STATE CAPITOL, PHOENIX – Arizona House Education Committee Chairman Matt Gress and Senate Education Committee Chairman David Farnsworth today responded to reports of a potential arrangement between the Isaac School District and the Tolleson School Board to address the district’s financial crisis.

“For too long, Isaac School District’s leadership ignored warnings, mismanaged public funds, and left students and families to suffer the consequences,” said Chairman Gress. “The district falsified financial records to cover up its failures, and now it’s scrambling for a last-minute fix to a problem of its own making. The Legislature will not allow students to be abandoned by those who were supposed to serve them. We are reviewing the legality of this agreement and will continue to monitor the situation closely. Our priority remains keeping schools open, teachers in the classroom, and students learning without disruption. We will move forward with reforms to address the deep-rooted structural failures that led to this crisis and ensure that no other school district ends up in the same disastrous position.”

“We are deeply troubled by what has transpired with the massive loss of funding by Isaac Elementary School District Administrators,” said Chairman Farnsworth. “This is not an issue of a district not having enough money to pay bills and educate students. This district receives more than $19,000 per student. We are committed to getting to the bottom of this corruption or gross negligence. We are working diligently to create a lawful solution that will allow teachers to be paid and will keep any classroom disruptions to a minimum for students, while also establishing reforms so that a similar crisis does not unfold in the future with any other school districts within the state of Arizona. We are also working to ensure those responsible for the loss of funding are held accountable.”