Somerton High School to get $30 million in funding

With newly approved funding from Governo Doug Ducey, Somerton high school will be getting a major boost

YUMA, Ariz. (CBS 13) - Governor Doug Ducey recently approved over $30 million in funding for the new Somerton High School project. However, the approval was just part of an effort that has been years in the making.

For decades, High school students in Somerton have had to commute to nearby high schools like Kofa High. Former Kofa High School student Valeria Diaz says it was an added struggle, especially when it came to taking the bus.

"I went to Kofa, my brothers, we all went to Kofa and I remember it being extremely hard transportation wise.," Diaz said. "It was really hard to get there and back, especially if we didn’t have cars, we had to rely on the bus and sometimes we weren’t able to make the bus either, so then we were just either late or not in school."

Somerton city manager Jerry Cabrera says this was one of the motivating factors for wanting a school in the area.

“The biggest importance over this is safety, you know some of our students were traveling several miles at a weird time when we have a lot of (agriculture) business and a lot of traffic, it was difficult for all those buses," Cabrera said.

As of right now, there is still no planned date for a groundbreaking ceremony or when the school will open.