projects from its 2019 bond — totaling $55 million — focused on some of the modernization described as the aims for the 2023 bonds.

This included $18.25 million at Agua Fria High School to modernize labs, open up classrooms, and create unique student gathering spaces; $3 million at Desert Edge High School to create a 5,600-square-foot welcome center and student services building for visitors; and $30.6 million at Millennium High School for renovated band and choir rooms, a newer, bigger gymnasium, and a transportation and warehouse facility for service bays, storage, and bus parking.