During the summer of 2025, a contract between the East Valley Institute of Technology and eleven other school districts in Arizona expired. However, when EVIT proposed a new deal—one that would not only change the way EVIT itself is funded, but how our own school is as well—seven of those districts refused to sign off on it. But, they didn’t stop there, as both sides soon sued each other over what they claimed were attempts to swindle millions more of each other’s money for themselves.
For almost twenty-five years now, EVIT has been providing students with the hands-on-training they need to not only study in, but also succeed in their career of choice. However, they have one been able to provide such opportunities with the funding they receive from the state. Funding that they were required to share with all of the schools they chose to do business up until their aforementioned agreement came to an end. In the past, these schools would then use these funds to help pay for their own on-campus CTE courses, but this newest negotiation made by EVIT would set out to save more of that money for EVIT than ever before.
However, almost all of the school districts EVIT had worked with were not all too keen on the idea, as EVIT would get to keep millions more in the money provided to them by both the state and its own students. But, when EVIT refused to reassess, or even respond to the school districts concerns and complaints, seven of them—including Chandler Unified School District—filed a case against the trade school. Claiming that EVIT’s attempts to withhold what was supposed to be the district’s funding may lead to Arizonian schools being unable to pay for or even provide their own CTE classes.
It was only then that EVIT itself responded, albeit with little more than a counterclaim of their own. One in which the institute claimed that the districts wanted nothing more than to take even more of the trade school’s money than they already do. All the while disregarding state laws as a whole to do so.
This means that if EVIT were to win this case, the institute would not only get to keep up to millions more than before, they would also have more control of CTE classes and their credits. Which may mean that even if a student had already earned a set amount of CTE credit, EVIT might be able to withhold that academic credit from them unless they complete a multi-year long course at and only at EVIT.
However, if the court were to rule in the favor of the school districts, then the districts and EVIT will return to a deal closer to what they had beforehand. This means that all nine of the school districts in question will continue to work with EVIT, and that they will receive the prior amount of funding they need to run their own CTE classes. Students will also still be allowed to attend EVIT, but only if they’d like to.
As of late February, both sides are anxiously anticipating a court date in which a decision can be made about this case. Regardless of who wins or loses, though, it seems that the only thing more important to any of these schools than their students, is their money.
