State to take over district
 Colorado City settles finance mismanagement case
 
By Pat Kossan
The Arizona Republic
 
The state's crackdown on polygamous sects reached into a community's schools Friday when top district administrators in Colorado City agreed to resign or retire and turn over operations to the state.

The settlement with the Arizona Attorney General's Office must still be approved by the Arizona State Board of Education, which will consider it Monday.

In agreeing to the settlement, the district's board members capitulated to a powerful new Arizona law that allows state officials to appoint a third party to run a district found to have "grossly mismanaged" its finances. But administrators in the northern Arizona district denied any wrongdoing or violations of state laws.

It would be the first time the state has taken over an entire school district, reflecting its growing ability to intervene in schools where there are major problems. In this case, it can appoint a receiver to take charge and override the School Board's decisions and contracts, from hiring to budgets. The School Board would remain in place, and licensed teachers cannot be immediately dismissed. Classes would continue.

Last year, Attorney General Terry Goddard found himself powerless to shut down Colorado City Unified School District after the district began bouncing teacher paychecks despite buying its own airplane and burying itself in $2 million debt. Goddard helped push through the new law in the spring. He called the settlement "a giant leap forward" for taxpayers and the district's students.

"It will put an end to the serious mismanagement of the district and the waste of hundreds of thousands of tax dollars," Goddard said Friday.

Phoenix-based Simon Consulting, which specializes in investigating school finances, would be appointed to take over the district's books and create and execute a plan to get the district in financial order within a few years.

Matthew Wright, attorney for Colorado City Unified, said the locally elected board members accepted the takeover for the sake of the more than 300 students and 23 teachers who work in the K-12 district.

"They are entering into this agreement in the best interest of the students and to ensure that the continuity of education for the students is in no way compromised," Wright said.

If the Arizona State Board of Education accepts the settlement, it would mean its members would not be required to sit through a two-day hearing scheduled for late next week. The settlement also includes the retirement of district Superintendent Alvin Barlow and the resignation of district business manager Jeffrey Jessop.

Colorado City, north of the Grand Canyon, is home to several polygamist religious sects, one led by Warren Jeffs. Jeffs was indicted in June on child-sex charges but remains in hiding. His brother, Seth, 32, of Hildale, Utah, was arrested in October and faces one federal count of concealing Warren.

Among the allegations made in the attorney general's petition is that school district money benefited a private school owned by Jeffs' sect and that board members bought a $200,000 airplane and paid a board member's son $50 an hour to pilot it. It also stated that the district bought vehicles for administrators for personal business ventures while it faced mounting debt and forced teachers to take a 15 percent pay cut.

Goddard and Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff agreed two years ago to root out polygamy in the Colorado City area after receiving many complaints about sexual exploitation, welfare fraud and tax evasion.

Several prominent community members have been indicted on bigamy and child-sex crimes and a 24-hour hotline has been established for victims of sex crimes.

Reach the reporter at pat.kossan@arizonarepublic.com.
 
azcentral.com
Originally published December 3, 2005
 
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