School districts west of Phoenix building more campuses amid population boom
LITCHFIELD PARK, AZ (AZFamily) — School districts in the far West Valley are seeing more families moving into the area, which is bringing more students in.
The Litchfield Elementary School District has seen a couple of schools over capacity in the past couple of years. School leaders had to get creative and turn libraries into classrooms and use modular classrooms to fit all the kids.
“I don’t know if you can squeeze any more kids in there,” Principal Luke Jankee said. “I don’t know how that would have happened. There’s just not enough space on some of those campuses to build.”
Relief came for school officials when voters passed a bond in 2023 to use $100 million in taxpayer money to build a new school in the Waddell area; the 17th school will open in August 2026.
While districts in and around Phoenix struggle with funding issues and shutting down schools, the West Valley is seeing growth.
Carter Davidson, the superintendent of the Litchfield Elementary School District, says the district wants to maintain its student population and loves to see more kids.
“It’s able to happen because there is land and a lot of industry coming in,” Davidson said. “It’s a blessing for us out here to have an increase in population.”
The new school will be called Troy Gilbert Elementary School, after a military vet who trained pilots at Luke Air Force Base and lost his life in combat. Students heading to this new campus are sharing classrooms at another school right now. Fifth-grade teacher Jill Keller says they’re excited to start a new school next year.
“We are here and we are building a culture now and then we’re going to take that with us to the new campus,” she said. “It’s exciting to be apart of a brand new school.”
Leaders at the Agua Fria High School District also confirm two new schools are opening this August, with another opening in 2026.
See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it.
Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send it to us here with a brief description.
Copyright 2025 KTVK/KPHO. All rights reserved.
