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Cave Creek Unified superintendent warns of enrollment decline, possible elementary closures and budget pressure
Summary
Superintendent Bill Dozel told the Carefree Town Council that the district faces declining kindergarten cohorts, heavy reliance on local property taxes (about 74% of revenue), and that board hearings are planned on possible consolidation of elementary schools as five campuses operate at roughly 47% capacity.
Superintendent Bill Dozel of Cave Creek Unified School District presented enrollment, academic and budget information to the Carefree Town Council, saying the district is confronting a sustained decline in student cohorts and related budget pressure.
Dozel said the district’s kindergarten cohorts are smaller than the number of students leaving high school: "We're typically graduating 400-plus students and only bringing in 200 kindergartners," he said, tying the enrollment shortfall to lower birth rates in 2008 and during the COVID period.
He said the district’s revenue mix is heavily weighted to local property tax: "74% of it comes from local property tax. We get about 22% from…
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