Pima County has 17 school districts, of which Tucson Unified School District is the largest, with an enrollment approaching 61,000 students. All districts focus on building basic skills. Gifted, honors, advance placement, English-asa-Second-Language, computer literacy, special education, extended school year, sports, music, theater, arts, and homebound programs are among the special offerings. Vocational and business programs prepare students for entry into a job or further occupational education. Tucson's Canyon View Elementary School received Arizona's A + Award for education in 2003.
The following is a summary of data regarding the Tucson Unified School District as of the 1999–2000 school year.
Total enrollment: approximately 61,000
Number of facilities
elementary schools: 73
junior high schools: 19
senior high schools: 10
other: 11 alternative programs
Student/teacher ratio: 29:1
Teacher salaries (2002–2003)
minimum: $28,872
maximum: $53,494
Funding per pupil: $3,426.00 (2002–2003)
Thirty-five self-regulating and parochial schools operate in Pima County. These range from boarding schools offering a college preparatory curriculum to schools that provide basic education with religious instruction. Tucson is also home to the Arizona School for the Deaf and Blind.
Public Schools Information: Arizona Department of Education, 1535 W. Jefferson Street, Phoenix, AZ 85007; telephone (602)542-5393; hotline (800)352-4558
Institutions of higher learning located in Tucson include the University of Arizona, Pima Community College, Tucson College of Business, and the University of Phoenix (Tucson). The University of Arizona has 150 undergraduate, 200 master's doctoral and specialist programs in 18 colleges and 12 schools. Pima Community College consists of 5 campuses in southern Arizona offering on campus, alternative-style and online courses.
The Tucson-Pima Library has 21 locations. The system's collection consists of more than 1.2 million volumes, nearly 200,000 book titles, and more than 4,000 periodical subscriptions, plus records, films, and videotapes. A special collection focuses on Southwestern literature for children. Voters approved a $12.6 million bond issue in May 2004 to upgrade the library's branch facilities.
The University of Arizona Library holds more than 5 million volumes and nearly 27,000 serials and collections that include photography, science-engineering, Japanese and Chinese studies and Southwestern Americana. Also located in the city are a number of specialized scientific libraries associated with high-technology industries.
Biosphere 2, located 30 miles northeast of Tucson, was formerly the site of research into global climate change by Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. Tours of the inside and outside of the glass-and-steel geodesic structure are available. Research activities in such fields as architecture, engineering, astronomy, geology, geo-chemistry, minerals and mining, agriculture, fish and wild-life, arid lands and water, biotechnology, immunology, gerontology, sleep disorders, anthropology, Southwestern culture, and international studies are conducted at centers in the Tucson area.
Public Library Information: Tucson-Pima Public Library, 101 North Stone Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85701; telephone (520)791-4391; Infoline, telephone (520)791-4010