Peoria Unified School District, Arizona, elections

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Peoria Unified School District
District details
School board members: 5
Students: 36,527 (2022-2023)
Schools: 44 (2022-2023)
Website: Link

Peoria Unified School District is a school district in Arizona (Maricopa County). During the 2023 school year, 36,527 students attended one of the district's 44 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

Peoria Unified School District, At-large

General election

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

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

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Becky Proudfit (Nonpartisan)	19.6	51,099
✔	Submit photo	Janelle Bowles (Nonpartisan)	18.5	48,349
✔		Jeffrey Tobey (Nonpartisan)	18.2	47,586
		David Sandoval (Nonpartisan)	16.6	43,222
		Melissa Girmscheid (Nonpartisan)	14.6	38,126
		Mikah Dyer (Nonpartisan)	12.2	31,934
		Other/Write-in votes	0.3	675

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 260,991
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Peoria Unified School District, At-large

General election

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

Heather Rooks and Melissa Ewing defeated Devon Updegraff-Day in the general election for Peoria Unified School District, At-large on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Heather Rooks (Nonpartisan)	36.4	42,442
✔		Melissa Ewing (Nonpartisan)	32.9	38,324
	Submit photo	Devon Updegraff-Day (Nonpartisan)	30.2	35,223
		Other/Write-in votes	0.5	579

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 116,568
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Peoria Unified School District, At-large

General election

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

The following candidates ran in the general election for Peoria Unified School District, At-large on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Rebecca Hill (Nonpartisan)	14.5	35,100
✔		David Sandoval (Nonpartisan)	14.1	34,196
✔		Bill Sorensen (Nonpartisan)	13.3	32,298
		Linda Busam (Nonpartisan)	13.2	32,008
	Submit photo	Kirk Hobbs (Nonpartisan)	12.7	30,792
		Davita Solter (Nonpartisan)	9.3	22,567
	Submit photo	Kacie Franklin (Nonpartisan)	8.8	21,434
	Submit photo	CJ Williams (Nonpartisan)	7.3	17,687
	Submit photo	Devon Updegraff-Day (Nonpartisan)	6.3	15,307
		Other/Write-in votes	0.3	837

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 242,226
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Peoria Unified School District, At-large

General election

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

Incumbent Beverly Pingerelli and Cory Underhill defeated Davita Solter and Michael James Gard in the general election for Peoria Unified School District, At-large on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Beverly Pingerelli (Nonpartisan)	33.5	34,795
✔		Cory Underhill (Nonpartisan)	24.9	25,878
		Davita Solter (Nonpartisan)	22.2	23,045
	Submit photo	Michael James Gard (Nonpartisan)	19.5	20,271

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 103,989
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Peoria Unified School District, At-large

General election

General election for Peoria Unified School District, At-large

Incumbent Judy Doane won election in the general election for Peoria Unified School District, At-large on November 8, 2016.

		Candidate
✔		Judy Doane (Nonpartisan)

---

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

General election

General election for Peoria Unified School District, At-large

Incumbent Kathy Knecht and incumbent Beverly Pingerelli won election in the general election for Peoria Unified School District, At-large on November 4, 2014.

		Candidate
✔		Kathy Knecht (Nonpartisan)
✔		Beverly Pingerelli (Nonpartisan)

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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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 Peoria 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
Janelle Bowles	2025	2029
Jeffrey Tobey	2025	2029
Becky Proudfit	2023	2029
Melissa Ewing	2023	2027
Heather Rooks	2023	2027

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District map

School district map

Overlapping state house districts

Peoria Unified School District

Office Name	Current Officeholder	Party	% School District Covered	% Other District Covered
Arizona House of Representatives District 28	David Livingston	Republican Party	71%	32%
Arizona House of Representatives District 28	Beverly Pingerelli	Republican Party	71%	32%
Arizona House of Representatives District 27	Lisa Fink	Republican Party	22%	50%
Arizona House of Representatives District 27	Tony Rivero	Republican Party	22%	50%
Arizona House of Representatives District 29	James Taylor	Republican Party	6%	2%
Arizona House of Representatives District 29	Steve Montenegro	Republican Party	6%	2%
Arizona House of Representatives District 24	Anna Abeytia	Democratic Party	1%	6%
Arizona House of Representatives District 24	Lydia Hernandez	Democratic Party	1%	6%

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:	$56,475,000	$1,625	15%
Local:	$142,312,000	$4,096	38%
State:	$178,416,000	$5,135	47%
Total:	$377,203,000	$10,856

Expenditures, 2020-2021

TYPE	AMOUNT	AMOUNT PER STUDENT	PERCENT
Total Expenditures:	$340,850,000	$9,647
Total Current Expenditures:	$311,200,000	$8,808
Instructional Expenditures:	$184,308,000	$5,216	54%
Student and Staff Support:	$44,080,000	$1,247	13%
Administration:	$30,651,000	$867	9%
Operations, Food Service, Other:	$52,161,000	$1,476	15%
Total Capital Outlay:	$19,336,000	$547
Construction:	$7,378,000	$208
Total Non El-Sec Education & Other:	$1,043,000	$29
Interest on Debt:	$9,217,000	$260

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	36	51	19	26	25-29	41	44
2018-2019	50	69	30	39	35-39	53	57
2017-2018	51	70	31	41	35-39	54	58
2016-2017	50	71	31	38	30-34		57
2015-2016	44	67	27	34	30-34		51
2014-2015	49	64	33	38	40-44		55
2013-2014	71	79	56	62	60-64		76
2012-2013	70	83	56	61	50-54		75
2011-2012	71	82	58	60	55-59		77
2010-2011	70	81	60	58	55-59		76

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	42	53	25	33	25-29	47	48
2018-2019	50	66	37	40	40-44	57	56
2017-2018	48	59	31	38	30-34	52	55
2016-2017	46	58	31	37	30-34		52
2015-2016	42	57	30	32	25-29		49
2014-2015	47	59	33	36	30-34		54
2013-2014	85	88	76	79	70-74		88
2012-2013	84	89	78	78	70-74		87
2011-2012	84	88	79	77	75-79		88
2010-2011	84	89	81	75	75-79		87

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	96	>=95	90-94	94	>=80	>=95	97
2018-2019	97	>=95	>=95	95	>=80	90-94	98
2017-2018	95	>=95	>=95	95	>=90	90-94	96
2016-2017	96	>=95	>=95	95	>=80		95
2015-2016	94	85-89	>=95	94	>=90		94
2014-2015	90	90-94	85-89	89	>=80		92
2013-2014	93	>=95	85-89	92	>=80		93
2012-2013	93	90-94	90-94	91	>=50		94
2011-2012	93	>=95	85-89	91	>=80		94
2010-2011	94	90-94	90-94	93	>=80		95

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	36,527	-0.6
2021-2022	36,741	3.8
2020-2021	35,329	-7.1
2019-2020	37,842	0.4
2018-2019	37,691	2.4
2017-2018	36,770	0.6
2016-2017	36,552	0.4
2015-2016	36,418	-0.7
2014-2015	36,660	-0.1
2013-2014	36,706	-0.1
2012-2013	36,736	0.3
2011-2012	36,620	-0.7
2010-2011	36,873	-1.7
2009-2010	37,500	-1.8
2008-2009	38,162	-2.6
2007-2008	39,143	0.8
2006-2007	38,835	2.7
2005-2006	37,773	1.1
2004-2005	37,355	1.7
2003-2004	36,719	4.2
2002-2003	35,178	0.0
2001-2002	35,171	7.3
2000-2001	32,608	4.7
1999-2000	31,063	0.0

Racial Demographics, 2022-2023

RACE	Peoria Unified School District (%)	Arizona K-12 STUDENTS (%)
American Indian/Alaska Native	1.0	4.2
Asian or Asian/Pacific Islander	3.1	3.1
Black	5.3	5.7
Hispanic	37.5	47.6
Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander	0.3	0.4
Two or More Races	5.0	4.2
White	48.0	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, Peoria Unified School District had 1,900.73 full-time classroom teachers. The student-teacher ratio was 19.22.

Teachers, 2022-2023 school year

TYPE	NUMBER OF TEACHERS
Prekindergarten:	16.00
Kindergarten:	112.00
Elementary:	1,134.47
Secondary:	638.26
Total:	1,900.73

Peoria Unified School District employed 20.00 district administrators and 93.00 school administrators as of the 2022-2023 school year.

Administrators, 2022-2023 school year

TYPE	NUMBER OF ADMINISTRATORS
District Administrators:	20.00
District Administrative Support:	108.00
School Administrators:	93.00
School Administrative Support:	135.01

Other staff, 2022-2023 school year

TYPE	NUMBER OF OTHER STAFF
Instructional Aides:	394.41
Instruc. Coordinators & Supervisors:	1.08
Total Guidance Counselors:	38.50
Elementary Guidance Counselors:	1.34
Secondary Guidance Counselors:	37.16
Librarians/Media Specialists:	4.00
Library/Media Support:	0.00
Student Support Services:	589.40
Other Support Services:	290.32

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 Peoria Unified School District operates 44 schools. They are listed below in alphabetical order.

List of schools

SCHOOL NAME	NUMBER OF STUDENTS	GRADES
Alta Loma School	729	PK-8
Apache Elementary School	732	PK-8
Cactus High School	1,144	7-12
Canyon Elementary School	294	PK-8
Centennial High School	2,007	7-12
Cheyenne Elementary School	598	PK-8
Copperwood School	672	PK-8
Cotton Boll School	804	PK-8
Country Meadows Elementary School	1,015	PK-8
Coyote Hills Elementary School	787	PK-8
Desert Harbor Elementary School	803	PK-8
Desert Palms Elementary School	477	PK-8
Desert Valley Elementary School	494	PK-8
Foothills Elementary School	604	PK-8
Frontier Elementary School	970	PK-8
Gcc Early Childhood Learning Lab	10	PK-PK
Heritage School	437	PK-8
Ira A Murphy	451	PK-8
Ironwood High School	1,922	7-12
Kachina Elementary School	327	PK-8
Lake Pleasant Elementary	1,227	PK-8
Liberty High School	2,603	7-12
Marshall Ranch Elementary School	700	PK-8
Oakwood Elementary School	931	PK-8
Oasis Elementary School	769	PK-8
Parkridge Elementary	886	PK-8
Paseo Verde Elementary School	719	PK-8
Peoria Ecampus	189	KG-12
Peoria Elementary School	554	PK-8
Peoria Flex Academy	92	8-12
Peoria High School	1,566	7-12
Peoria Traditional School	337	KG-8
Pioneer Elementary School	402	PK-8
Raymond S. Kellis	1,817	7-12
Sahuaro Ranch Elementary School	618	PK-8
Santa Fe Elementary School	735	PK-8
Sky View Elementary School	535	PK-8
Sundance Elementary School	604	PK-8
Sunflower School	25	PK-12
Sunrise Mountain High School	2,018	7-12
Sunset Heights Elementary School	1,064	PK-8
Sun Valley Elementary School	806	PK-8
Vistancia Elementary School	1,173	PK-8
Zuni Hills Elementary School	880	PK-8

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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