Arizona's voters may be asked to consider sweeping changes to school districts on the ballot in November 2008. A group commissioned by the Arizona State Legislature, the School District Redistricting Commission, is addressing school district unification.

The potential ballot referendum would ask voters to approve the unification of elementary and high school districts, creating new, sometimes-larger districts to serve students from kindergarten through high school. This would, in fact, eliminate many school districts while forming new ones under reconstituted lines defined by the ballot measure.

The Arizona Education Association believes that there is great promise in delivering seamless instructional curriculum from kindergarten through 12th grade. The deliberations of the School District Redistricting Commission offer a valuable public forum to describe the best possible configuration of schools in order to best meet students' needs. Unfortunately, the commission appears ready to move forward on redistricting recommendations without completing the needed deliberations. It has left too many questions unanswered.

Voters must have all possible information when making decisions that will affect their children's school and the communities our public schools serve. School district unification will significantly impact the lives of students, parents, and school employees in every affected community. Commissioners themselves have posed some important questions that remain unaddressed. They are exactly the kinds of questions tax-paying parents will want to consider before voting:

• I have been very pleased with the quality of my child's education. How can I be sure that continues?

• The districts in question have different property tax rates. What will happen to my taxes?

• The districts in question have different salaries. How do I know what employees will be paid?

• One of the districts has a Career Ladder performance pay plan. Can the new district keep that plan?

• Unification might cost money in the short term. How will additional costs be absorbed without hurting education?

• What happens if the new unified school district does not have a high school facility?

• One of the districts receives desegregation funding. Will the new district?

This is just a sample of the questions that still need to be answered. The commission has identified some of these concerns on its public Web site and offered possible responses. But the response "the new board will determine that" is too often the answer. Voters deserve some more certainty. Some of the commissioners themselves are asking for more certainty, also. Let's not have such important proposals advance on a split vote of the commission.

A decision on a referral at this point is premature and will be vulnerable at the polls. We can answer these questions - even if it means taking legislative action to get those answers. It is irresponsible to ask the voters to make an uninformed decision when such haste is unnecessary. Let deliberations continue, and let's not have unnecessary division and uncertainty.

John Wright, a classroom teacher, is president of the Arizona Education Association.