About AZ School Enrollment

I'm Michael Janzen. By day I am the Director of Advancement and Enrollment Strategy at Verde Valley School, a small boarding and day high school in Sedona, Arizona. This site is something I build in my own time, on my own dime. I answer the same questions every week from families arriving in Arizona, and I know two things going in: my school does not have room for everyone, and what it offers is not right for everyone. Most of the honest answers have nothing to do with it.

Why an admissions person would write a guide to every other school

When a family calls a school's admissions office in Arizona, they often are not really calling about that school. They are calling because it was the first number that picked up. They want to know whether their eleven-year-old can start at the public school on Monday without a birth certificate in hand, whether the kindergarten cutoff is the same as the state they left, what an ESA actually pays for, and whether a charter school is free.

I can answer most of those questions, and I do, whether or not the family ever applies to us. The right answer is usually a school down the street. I got tired of having nowhere good to send people for the written version, so I wrote it.

Where I work, and how I keep this fair

I work for a private school. That means I benefit if a family who wants a small IB boarding or day school in northern Arizona finds Verde Valley School through this site. I am not going to pretend otherwise. Here is how I keep that from bending the content:

Verde Valley School appears only where any comparable school would appear, in the same format, with the same facts, in alphabetical order. On the boarding schools page it sits in a table with the other three schools that board high schoolers in Arizona, including the ones that cost less. There is no apply button anywhere on this site and no page that pitches it.
Every option is listed, including district public schools, charter schools, online schools, homeschooling, Empowerment Scholarship Accounts, tax-credit scholarships, and other private and boarding schools by name.
Facts link to primary sources and carry dates. Statutes, the Department of Education, the Department of Health Services, the ESA program, districts and schools. If I could not verify something, the page says so and tells you where to check. See the editorial policy.
Nobody pays to be here. Not my employer, not anyone else. No advertising, no referral fees, no sponsored listings.
Corrections are public. Tell me through the contact page and I will fix the page and note what changed.

For what it's worth, the school where I work is small on purpose, capped at about 130 students, so in any year most families who read this site would not be a fit for it and some who would be cannot be offered a place. A guide that only worked for families I could admit would be nearly useless to everyone, including me.

What this site is and is not

It is an independent personal project. It is not published, funded, edited or reviewed by Verde Valley School, and nothing here is the school's position. It is not affiliated with the Arizona Department of Education, any district, or the ESA program. It is not legal advice. It does not rank schools; the Department of Education's own school report cards and your own visit are better judges of a school than any list, including mine.

How pages are written

I draft and fact-check every page, with help from AI tools for research and first drafts. Before a page goes up, and at each review date, I check each fact, figure and link against the sources listed on the page. AI-drafted text that I could not verify gets cut, not published with a caveat. Figures in Arizona education change every July, so pages carry a last-reviewed date and are rechecked on a calendar; see the editorial policy.

A little about me

I graduated from Verde Valley School in 1986, so the place I work is also the place I went to school. After that came a BFA in ceramics from the University of New Mexico and about ten years making and teaching art. In 1996 I moved into technology, designing and building web applications, and then spent 26 years at Wells Fargo in technology and product management. Before returning to Sedona I spent two years as a consultant helping startup founders design and code their products and get them funded.

If you want to talk to a person

Use the contact page. I answer general questions about enrolling in Arizona schools of every kind, and if I do not know, I will say so and point you to who does. If your question is specifically about Verde Valley School, use the school's own site at vvsaz.org so that it reaches the school rather than my personal inbox.

Sources and where to verify

Frequently asked questions

Is this an official Arizona government site?

No. It is an independent personal site written by Michael Janzen, an admissions director at a private school in Sedona. Official enrollment rules come from the Arizona Department of Education, the state ESA program and each school district, and every page links to those sources.

Is this site run by Verde Valley School?

No. The author works there by day, and says so on every page, but the site is built and paid for personally, outside work, and the school does not publish, fund or review it.

Why should I trust an admissions person's guide to public schools?

Because the facts are sourced and dated, the format is the same for every school including the author's employer, and nobody pays to be listed. Read the page, follow the source links, and judge for yourself.

Does the author get anything from this site?

If a family looking for a small IB boarding or day school in northern Arizona finds Verde Valley School here, listed among the alternatives, that helps the school he works for. That is the whole benefit, and it is disclosed on every page.

Can I ask about a school that is not yours?

Yes. Most questions that arrive are about public, charter or other private schools, and they get the same effort.

How often are pages updated?

Each page shows its last review date. Figures that change on a schedule, such as ESA amounts and school start dates, are rechecked each summer; law changes are added after each legislative session.

Can I suggest a correction or a missing topic?

Please do, through the contact page. Corrections are made on the page with a note, and frequently asked questions become new guides.

Last reviewed October 11, 2026. Figures change; the sources above are where to check.