Back in July, the Mingus Union School Board filed a 500-plus-page lawsuit against multiple parties after the pro-consolidation group, the Committee For Better Upper Verde Valley Schools, filed petitions to get the consolidation question on the ballot. Friday, Judge David Mackey ruled for a compromise and in so doing, canceled the Nov. 6th 2018 consolidation election. Yavapai County School Superintendent Tim Carter says the ruling encourages all parties to work with Judge Mackey on new petition language to get the consolidation question to the voters in a future election, perhaps as early as 2019. But first Carter says both parties need to agree for the proposed consolidation question to be on the ballot at all. If not, they’ll be back to square one again. Mackey’s ruling brought to a close a multiple-party lawsuit concerning the constitutionality and petition legality of a ballot question on whether or not the two districts should merge. The Mingus Union and Cottonwood –Oak Creek School District consolidation has been in question since 1952.
