TUSD Is Reimagining Its Schools. What Tucson Parents Weighing Private School Should Know

Tucson Unified School District has given its effort to deal with shrinking enrollment a slogan, "Reimagining Our Schools Together," and a timeline. Community sessions ran in late September at Sahuaro, Cholla and Tucson High. Meetings with schools that might be affected are planned for the fall, and Superintendent Gabriel Trujillo's recommendations are due in public in December. He told reporters in August that six to 10 schools should expect some kind of change over the next several years, whether a consolidation, a closure or a narrower grade range.

For a lot of Tucson families, that news lands as a question: if our neighborhood school changes, what are the alternatives, and how would we pay for them? This post sets out what is actually happening and how the state's funding options work for a family that decides to look at private school. It isn't an argument for leaving the district. Plenty of families will stay, and that's a reasonable choice.

What the district is facing

TUSD is Southern Arizona's largest district. AZPM reported that it served about 39,000 students in 88 schools last school year, down 3% from the year before and 7% since 2021. Trujillo said the number of school-age children zoned to TUSD has fallen from over 56,000 five years ago to a little above 52,500. He attributes the losses to charter schools, the Empowerment Scholarship Account program and falling birth rates.

The ESA piece is real but smaller than people sometimes assume. Data from the ESA program's latest report, as cited by AZPM, show close to 900 students who had attended TUSD schools moved into ESAs between 2017 and 2026. Across nearly a decade that's a noticeable number, but it isn't the whole story behind a 7% decline.

North of the river, Amphitheater Unified has already been through this. After notifying families in November 2025, its board voted in January 2026 to close four elementary schools at the end of the school year and consolidate them with other campuses. ABC15 reported in January that Amphitheater is among the Arizona districts with the highest share of students leaving for ESAs.

Consolidation, closure and grade changes are different

The district is using three terms, and they matter for planning. A consolidation moves a school's students to another campus. A closure shuts a school without a designated alternative. A grade-range adjustment shrinks what a school serves, for example turning a K-8 into a K-5, which means a family would face a middle-school choice sooner than expected. Watch which term applies to your school when the December recommendations come out.

If you start looking at private schools

Pima County has a wider private-school field than many families realize. Our directory of Tucson schools covers Catholic parish K-8s, Christian and classical academies, Montessori and Waldorf programs, independent college-prep schools and a few special-education schools. Parents in central Tucson, where many TUSD campuses are, will find several in the central Tucson and university area listings.

Visit before you decide anything about money. Ask what tuition is for your child's grade, what fees are required, whether the school is set up to be paid through ClassWallet, and which School Tuition Organizations its families use.

The two main ways to pay

Arizona offers two big funding paths for private school, and a family chooses one per child per year.

The ESA. Every Arizona student from kindergarten through 12th grade is eligible. The Arizona Department of Education's latest posted chart, marked as a 2025-26 estimate, shows $7,105 to $10,540 for grades 1-12 and $4,718 to $6,205 for kindergarten. ADE hasn't posted its 2026-27 chart. Money arrives quarterly through ClassWallet and can pay tuition, textbooks, tutoring and other approved costs. Students with a disability can qualify for much more.
STO scholarships. Tax-credit scholarships from School Tuition Organizations, several of them based in Tucson, are awarded by each STO and paid to the school. A family can apply to several STOs.

The rule that ties these together: when a parent signs an ESA contract, they agree not to accept an STO scholarship for that child in the same year. So a family compares the two rather than adding them. Our ESA versus STO calculator shows both paths side by side for a given tuition.

Timing, if a change hits your school

ESA applications are open year-round, but a few dates shape when money arrives. ADE has 30 days to issue an award letter once an application is complete, and funding begins in the quarter the contract is signed. An application finished between April 1 and June 30 starts on or after July 1. A child can stay in their current school while the application is processed, but must withdraw before ESA money is spent.

If you think your school may be on December's list, you don't need to act today. It does make sense to collect documents now: a full-color birth certificate and a utility bill or similar proof of your physical Tucson address issued within the last 60 days. A P.O. box won't be accepted. For a child with an IEP or 504 plan, request copies from the school before any move, because that paperwork sets the disability ESA amount.

Questions worth asking the district, too

Whatever you decide, go to the engagement sessions or follow the board meetings. Ask which campus your child would attend after a consolidation, whether transportation changes, and how programs your child relies on, such as special education services or a magnet program, would move. Trujillo has said families at affected schools will hear before the December recommendations go public. Knowing the district's plan makes it easier to judge whether a private option is worth the change.

For a fuller walk-through of the state account, see our guide to the Arizona ESA for Tucson parents.

Sources

See what your family qualifies for →