Become part of the movement for unbiased, accessible election information. Donate today.

Higley Unified School District, Arizona

From Ballotpedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Higley Unified School District
School Board badge.png
Maricopa County, Arizona
District details
Superintendent: Sherry Richards
# of school board members: 5
Website: Link

Higley Unified School District is a school district in Arizona.

Click on the links below to learn more about the school district’s…

Superintendent

BP-Initials-UPDATED.png
 		This information is updated as we become aware of changes. Please contact us with any updates.

Sherry Richards is the superintendent of the Higley Unified School District. She was appointed as the interim in 2023 and was selected as the permanent superintendent in 2024.[1] She earned a bachelor's degree from Texas Christian University and a master's degree from West Texas A&M. She completed her superintendent certification at Northern Arizona University.[2]

Past superintendents

  • Dr. Dawn Foley was the superintendent of the Higley Unified School District from July 1, 2021, until 2023.[1] Foley previously worked as the district's associate superintendent.[3] Foley earned a Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction from Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at Arizona State University.[4]
  • Mike Thomason was the superintendent of the Higley Unified School District from 2015 to 2021. Thomason's previous career experience included working as a special education teacher, guidance counselor, and assistant principal.[3][5]

School board

The Higley Unified School District Governing Board consists of five members elected to four-year terms. Board members are elected at large.[6]


Elections

See also: Higley Unified School District, Arizona, elections

Board members are elected on a staggered basis in November of even-numbered years.

Three seats on the Higley Unified School District school board in Arizona were up for general election on November 5, 2024. The filing deadline for this election was July 8, 2024.


Ballotpedia covered school board elections in 367 school districts in 29 states in 2024. Those school districts had a total student enrollment of 12,203,404 students. Click here to read an analysis of those elections.


Join the conversation about school board politics

Hall Pass

Stay up to date on school board politics!

Subscribe for a weekly roundup of the sharpest commentary and research from across the political spectrum with Ballotpedia's Hall Pass newsletter.


Public participation in board meetings

The Higley Unified School District Governing Board maintains the following policy on public testimony during board meetings:[7]


School board meetings

The following articles were produced by Citizen Portal using artificial intelligence to analyze public meetings. Citizen Portal publishes articles based on the availability of meeting broadcasts, so the number of articles provided may vary by district. Although these articles are not produced or edited by Ballotpedia, they are included here as a supplemental resource for readers.

School board meeting articles (click to collapse)


District map

School district map

Budget

The following statistics were published by the National Center for Education Statistics, which is a part of the U.S. Department of Education.[8]

Revenue, 2020-2021
SOURCE AMOUNT AMOUNT PER STUDENT PERCENT
Federal: $10,858,000 $867 8%
Local: $58,012,000 $4,633 43%
State: $67,276,000 $5,373 49%
Total: $136,146,000 $10,873
Expenditures, 2020-2021
TYPE AMOUNT AMOUNT PER STUDENT PERCENT
Total Expenditures: $118,851,000 $9,373
Total Current Expenditures: $101,310,000 $7,990
Instructional Expenditures: $62,107,000 $4,898 52%
Student and Staff Support: $11,011,000 $868 9%
Administration: $9,497,000 $749 8%
Operations, Food Service, Other: $18,695,000 $1,474 16%
Total Capital Outlay: $7,893,000 $622
Construction: $4,124,000 $325
Total Non El-Sec Education & Other: $4,152,000 $327
Interest on Debt: $3,700,000 $291


Teacher salaries

The following salary information was pulled from the district's teacher salary schedule. A salary schedule is a list of expected compensations based on variables such as position, years employed, and education level. It may not reflect actual teacher salaries in the district.

Year Minimum Maximum
2024-2025[9] $46,210 -
2022-2023[10] $44,967 -
2021-2022[11] $42,025 -

Academic performance

Each year, state and local education agencies use tests and other standards to assess student proficiency. Although the data below was published by the U.S. Department of Education, proficiency measurements are established by the states. As a result, proficiency levels are not comparable between different states and year-over-year proficiency levels within a district may not be comparable because states may change their proficiency measurements.[12]

The following table shows the percentage of district students who scored at or above the proficiency level each school year:

School year All (%) Asian/Pacific Islander (%) Black (%) Hispanic (%) Native American (%) Two or More Races (%) White (%)
2020-2021 56 65-69 30 44 30-39 56 62
2018-2019 66 75-79 40-44 57 30-34 64 71
2017-2018 66 75-79 40-44 56 30-39 67 70
2016-2017 65 70-74 35-39 55 40-49 69
2015-2016 62 70-74 40-44 51 30-39 67
2014-2015 58 70-74 35-39 48 30-39 61
2013-2014 82 85-89 65-69 73 60-69 85
2012-2013 79 85-89 60-64 72 60-64 83
2011-2012 78 85-89 63 70 50-59 81
2010-2011 75 80-84 60 64 50-59 79

The following table shows the percentage of district students who scored at or above the proficiency level each school year:

School year All (%) Asian/Pacific Islander (%) Black (%) Hispanic (%) Native American (%) Two or More Races (%) White (%)
2020-2021 58 65-69 41 50 30-39 62 62
2018-2019 66 70-74 45-49 58 35-39 66 70
2017-2018 62 65-69 40-44 54 30-39 63 66
2016-2017 63 65-69 40-44 55 40-49 67
2015-2016 60 65-69 40-44 50 30-39 65
2014-2015 54 60-64 40-44 44 30-39 58
2013-2014 93 90-94 85-89 88 80-89 95
2012-2013 91 90-94 75-79 87 70-74 93
2011-2012 90 90-94 83 85 70-79 91
2010-2011 89 90-94 82 83 70-79 91

The following table shows the graduation rate of district students each school year:

School year All (%) Asian/Pacific Islander (%) Black (%) Hispanic (%) Native American (%) Two or More Races (%) White (%)
2019-2020 97 >=90 >=90 >=95 >=50 >=90 96
2018-2019 96 >=90 >=90 >=95 PS >=90 96
2017-2018 95 >=90 >=90 90-94 PS >=90 95
2016-2017 94 >=90 >=90 90-94 PS 94
2015-2016 91 >=90 80-89 85-89 PS 92
2014-2015 94 >=80 >=90 90-94 PS 94
2013-2014 93 >=90 >=90 90-94 >=50 93
2012-2013 88 >=90 80-89 85-89 PS 89
2011-2012 86 >=90 70-79 80-84 >=50 87
2010-2011 86 >=80 >=90 80-84 <50 88


Students

Year Enrollment Year-to-year change (%)
2022-2023 13,040 -0.9
2021-2022 13,163 3.7
2020-2021 12,679 -2.9
2019-2020 13,050 4.1
2018-2019 12,518 4.0
2017-2018 12,015 -1.2
2016-2017 12,157 2.3
2015-2016 11,883 3.6
2014-2015 11,452 1.8
2013-2014 11,251 2.5
2012-2013 10,971 4.4
2011-2012 10,484 3.7
2010-2011 10,095 3.4
2009-2010 9,751 -0.2
2008-2009 9,768 3.4
2007-2008 9,436 12.9
2006-2007 8,218 13.9
2005-2006 7,076 8.4
2004-2005 6,479 14.1
2003-2004 5,565 31.1
2002-2003 3,835 11.8
2001-2002 3,381 35.9
2000-2001 2,166 -68.4
1999-2000 3,647 0.0
Racial Demographics, 2022-2023
RACE Higley Unified School District (%) Arizona K-12 STUDENTS (%)
American Indian/Alaska Native 0.8 4.2
Asian or Asian/Pacific Islander 3.5 3.1
Black 5.1 5.7
Hispanic 22.0 47.6
Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander 0.5 0.4
Two or More Races 6.4 4.2
White 61.8 34.9

Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.


Staff

As of the 2022-2023 school year, Higley Unified School District had 732.97 full-time classroom teachers. The student-teacher ratio was 17.79.

Teachers, 2022-2023 school year
TYPE NUMBER OF TEACHERS
Prekindergarten: 0.00
Kindergarten: 41.01
Elementary: 491.30
Secondary: 200.66
Total: 732.97

Higley Unified School District employed 19.00 district administrators and 41.00 school administrators as of the 2022-2023 school year.

Administrators, 2022-2023 school year
TYPE NUMBER OF ADMINISTRATORS
District Administrators: 19.00
District Administrative Support: 52.50
School Administrators: 41.00
School Administrative Support: 36.46
Other staff, 2022-2023 school year
TYPE NUMBER OF OTHER STAFF
Instructional Aides: 172.19
Instruc. Coordinators & Supervisors: 15.00
Total Guidance Counselors: 15.20
Elementary Guidance Counselors: 7.20
Secondary Guidance Counselors: 8.00
Librarians/Media Specialists: 10.00
Library/Media Support: 0.00
Student Support Services: 169.55
Other Support Services: 178.36


Schools

The Higley Unified School District operates 16 schools. They are listed below in alphabetical order.
List of schools
SCHOOL NAMENUMBER OF STUDENTSGRADES
Bridges Elementary School759KG-6
Centennial Elementary School679PK-8
Chaparral Elementary School806KG-8
Cooley Middle School8736-8
Coronado Elementary School582PK-8
Cortina Elementary702PK-8
Elona P. Cooley Early Child Development Center81PK-PK
Gateway Pointe Elementary767PK-8
Higley High School2,1378-12
Higley Traditional Academy761PK-8
Higley Virtual Academy124KG-12
Power Ranch Elementary623PK-8
San Tan Elementary911PK-6
Sossaman Middle School1,0437-8
Sue Sossaman Early Childhood Development Center77PK-PK
Williams Field High School2,1158-12

Contact information

Higley Unified School District seal.jpg
Higley Unified School District
2935 South Recker Rd.
Gilbert, AZ 85295
Phone: 480-279-7000


About school boards

Education legislation in Arizona

Bills are monitored by BillTrack50 and sorted by action history.

See also

Arizona School Board Elections News and Analysis
Seal of Arizona.png
School Board badge.png
Ballotpedia RSS.jpg

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Higley Unified School District, "Superintendent's Office," accessed November 6, 2023
  2. ↑ Higley Unified School District, "Meet the Superintendent," accessed April 15, 2025
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Gilbert Sun News, "Higley superintendent retiring, new one named," July 26, 2020
  4. ↑ Higley Unified School District, "Superintendent's Office," accessed May 31, 2023
  5. ↑ AZ Central, "Higley Unified School District picks new superintendent," February 25, 2015
  6. ↑ Higley Unified School District, "Governing Board," accessed March 17, 2021
  7. ↑ Arizona School Boards Association, "Higley Unified School District No. 60 Public Participation at Board Meetings," accessed January 19, 2024
  8. ↑ National Center for Education Statistics, "Elementary/Secondary Information System," accessed June 17, 2024
  9. ↑ Higley Unified School District, "Certified Teacher Salary Guidelines," accessed April 15, 2025
  10. ↑ Higley Unified School District, "Certified Teacher Salary Guidelines," accessed February 4, 2024
  11. ↑ Higley Unified School District, "Salary Schedules," accessed May 12, 2021
  12. ↑ U.S. Department of Education, Washington, DC: EDFacts, "State Assessments in Reading/Language Arts and Mathematics- School Year 2018-19 EDFacts Data Documentation," accessed February 25, 2021
v • e
Arizona school districts
Flag of Arizona
v • e
State of Arizona
Phoenix (capital)
Elections

What's on my ballot? | Elections in 2025 | How to vote | How to run for office | Ballot measures

Government

Who represents me? | U.S. President | U.S. Congress | Federal courts | State executives | State legislature | State and local courts | Counties | Cities | School districts | Public policy

Retrieved from "https://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php?title=Higley_Unified_School_District,_Arizona&oldid=10499032"