Teacher-pay fund still dried up in Colorado City
 
By Caleb Soptelean
Kingman Daily Miner
 
KINGMAN – For the second time in recent weeks, the state Department of Education has turned down requests from Colorado City Unified School District officials for money.

The most recent denial came Tuesday, Mohave County School Superintendent Mike File said.

"What they are asking for is an advance of money before it is due. The superintendent (of public instruction Tom Horne) has denied their request until further notice," Department of Education spokeswoman Amy Rezzonico said.

The school district’s credit line with Wells Fargo Bank was frozen on Oct. 25. School district checks began bouncing Oct. 18, File said.

File initially refused to sign the paychecks but later sent them to school officials when ordered to do so by the county attorney’s office.

File said Colorado City school officials were told to hold the checks until funds are available.

File said the school district wasn’t balancing its checkbook. He said the problem largely stemmed from the United Effort Plan – which owns most of the property in the polygamous Arizona Strip community – not paying its property taxes on a timely basis.

The school district has been criticized for spending $226,000 on a Cessna 210 airplane a couple years ago, according to an Arizona Republic report.

All 20 of the administration’s staff members belong to Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, but none of their children attend public school, the Republic reported. The 350 students and 40 teachers whose paychecks have bounced come from the nearby community of Centennial Park, which is home to another polygamist sect.
 
KingmanDailyMiner.com
Originally published November 18, 2004
 
Back