TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — As Brianna Reed picked up her daughter at Acacia Elementary School in Vail, she was reminded of why she stayed in the district.
“I’ve grown up with a lot of the people in the community, so it’s been really close knit,” she said. “Everything that Vail is and stands for, I just want to keep it alive.”
Compared to last year, VUSD has seen an increase in enrollment, with about half of their K-8 schools and middle schools seeing an increase of about 20 to 50 students.
“Naturally we're seeing new homes, which drives growth,” John Carruth, the school district’s superintendent, said.
The district growing, Carruth said, also allowed them to open Saguaro Creek K through 8 School last week.
“We’re always looking out the front windshield, so to speak, three to five years,” he said.
Earlier this year President Trump signed an executive order expanding school choice nationwide through using taxpayer money for parents to pay for private schools.
School vouchers allow families to use taxpayer dollars for their child’s education outside of public school.
VUSD has been allowing its parents within the district to choose schools within the district, which Carruth believes contributed to their growth.
“So we don’t have a one-size-fits-all model or approach. We have different sized schools intentionally,” he explained.
In contrast, the Tucson Unified School District reported a significant loss of almost 4,000 students to school vouchers after 2022. Some of those students live within the boundaries of the district, but never attended a TUSD school.
The district said that cost them about $20 million in funding cuts.
Meanwhile Carruth said their losses to school vouchers are balanced with students coming in from other public school districts.
“We really monitor what schools have space and which ones are full,” he said.
Governor Katie Hobbs has expressed wanting to cut money for the voucher program because it could take away money from other state programs and agencies.
“The community, it’s really safe, and I trust a lot of the people,” Reed said about staying in the district.
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Andrew Christiansen is a reporter for KGUN 9. Before joining the team, Andrew reported in Corpus Christi, Texas for KRIS6 News, Action 10 News and guest reported in Spanish for Telemundo Corpus Christi. Share your story ideas with Andrew by emailing andrew.christiansen@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, or Twitter.

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