State of the District
Writing the “State of the District” for the past 28 years has afforded me the opportunity to constantly reflect upon the achievements that can be attained with great people, systems, and commitment to excellence. As I sit down to draft this 2026 address, I am struck by a profound sense of gratitude. In a world often characterized by "outside negative noise" - noises intended to create doubt about the viability and value of public education by the Arizona Legislature, local keyboard warriors, and disconnected politicians - the Deer Valley Unified School District (DVUSD) stands as a definitive counter-narrative. Our success year-after-year reminds this community what is at the heart of the public school mission: opportunities for all.
Public schools are the last foundational principle of our democracy that brings entire communities together. We do not "pick and choose" our students based on vouchers, religious, or ideological leanings; we take ALL students wherever they are at, whenever they are ready. We joyfully accept every child where they are emotionally, physically, and academically - and we provide the scaffolding, the "safety rope," and the inspiration they need to reach past whatever obstacles they face. We integrate their past successes and customize their educational journey to help them become successful, contributing citizens for tomorrow; this is the “DVUSD Difference.”
Today, the state of our district is not merely "good" or "stable." It continues on its extraordinary path. We are not just surviving the challenges of a rapidly changing Arizona; we are setting the pace for the entire state. With great people, in the “right seats on the bus,” you have the opportunity to make significant impact in many different arenas. Remember, we did have a five-consecutive-year run of being on Forbes Best Midsize Employer list for Arizona. We believe in Peter Drucker’s declaration: “Culture eats everything else for breakfast!” Our district is #extraordinary because of that positive culture where everyone contributes to our excellence.
To truly grasp the magnitude of what we have accomplished this year, one must look beyond the data points and the letter grades. I want you to consider the analogy of a stone cast into a still pond that I have used before to make a point. Most observers focus on the initial splash—the loud, visible moment of impact. In our world, that splash might be a graduation ceremony, a state championship trophy, or a high-stakes test score. But the true power of that stone isn't the splash; it is the ripple effect. A ripple is quiet, persistent, and expansive. When a teacher, paraprofessional, or reading specialist at one of our elementary schools makes a breakthrough with a student who has struggled to read, that is a stone hitting the water. The ripples of that moment touch the student’s confidence, then their family’s outlook, then their middle school performance, which impacts their high school experience, and eventually, their ability to contribute to the Maricopa County workforce decades from now.
In DVUSD, we are in the business of creating intentional ripples. We don't just want to make a splash for the sake of headlines; we want to change the tide of our community's future. Every decision we make, from our Strategic Plan to our Portrait of a Graduate, is designed to ensure that the difference we make today extends far into the horizon and one can see more of the horizon when you are at the peak of the mountain.
For the past several years, I have used the metaphor of the "educational mountain" and the quest to reach the top in Arizona. When I first came to Arizona almost ten years ago, I was astounded by the number of actual mountains. I grew up in Alaska, the most mountainous state in the Union. I thought Arizona was a flat desert, and boy was I surprised; we have mountains everywhere! I have talked relentlessly about the climb to the top of the Arizona educational mountain, the gear required, and the grit needed to reach the summit. This year, the view from the summit climb is clearer than it has ever been.
I am excited to announce that for the second consecutive year, DVUSD has earned an "A" rating as a school district. In the complex landscape of Arizona’s accountability system, earning an "A" as a large, unified district is a monumental task. It requires excellence across the board, from preschool literacy to high school graduation rates. It means our systems of structure and alignment are working, but the district-wide letter-grade of an "A" is only part of the story.
This year, we also reached a milestone that I believe will be talked about for many years: 27 of our schools have earned an "A" rating. Think back just a few years when we were very proud when we had 15 A’s, then 20. To reach 27 A-rated schools - a record number for DVUSD - is a testament to the fact that excellence is not localized to one "side of the tracks" or one specific zip code. It is pervasive throughout the District. Today, 93% of DVUSD schools are rated "A" or "B." This level of consistency is found in our commitment to continuous improvement, every year. It tells our families that no matter which of our 42 campuses they choose, their child is entering a high-performing environment that is focused on helping kids reach their potential. When you have found the educational ingredients to a successful formula, you keep moving in the same direction! We are proving that a large public school district can be both massive in scale and strategic in its pursuit of quality, both in the classroom and outside the classroom.
We have always maintained that a "Student-Driven" district must honor the diverse talents and interests of every learner. If we only celebrated academic testing, we would be ignoring the soul of our district. Excellence must manifest in the theater, on the athletic field, in the robotics lab, and in the band and choir rooms. We’ve had special success with our 6-12 on-line academy, Aspire, as it continues to climb in academic performance and enrollment. While other districts cut their on-line service, DVUSD’s Aspire continues to excel and grow. Our early childhood, Head Start, special needs programming, summer learning programming, and specialty offerings continue to grow and excel: we are student-driven and the data proves it.
For the second year in a row, our students have captured 70 State Titles across the Fine Arts, Academics, and Athletics. Matching last year's record-breaking number of titles is perhaps more impressive than reaching it the first time. It proves that our success is not a "fluke" or the result of one talented senior class. It is the result of a system that values the “whole child," the secret to helping students connect to school:
1) In Athletics - Our coaches are more than just strategists; they are also mentors building character;
2) In Fine Arts - Our directors are not just teaching notes or lines, they are fostering the creativity that the modern economy demands; and
3) In Academics/Career & Technical Education - Our HOSA, DECA, and SkillsUSA students are proving that DVUSD graduates are ready to compete, lead, and positively impact the world.
When we see 70 state titles, we see 70 different "stones" cast into the pond, each creating ripples of discipline, teamwork, and confidence that our students will carry into adulthood as they prepare for the future.
I would be remiss if I did not address the "cloudy" portion of our forecast. While our student achievement is at a historic high, our financial reality remains a paradox. Arizona continues to rank at the bottom of the nation - number 49 out of 50 - in financial support for public education from our State legislators. We have been on this "march-to-the-bottom" since the 1980s, and the consequences are real and felt every day by Arizona’s public schools. Deer Valley Unified is still rising in a record-breaking charter, private, and ESA voucher-use zone. Despite our superiority in academic, athletic, CTE, and fine arts we continue to be an over-supplied educational zone with vendors from all over the country here to tap into taxpayer dollars that have no requirements for transparency and accountability. Free-money programs haven’t worked in the past history of the United States, but leave it to Arizona to build a new plank to walk out on – educational experimentation built upon “choice,” which was called segregation 75 years ago.
The Arizona Legislature has successfully disguised the charter, private, and voucher programs as parental “choice,” but it has always been the school’s choice whether they want your student or not. If your student has a disability, academic or social issues, or behavioral constraints, you will not be allowed to attend their charter or private school. The solutions are pretty simple to fix the current mess in Arizona: 1) if anyone takes a taxpayer dollar for K-12 education, they need to have the same financial transparency and accountability that public schools fall under; and 2) if anyone takes a taxpayer dollar for education, they must prove they are educating the student towards the state standards; and 3) K-12 dollars should only be used for K-12 education before high school graduation - simple solutions to fix the current programs and provide accountability and transparency for taxpayer dollars.
Millions of dollars have been allocated over time through Bonds and Overrides by our community to keep our 32,000 students in a safe, secure, and educationally appealing environment for the past 90 years. The State’s lack of funding has made Bonds and Overrides essential to keep up with the community’s standards and expectations. Bond dollars keep our buildings in great shape, much like keeping your car and house up to safety standards. We will need to ask for another Bond in the future to continue to maintain our current facilities. If you keep putting off changing the oil in your car, eventually the engine will fail.
We are currently navigating the fallout of the past Bond and Override election losses in the last five years. As I have mentioned in previous years, these are the two foundational economic variables that had been in place for 30 years in DVUSD. The recent losses have created a ripple effect that is difficult to overstate – we already had to slow our building maintenance because of the previous Bond losses and $11 million was cut last year from the loss of the Override from two years ago.
The better news is that DVUSD was in the midst of a three-year phase-out of $33 million after two consecutive losses of our Override, then the community said “that’s enough” and stepped up to support the Override by a historic margin, five times greater margin than the last victory. The support wasn't just a number on a spreadsheet; it represented:
1) People - 85% of our budget is people. The recent losses were beginning to impact our ability to provide competitive salaries and retain the very educators who earned us those 27 "A" ratings;
2) Programs - The Override supported free all-day kindergarten, language immersion, and the fine arts, academic, and athletic programs that brought home those 70 titles; and
3) Supports - The Override paid for social workers, counselors, and academic supports for students, especially those struggling to catch up with their peers.
Despite the economic variables stacked against DVUSD, we continued to lead and the community responded with the necessary support for the Override. How? The short answer is quality people. We have placed the right staff on the "Good-to-Great" bus and in the right seats. We are leaning into our Teacher Prep Program, which now employs over 160 teachers who are making an impact in our classrooms every day. We are solving problems creatively because we have to – the immediate world around us is changing by the minute.
Our geographical location has placed us at the epicenter of the northern Maricopa County developmental explosion. The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and its dozens of feeder companies are weaving into our local economy. DVUSD is in the midst of "extremely crazy to mildly wild" growth in our near future, and it presents both a challenge and an opportunity; we have to stay ahead of the explosion to meet the future needs of the community.
Our enrollment will continue to be a challenge for the next couple of years until the growth from TSMC begins to take off. We have been able to beat our demographer’s numbers every year for the past five years because of our excellence in academics, the fine arts, CTE, and athletics. The low birth rates throughout the country and state are compounded in DVUSD because of rising housing costs, migration impacts, and educational experimentation through “choice.” Despite the obstacles, we continue to counter the trend. For context, from 2019 to 2024, Peoria lost 6% of their student population, Cave Creek - 21%, Paradise Valley - 13%, Scottsdale - 8%, Dysart - 6%, and Fountain Hills lost 21%, during that same time period. If you go down our "peer" trail a little further, Chandler lost 11%, Gilbert - 6%, Mesa - 11%, and Tucson -11%. Arizona charter schools lost 14% from 2019 to 2024. The good news? Deer Valley only lost 4%, significantly less than our peers. Again, another testimony to our successful pursuit of excellence. If you throw in the top-three district impact data around the number of charters, privates, and voucher-users in our zone, and DVUSD’s actual loss of enrollment, makes the feat even greater.
The future residents moving into the new homes coming to our neighborhoods will be looking for the #1 variable in home-buying – the value of your local public educational institutions. They are looking for a district that values academics, athletics, fine arts, and "soft skills." This is what we define in our Portrait of a Graduate as being a Community Contributor, an Effective Communicator, Intellectually Curious, a Problem Solver, and having a Sense of Self and Others.
These new companies don't just want employees who can pass a test; they want people who have been raised in an environment of innovation, cooperation, and team-work. By improving on our status as a Professional Learning Community (PLC) Model District, we are ensuring that our teaching methods mirror the collaborative environments of the modern workforce. We are not just a school district; we are the workforce training center for the future of Arizona. Our push to certify more teachers in the National Board Teacher Certification program ensures the highest quality of teachers who want to build upon their excellence of a continuously improving district.
In last year’s State of the District, I talked about the teamwork needed to reach the top of the educational mountain. I want to return to that mountain climbing term again: “On Belay” is a great term to illustrate the necessary teamwork to work together to climb successfully. It means, “I’m heading up the cliff, so pay attention. I may also need your help, so hang on tightly to that safety line!” It also implies that I can’t make it to the top without your support; your job is just as important as mine. “On Belay” says we need each other to be successful – the community, parents, staff, and students.
In DVUSD, the students and staff are the climbers. The staff, families, other students, and the community members are the ones holding the line. This past year, we held that line tighter than ever before. When the potential Override loss made the line tight, we held the line together, hoping positively that our community was going to come through – and they did. When political misinformation tried to create doubt, we held the line even tighter. When a student felt they couldn't reach the next ledge, our teachers, counselors, social workers, and administration held the line with both hands. In the end, the DVUSD community, families, and staff all rallied and said, “yes, we all have a role in holding the line - On Belay!” The results of 2025 - the "A" ratings, the titles, the record-breaking school scores - are the evidence of a community that knows how to “On Belay,” together.
The future of the DVUSD ascent to the very top of the educational mountain is bright, but it will always remain challenging with new obstacles popping up every day. The next phase in DVUSD is to prepare for the ripple effects of the big “splash” from TSMC – more factories, more support companies coming, and more houses built in the DVUSD zone over the next decade. As we examine the efforts to balance the boundaries and use of schools, we will continue to train students towards our vision of graduating life-long learners. Our 92-year track record of excellence speaks for itself, but staying near the top of the mountain is often harder than climbing it. Helping each other ascend, will take more teamwork than ever.
We need everyone’s continued support as we build, shape, and improve our community schools within the Deer Valley Unified School District. We need you to stay informed through our Extraordinary reports and to see the accomplishments of the DVUSD students and staff for yourself. Don't listen to the outside keyboard warrior noise; look at the ripples. Look at the 27 "A" schools. Look at the 70 state titles. Look at the "A" district rating. The state of our district is #extraordinary and it’s not showing any signs of slowing down. We can point to the DVUSD staff, community, and families, who helps us make a “splash” together, supporting ALL of our students to reach their full potential. The ripple effect will be seen for generations to come…
Curt Finch, PhD
Superintendent
Deer Valley Unified School District