Illustration by Marc Burckhardt

To read Jana's follow-up feature on Sandra Dowling that appeared in PHOENIX magazine August 2009 go here.

             *****

The County Schools
Superintendent is
charged with ripping off the homeless children of Downtown’s Pappas School, but a PHOENIX magazine investigation turns up new evidence
that suggests it isn’t true.

Sandra Dowling sounds like such a witch. You couldn’t read her name in the newspaper or hear it on television in the past year without coming away believing she is the worst kind of corrupt politician – that she’s the elected Superintendent of County Schools who ripped off schoolchildren for her own personal gain.

And not any schoolchildren, mind you, but the most vulnerable schoolchildren in the entire county: homeless children educated at the Thomas J. Pappas School in Downtown Phoenix. This school, named for the late Republican state chairman who was liked and admired by those on both sides of the political aisle, had become the popular charity for other schoolchildren throughout the Valley, had attracted the patronage of firefighters and journalists, and had strong support from scores of caring businesses.

Arizona also put its reputation on the line to save this school when some people said putting homeless kids in a separate school was tantamount to segregating black schoolchildren in the South. Arizona’s Congressional delegation saved the day on that one, getting a special exemption for this special school.

And through it all stood Sandra Dowling, popular enough to get re-elected five times since 1988. She’d been strong and courageous, not only in creating Pappas in 1991, but in defending it and keeping it going and expanding it onto a second campus in Tempe.

So, it was a shock that the front-page headline in The Arizona Republic on November 21, 2006, read: “Dowling hit with 25 counts; Superintendent is indicted in theft, fraud.”

The news that a grand jury charged her with enough crimes to send her to prison for decades was so explosive that it was announced at a joint press conference with Sheriff Joe Arpaio, whose office had spent 11 months investigating Dowling, and Attorney General Terry Goddard, whose office would prosecute the case. “This is a sad and serious breach of trust that’s being alleged here,” Goddard said about the grand jury indictment.

News reports from that press conference said Dowling was indicted for “theft, misuse of public money, fraud and conflict of interest.”

Specifically, the indictments said she stole some $1.8 million from the homeless kids of Pappas School; that she diverted an $89,000 bequeathal to Pappas School for “her private foundation;” that she hired her own adult children with Pappas funds; and that she received a kickback from a real estate deal on excess school property sold through the real estate firm where she has her brokerage license.

To top it off, the charges said she hired expensive lobbyists in Washington, D.C. – to the tune of $200,000 – not for the benefit of Pappas Schools, but to get herself a federal appointment with the Bush Administration.

In short, it was hard to imagine a scheme that Sandra Dowling hadn’t masterminded to enrich herself, based on the allegations.

The media in Phoenix have been universal in trying, convicting and condemning Sandra Dowling, long before she is scheduled to go to trial next year.  It’s no wonder most people in Arizona believe this corrupt woman deserves to go to prison for all the awful things she allegedly did to those poor, homeless children. And should she be convicted of any of these charges, her attorney speculates her sentence could be for at least 20 to 30 years.

So it’s shocking to think that there’s another side to the story.

A careful review by PHOENIX magazine of all the public court documents in this case – hundreds of pages of charges and countercharges – reveals a different story than the one that has been in the news for the past year.

The review shows that even the State of Arizona, which brought these charges against Dowling, concedes in court that Dowling didn’t pocket the $1.8 million; that the $89,000 bequeathal is safe; that there is no state law prohibiting her from hiring her adult children; and that she got no kickback from the sale of school property. The state also admits, when pressed by a judge, that there’s evidence to counter the charge that she hired lobbyists for her own use – evidence never presented to the grand jury that indicted her.

So you have to ask, is Sandra Dowling an innocent woman? And if so, what is going on here? And could this have anything to do with two blocks of expensive Downtown real estate now devoted to a school for homeless children?

Photo by Christine Keith/Arizona Republic Sandra Dowling, Superintendent of Maricopa County Schools, listens as a grand jury indicts her last November for “theft, misuse of public money, fraud and conflict of interest.”

It should be noted upfront that 50-year-old Sandra Dowling can be a bit, um, difficult. A word that rhymes with “witch” is sometimes used to describe her. Of course, she’s an ex-Marine, which explains a lot. She can be arrogant and dismissive. She can be obstinate and stubborn. She fears no one and doesn’t seem to acknowledge anyone’s power but her own, as evidenced by the intense battle she and the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors have been entrenched in for years.

But no one can deny she is as fierce as a mother tiger when it comes to the children of the Thomas J. Pappas School.

That’s one reason the indictments made such little sense to those who have worked with her or watched her run the district for almost two decades. This certainly wasn’t a job she sought to get rich by; her annual pay was $54,000, much less than some of the underlings who worked for her. She had battled cancer in recent years and stayed on the job the entire time. She was an articulate and energetic advocate for children who, prior to her, had no voice.

Yes, she had trouble staying within her budget – she was in constant dispute with the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors about “overspending.” Unlike other school districts in the county, Pappas is an “accommodation” district that cannot tax for funds and instead must rely on per-pupil state money, gifts and grants. Maricopa County is legally obligated to make up any shortfall, and there always seemed to be a shortfall. Dowling always said she spent what it took to educate the children, and that was that, but she had no friends on the board of supervisors.

When the indictments came down, the board’s sentiment seemed to be “it’s about time.” Supervisor Don Stapley quickly wrote a “My Turn” column in The Arizona Republic, saying, “I am calling on Sandra Dowling to step down and let qualified educators with financial expertise clean up the mess she has created. She needs to stop blaming others for her misdeeds.”

Last December, a month after the indictments were announced, Dowling stepped aside from the operation of Pappas Schools, and a Superior Court judge appointed a three-member panel of educators to oversee the schools to get their finances in order and keep them operating. Meanwhile, the board of supervisors asked the judge to close Pappas Schools entirely. The judge rejected that request, and to this day, the panel is in charge of all Pappas decisions. While the court was putting this new system in place, dedicated teachers and administrators at the school went without pay for weeks. Many of them struggled financially but refused to abandon the school or the students.

Since then, several newspaper and television stories have raised doubt about the quality of education at Pappas Schools. Whether Dowling did a good job educating those children is an open question. What the court system wants to know is whether or not she robbed the district and deserves to wear the orange jumpsuit of Arizona’s Perryville Prison.