Mesa Public Schools, Mesa, AZ

Mesa Public Schools – We Teach Them Well!
Mesa Public Schools is a full-service district offering options in quality education so parents may choose a program that fits the child. We are an innovative, award-winning district that is recognized nationally for student achievement in academics, sports, creative and performing arts, and career and technical programs.

87 schools, including 58 elementary schools, 13 junior high schools, seven high
schools and nine focus schools
Mesa Academy for Advanced Studies – our newest school
Mesa Distance Learning (K-12)
Eagleridge Enrichment Program (K-9) for the homeschooling community
Montessori programs at Sunridge Learning Center, and Johnson and Mendoza
elementary schools
The original East Valley back-to-basics curriculum at four Franklin campuses

Programs

International Baccalaureate Programme – Westwood High School
Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) – a program that identifies
underserved students in grades 7-12 and prepares them for four-year college entry
Biotechnology Academy and Programs – a career-focused high school curriculum
that focuses on biology and technology to improve the quality of life
Sundown High School – a computer-based afternoon program to help students
earn a high school diploma
Health Science High School – East Valley Academy

Enrollment Trends
2006-07	2005-06	1999-00	1994-95	1989-90	1979-80
73,808	74,410	71,991	68,375	61,988	35,224
Open Enrollment: 10,741 in-district students and 2,734 out-of-district students

2007-08 Budget – $603 Million

This is the total district budget, including maintenance and operations, capital funding, federal grants and special funding.

The maintenance and operations funding is the biggest portion of the budget at $427.5 million. These funds are used for the daily expenses of running the district. The cost for employee salaries and benefits is 91 percent of the maintenance and operations budget.

MPS Employees

Nearly 11,000 full- and part-time staff

Student Performance

Our 2007 high school graduates have been offered nearly $44 million in scholarships. Among this year’s graduates are four Flinn Scholars, 16 National Merit Scholars, 10 National Hispanic Scholars and five National Achievement Scholars. These honors are reserved for the top students in the nation, based on grades, college-entrance exam scores and extracurricular activities.

Education Week magazine named Mesa Public Schools the No. 8 district for graduation rates among the nation’s 50 largest districts.

A 2007 Flinn Foundation report calls the district’s Biotechnology Academy the “most successful biotech training facility for high school students in metropolitan Phoenix, and perhaps the state.”

College Entrance Test Scores

ACT (Composite)

SAT (Critical Reading)

SAT (Math)

SAT (Writing)

	2006	2007
MPS	22.9	23.6
Arizona	21.6	21.8
Nation	20.1	21.2

	2006	2007
MPS	524	526
Arizona	521	519
Nation	503	502

	2006	2007
MPS	550	554
Arizona	528	525
Nation	518	515

	2006	2007
MPS	505	506
Arizona	507	502
Nation	497	494

Demographics
Students speak 51 languages.
7,315 students receive Special Education services.
11,202 students are English Language Learners.

Free and Reduced-Price Lunch
2006-07	2005-06	1999-00	1994-95	1989-90	1979-80
52.0%	51.2%	38.8%	36.3%	30.0%	17.0%

Ethnicity
Year	White	African American	Hispanic	Native	American Asian
2006-07	51.7%	4.4%	36.6%	4.3%	2.4%
2005-06	54.6%	4.3%	34.3%	4.2%	2.3%
1999-00	67.3%	3.6%	23.0%	4.0%	2.0%
1994-95	76.7%	2.9%	15.3%	3.4%	1.7%
1989-90	82.8%	2.0%	11.0%	2.6%	1.5%
1979-80	85.6%	1.5%	9.2%	2.8%	0.9%

Revised August 2007