Highlights
- EVIT filed a Maricopa County Superior Court injunction request Tuesday to freeze roughly $50 million in Fund 596 accounts held by nine member districts.
- The nine districts — including Chandler, Gilbert, and Tempe Union — sued EVIT in December 2025 after an intergovernmental agreement expired without renewal.
- EVIT Superintendent Chad Wilson says the tax-generated funds are legally bound to EVIT; the districts say EVIT is trying to control all CTE spending.
- A new intergovernmental agreement remains unresolved, leaving career and technical education programs across the East Valley in financial limbo.
The East Valley Institute of Technology filed a request Tuesday in Maricopa County Superior Court to freeze approximately $50 million in career and technical education funds held by nine member school districts, escalating a legal dispute that began when the parties failed to renew an intergovernmental agreement.
EVIT is asking a judge to prevent the nine districts from spending money sitting in what are called Fund 596 accounts — property-tax revenue generated specifically to fund career and technical education through the district. EVIT Superintendent Chad Wilson told KTAR News 92.3 FM the injunction is meant to hold those dollars in place while negotiations continue. "As we round out the end of this school year and begin the next school year, we are concerned that those dollars that are sitting in their 596 accounts may be used for programs or opportunities that have not been approved by EVIT," Wilson said.
The nine districts sued EVIT in December 2025 after the parties could not agree on a new intergovernmental agreement following the expiration of the prior one. The districts involved are Apache Junction Unified, Cave Creek Unified, Chandler Unified, Fountain Hills Unified, Gilbert Unified, Higley Unified, J.O. Combs Unified, Queen Creek Unified, and Tempe Union High School District.
In response to Tuesday's filing, the districts issued a joint statement accusing EVIT of attempting to expand its control over all career and technical education programs. The districts say they have been absorbing the full operating cost of CTE programs during the dispute — an arrangement they describe as unsustainable.
Wilson pushed back on that framing, arguing the Fund 596 money is legally tied to EVIT as the designated career and technical education district. "But they [districts] shouldn't be providing those with the CTED-generated funding, which is that tax that voters agreed to pay in order to create the CTED district, which EVIT is," he told KTAR.
What is at stake in the EVIT funding dispute?
EVIT is a publicly funded trade school that provides career training to East Valley high school students across more than 40 programs at campuses in Mesa and Gilbert. The Fund 596 accounts at the center of the dispute hold property-tax revenue that flows through member districts and is earmarked for career and technical education. Background reporting by Ahwatukee Foothills News indicates the districts proposed a 90% pass-through rate for satellite-program funding in February 2025, but EVIT later countered with a rate as low as 70%, a gap that contributed to the breakdown in negotiations.
No hearing date on the injunction request has been publicly announced; the case continues in Maricopa County Superior Court.
Sources
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- ktar.com retrieved 2026-05-07T21:30:56.074013+00:00
Authored by hayden_cole. Drafted by AI from primary-source material under our beat-specific editorial guides; reviewed by humans before publish under our five-gate process. Sources retrieved at 2026-05-07T21:30:56.074013+00:00. Every claim traces to a source.
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