Tempe Union board approves 2025–26 course catalog revisions after narrow 3–2 vote

The Tempe Union High School District Governing Board voted 3–2 to approve revisions to the district's 2025'26 course catalog after members raised concerns about deleted special-education courses and changes to repeatable credits.

Steve Threadgill, presenting for Teaching and Learning, told the board the review was a collaborative effort among directors, content specialists, APAs and department leads. He said the goals were to align course offerings across sites, update course descriptions to reflect current instruction, and eliminate outdated courses. Threadgill said departments identifying updates included world language, English learners, career and technical education and special education.

Vice President Steele objected to the packet as presented, saying it lacked the proposed details she expected. "So there's a lot of just blank information. We're approving course descriptions without any information is kind of concerning," Steele said during discussion. She also raised specific concern about the deletion of several special-education classes and asked, "why are we deleting our basic biology?" and questioned changes to courses that had been repeatable for credit.

After discussion, a motion to approve the revisions passed on a 3'2 vote. The meeting record shows a recorded "nay" during the final voice call; the board announced the motion "passes 3 2." The motion and second are not identified by name in the meeting transcript.

Board materials presented at the meeting said the catalog changes include edits to course titles, descriptions and, in a few cases, credit rules (including whether a course is repeatable for credit). The Teaching and Learning presentation stated the district worked with site department leaders to ensure titles and descriptions match current classroom practice.

The board did not adopt additional direction at the meeting to delay implementation or to return the catalog for further amendment; the revisions were approved as presented.

The district also presented a separate recommendation for a world-language resource adoption (item G2) during the same Teaching and Learning update; that adoption will be available for public review if approved, from April 16 through June 16, according to the presentation.

The board's approval means the revised catalog will be used for the upcoming registration cycle unless the district takes a separate administrative action to amend it.