Ballot Math / School districts / Dysart Unified
School board race and measure: Dysart Unified School District

Dysart Unified: two seats, three candidates, and a $71.4 million bond

November 3, 2026 general election. Nonpartisan, at large: vote for up to two for the board. Dysart Unified School District serves Surprise, El Mirage, and parts of Glendale and Peoria. Its bond question is Proposition 421.
How this race works: two of the board's five seats are up, both for four-year terms. Three candidates are on the ballot; vote for up to two and the top two win. Board service is unpaid.

Dawn Densmore (incumbent)

First elected in 2019, re-elected in 2022. She attended Rio Salado College. Per the Arizona Republic, she has publicly aligned with right-leaning political views: in 2024 she joined the rest of the board in approving a resolution opposing the Biden administration's rules expanding protections for LGBTQ+ students, and County Superintendent Shelli Boggs has credited her with demanding medical freedom from vaccine and mask mandates for students and staff and with working to add school safety officers to Dysart schools. She supported the district severing ties with the Arizona School Boards Association.

Lisa Everett

Newcomer campaigning alongside Densmore. She has lived in the area for seven years and previously chaired the Legislative District 29 Republican Committee. Per the Republic, that committee's website says she was censured in 2025 for partnering with the leader of a left-wing advocacy organization that organized No Kings protests, and the censure also accused her of using committee funds for a private court case. She says she is not running to advance a political agenda.
  • Stated priorities (her campaign site): early intervention programs for literacy and math proficiency, teacher retention, and keeping administrative costs low so more money reaches the classroom.

William Coniam

A Surprise resident of 17 years with two daughters in the district. He has volunteered in the PTA and on the superintendent's parent council, is a Marine Corps veteran, works as an executive in risk management in the private sector, and serves on the Board of Trustees for the City of Surprise.
  • Stated priorities: expanding career and technical education through West-MEC, supporting school resource officers, and ensuring taxpayer dollars reach the classroom instead of administration.

Proposition 421: a $71.4 million bond

In one sentence: Dysart Unified may borrow $71,400,000 to address identified facility needs, repaid through the secondary property tax at an estimated average annual rate of $0.17 per $100 of net assessed value.

The math for your household

About $52 a year for 15 years, on a $250,000 home

That is the Arizona Republic's figure for a homeowner whose home is valued at $250,000. The district's own average rate estimate, $0.17 per $100 of net assessed value, works out to about $42.50 a year on a home with $25,000 of net assessed value (roughly a $250,000 market value home at the 10 percent residential assessment ratio). The two figures differ because they come from different sources and assumptions; both are printed here with their sources.

A YES vote

The district may sell up to $71.4 million in bonds for facility upkeep and improvements, with the debt service in your secondary tax.

A NO vote

No new borrowing. Facility work is handled from the regular capital budget, deferred, or the district returns with a different ask.

The strongest case for YES

  • Upkeep is not optional. Supporters argue the facilities needs are identified and ongoing, bonds are the only capital mechanism Arizona provides at this scale, and deferring maintenance raises its eventual cost.
  • The rate is modest. At an estimated average of $0.17 per $100, this is one of the smaller bond rates on the county's 2026 school ballot.

The strongest case for NO

  • Debt is still debt. Opponents note $71.4 million of principal carries interest on top, and that voters who doubt the board's spending discipline, in a race where every candidate talks about money reaching classrooms, may reasonably withhold new borrowing authority.
  • No is a complete sentence. The district managed its capital budget before this ask and can return with a more specific project list if voters want one.

Verification notes

  • School board campaigns file finance reports with Maricopa County. No raised or spent totals for these campaigns appeared in the coverage we reviewed; we print no totals rather than guess.
  • No organized local campaign for or against Prop 421 was found in the sources reviewed; the cases above are stated in the terms each side uses in Arizona bond elections generally, with the district's figures attributed to the district.
  • The censure account for Everett is from her former committee's website as reported by the Republic; it is an accusation by a party committee, printed here because it is part of her public record in this race, with its source stated.

How to vote without getting your ballot rejected

  • Mail it by Tuesday, October 27, 2026. After that day, do not mail it: use a drop box or a vote center instead.
  • It must be received by 7 p.m. on Election Day, Tuesday, November 3. Postmarks do not count.
  • Sign and date the affidavit envelope, and write a current phone number on it.
  • Leaving any item blank is allowed. The board race and the bond are separate items; answer either, both, or none.

Sources

Ballot Math: analysis only, no endorsements. Every candidate in this race got the same template: background, stated priorities, the record that exists, and honest notes where the record is thin.