Receiver gets more power in Colo. City
 
By Jacques Billeaud
The Associated Press
The Arizona Republic
 
State education officials agreed Monday to extend the powers of a receiver who was put in charge of the Colorado City Unified School District, a financially troubled district serving a remote community long dominated by a polygamist sect.

The procedural move by the State Board of Education lets receiver Peter Davis, a consultant hired to turn around the 410-student district, carry out his plan to improve the district's finances.

Davis said steps taken thus far to improve the district's operations have produced dramatic improvements, leaving him poised to transition from a hands-on approach to more of a monitoring role.

"The situation has significantly stabilized," Davis said.

Colorado City in northern Arizona and neighboring Hildale, Utah, are dominated by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a sect that practices polygamy and broke away from the Mormon Church.

After the sect's leader ordered followers to withdraw their children from the district's schools, teachers went without pay for two months last year.

State officials say that students and taxpayers were harmed by financial mismanagement, including the purchase of an airplane and questionable dealings in hiring and contracts.

More than 23 employees from the district's prior administration have resigned or were fired.

Other changes included reducing travel expenses, improving accounting procedures and limiting the use of the district's credit cards.

To carry out the financial improvement plan, Davis asked the state board to extend his powers, including the authority to override decisions of the district's governing board or superintendent. One element of the plan is increasing teacher pay.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne, a member of the state board, said Davis' progress bodes well for the district.

Arizona legislators are considering providing a $1.3 million bailout for the district.

Davis said the district needs the state loan largely because some members of the church are not paying taxes on property owned by a trust under which church members collectively hold their property.

An official overseeing the trust is trying to get church members to pay 2005 and 2006 property taxes owed in Arizona's Mohave County and Utah's Washington County but will begin eviction proceedings if the taxes aren't paid.
 
azcentral.com
Originally published March 28, 2006
 
Back