School bonds lead narrowly as TUSD board race takes shape

Pima Community College and Pima JTED bonds were leading narrowly while Jennifer Eckstrom and Pilar Acosta Ruiz led the Tucson Unified governing board race, with Amphitheater, Tanque Verde and Sahuarita races and measures also taking shape in early results.

School bonds lead narrowly as TUSD board race takes shape
Pima Community College’s $250 million bond and Pima JTED’s $250 million bond were leading narrowly in early results. Topacio "Topaz" Servellon / Tucson Spotlight.

Two $250 million education bonds were leading by thin margins in Pima County on Wednesday, with Pima Community College’s Proposition 430 at 51.1% yes and Pima JTED’s Proposition 427 at 51.2%.

In the Tucson Unified School District, Jennifer Eckstrom and Pilar Acosta Ruiz led the governing board race, with incumbent Val Romero 1,191 votes behind. Budget and property measures were passing in Amphitheater, Vail and Tanque Verde and failing in Sahuarita, according to early results.

The college bond would pay for maintenance, first responder training and campus upgrades, and the JTED bond would pay for career and technical education.

In the Tucson Unified School District, Eckstrom had 58,664 votes and Acosta Ruiz had 36,664 for the two governing board seats. Romero had 35,473, Tre’Davon Rhodes had 33,377 and Skye Fernandez had 29,016.

Eckstrom, who attended U.S Rep. Adelita Grijalva’s watch party, said she wants to be “a voice for the community, students, teachers and parents” over the next four years if the results hold.

Community members have pushed back on the district’s reconfiguration proposals, and Eckstrom said she plans to hear from all district voices before making a decision.

“I’m going to listen to every voice, every concern,” Eckstrom said. “I don’t have my mind made up yet, so I’m going to take whatever they tell me and take it to heart and make a good decision.”

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Tre’Davon Rhodes said values should guide how the district supports its students.

“I think . . . bringing in the morals, the values, the principles that we hold, not only as Democrats but as . . . people of the community, you know, making sure that we’re looking out for the underserved students in our district and doing what we can to increase the resources that we have for our students,” Rhodes said.

In the Amphitheater Unified School District governing board race, Elizabeth Slater had 24,019 votes, Nina Godlewski had 22,321 and John Fife had 19,205. In a second Amphitheater race, Michael Gemma had 18,556 votes and Kimberly Outlaw Ryan had 17,127.

In the Tanque Verde Unified School District governing board race, Beth Peterson had 3,355 votes, Thomas Trask had 2,630 and Piper Jordan had 2,467.

In the Sahuarita Unified School District governing board race, John Sparks had 5,360 votes and Raul Rodriguez had 5,327.

In the Pima JTED governing board race, Beth Lehr had 14,871 votes and Cindy Rankin Elliott had 14,529.

Other Southern Arizona school districts had mixed results on ballot measures. The Amphitheater Unified School District’s Proposition 426, which would allow the sale or lease of district property, had 74.5% yes. The Vail Unified School District’s Proposition 423, a budget override, had 63.8% yes, and the Tanque Verde Unified School District’s Proposition 429, also a budget override, had 56.0% yes.

The Sahuarita Unified School District’s Proposition 428, a budget increase, was failing by 233 votes, with 51.3% voting no.

Results are unofficial until counties canvass, which must happen by Nov. 19.


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