Higley Unified School District, Arizona, elections

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Higley Unified School District
District details
School board members: 5
Students: 13,040 (2022-2023)
Schools: 16 (2022-2023)
Website: Link

Higley Unified School District is a school district in Arizona (Maricopa County). During the 2023 school year, 13,040 students attended one of the district's 16 schools.

This page provides information regarding school board members, election rules, finances, academics, policies, and more details about the district.

Jump to a section:

Elections School board Location Budget Academic performance Students Staff Schools School board meetings

Elections

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• 2024
• 2022
• 2020
• 2018
• 2016
• 2014

Higley Unified School District, At-large

General election

General election for Higley Unified School District, At-large (3 seats)

The following candidates ran in the general election for Higley Unified School District, At-large on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Tiffany Shultz (Nonpartisan)	18.4	16,307
✔		Sara Jarman (Nonpartisan)	17.6	15,669
✔		Scott Glover (Nonpartisan)	17.5	15,540
		Kathleen Richards (Nonpartisan)	17.2	15,244
		Marc Garcia (Nonpartisan)	16.9	14,980
		Duane Francis (Nonpartisan)	12.1	10,751
		Other/Write-in votes	0.3	293

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 88,784
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Higley Unified School District, At-large

General election

General election for Higley Unified School District, At-large (2 seats)

Amanda Wade and Anna Van Hoek defeated Brooke Garrett and Roy Morales in the general election for Higley Unified School District, At-large on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Amanda Wade (Nonpartisan)	26.2	11,730
✔		Anna Van Hoek (Nonpartisan)	25.8	11,579
		Brooke Garrett (Nonpartisan)	24.0	10,770
	Submit photo	Roy Morales (Nonpartisan)	23.6	10,592
		Other/Write-in votes	0.4	164

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 44,835
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Robert Lilienthal (Nonpartisan)
• Curt Vurpillat (Nonpartisan)

Higley Unified School District, At-large

General election

General election for Higley Unified School District, At-large (3 seats)

Michelle Anderson, incumbent Kristina Reese, and Tiffany Shultz defeated incumbent Greg Wojtovich in the general election for Higley Unified School District, At-large on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Michelle Anderson (Nonpartisan)	28.0	21,603
✔		Kristina Reese (Nonpartisan)	25.6	19,781
✔	Submit photo	Tiffany Shultz (Nonpartisan)	23.7	18,260
		Greg Wojtovich (Nonpartisan)	22.2	17,150
		Other/Write-in votes	0.5	409

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 77,203
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Scott Glover (Nonpartisan)
• Michelle Bugg (Nonpartisan)

Higley Unified School District, At-large

General election

The general election was canceled. Amy Kaylor (Nonpartisan), Greg Wojtovich (Nonpartisan), and Jill Wilson (Nonpartisan) won without appearing on the ballot.

Higley Unified School District, At-large

General election

General election for Higley Unified School District, At-large

Incumbent Allison Ford and incumbent Kristina Reese won election in the general election for Higley Unified School District, At-large on November 8, 2016.

		Candidate
✔		Allison Ford (Nonpartisan)
✔		Kristina Reese (Nonpartisan)

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined.
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Higley Unified School District, At-large

General election

General election for Higley Unified School District, At-large

Incumbent Venessa Whitener and incumbent Greg Wojtovich won election in the general election for Higley Unified School District, At-large on November 4, 2014.

		Candidate
✔		Venessa Whitener (R)
✔		Greg Wojtovich (Nonpartisan)

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined.
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Election rules

View election rules

 

Election dates and frequency

See also: Rules governing school board election dates and timing

School board general elections in Arizona are held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November every two years in even-numbered years.

See law: Arizona Statute Section 15-424 & 16-211

Election system

School board members in Arizona are elected through nonpartisan general elections without primaries.

See law: Arizona Statute Section 16-211

Party labels on the ballot

See also: Rules governing party labels in school board elections

School board elections in Arizona are nonpartisan, which means party labels do not appear on the ballot for school board candidates.

See law: Arizona Statutes Section 15-422 and Section 16-502

Winning an election

School board candidates that receive the largest number of votes in the general election are elected to office.

See law: Arizona Statute Section 15-424

Term length and staggering

School board members in Arizona have four-year terms. Certain school board members have initial two-year terms when a new district is formed or when a district is changing the number of board members in order to establish a staggered election schedule.

See law: Arizona Statute Section 15-424

As close to half of school board members as possible are elected every two years. Upon the formation of a new district, all board members are elected at one election and the initial terms of the two winning candidates receiving lower numbers of votes are shortened to two years to achieve staggering.

See law: Arizona Statue Section 15-424

Representation: at large vs. by sub-district

School board members are elected at large.

See law: Arizona Statute Section 15-427 & 15-429

Filing deadlines and swearing-in dates

The school board candidate filing deadline in Arizona is 120 days before the election date.

See law: Arizona Statue Section 16-311

School board candidates can circulate their nomination petitions starting when the filling window opens 150 days before the election, which is 30 days before the filing deadline.

See law: Arizona Statue Section 16-311

Newly elected school board members officially take office at the first organizational meeting of the school board, which must be held between the first and 15th day of January following the general election.

See law: Arizona Statute Section 15-321

 

About the district

School board

The Higley Unified School District consists of five members serving four-year terms. To find information about school board meetings, click here.

List of school board members

Name	Year assumed office	Year term ends
Scott Glover	2025	2029
Sara Jarman	2025	2029
Tiffany Shultz	2021	2029
Anna Van Hoek	2023	2027
Amanda Wade	2023	2027

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District map

School district map

Overlapping state house districts

Higley Unified School District

Office Name	Current Officeholder	Party	% School District Covered	% Other District Covered
Arizona House of Representatives District 14	Laurin Hendrix	Republican Party	75%	27%
Arizona House of Representatives District 14	Khyl Powell	Republican Party	75%	27%
Arizona House of Representatives District 15	Neal Carter	Republican Party	25%	3%
Arizona House of Representatives District 15	Michael Way	Republican Party	25%	3%

The table was limited to the lower chamber because it provides the most granularity. State house districts tend to be more numerous and therefore smaller than state senate or U.S. House districts. This provides an impression of the partisan affiliations in the area.

Budget

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

• Revenue
• Expenditures

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

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. To protect student privacy, percentages are reported as ranges for groups of 300 students or fewer. If five or fewer students were included in a data set, the data will display as "PS."

• Mathematics
• Reading/language arts
• Graduation rates

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

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

• Enrollment
• Demographics

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

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

• Teachers
• Administrators
• Other 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 following statistics were published by the National Center for Education Statistics, which is a part of the U.S. Department of Education.

The Higley Unified School District operates 16 schools. They are listed below in alphabetical order.

List of schools

SCHOOL NAME	NUMBER OF STUDENTS	GRADES
Bridges Elementary School	759	KG-6
Centennial Elementary School	679	PK-8
Chaparral Elementary School	806	KG-8
Cooley Middle School	873	6-8
Coronado Elementary School	582	PK-8
Cortina Elementary	702	PK-8
Elona P. Cooley Early Child Development Center	81	PK-PK
Gateway Pointe Elementary	767	PK-8
Higley High School	2,137	8-12
Higley Traditional Academy	761	PK-8
Higley Virtual Academy	124	KG-12
Power Ranch Elementary	623	PK-8
San Tan Elementary	911	PK-6
Sossaman Middle School	1,043	7-8
Sue Sossaman Early Childhood Development Center	77	PK-PK
Williams Field High School	2,115	8-12

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)

About school boards

Education legislation in Arizona

Bills are monitored by BillTrack50 and sorted by action history.

See also

School Boards	Education Policy	Local Politics	Arizona
List of school districts in Arizona Arizona school board elections, 2025 School board elections, 2025 School board recalls School board authority in Arizona	Arizona Department of Education Public education in Arizona	Municipal government Local courts Local ballot measures Recalls	Arizona Arizona elections, 2025 Arizona State Legislature Arizona state executive offices

External links

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