Elected Official Q&A: Newest school board member wants to score an A

After years as a community volunteer as well as serving on the Maricopa Unified School District’s Budget Committee, Gary Miller was elected to the MUSD Governing Board in 2014. A behavioral health specialist, he and his wife are also foster parents.

Why did you want to be on the school board?  Friends and people in the community asked me to run for governing board. My purpose is to be an active citizen in our community. Now that I have school-age children, I want to be involved with the schools the best way I know how. Much of my life involves school. Aha moments are imperative to the learning process. I am a stoic that believes the more education that I receive the more that I understand how much I don’t know.

What has interested you in politics? As a political scientist my concern is with the origins and sources of governmental organizations, their growth and their decline as well as the processes and structure of government and their impact on the people.  

In the campaign, you talked a lot about “access” at MUSD. Can you explain your concerns? To the best of my knowledge, access refers to the timely availability of education services to achieve the best outcomes. Rural areas may have barriers to accessing essential services, which naturally will contribute to poorer outcomes such as access to specialists, transportation, technology, affordable after school care, etc. As our budget continues to decrease, I believe MUSD is doing the best the system can do with the limited resources they have, which is why I vision the community will, within the length of their cable tow, step up more to help meet the need.

How will your background benefit you on the governing board? I have participated on many boards and feel comfortable to advocate for the best interest of the people served by a system. My conservative framework is focused on solutions and measurable outcomes for a more sustainable future.  

What legacy do you want to leave at MUSD? I honestly would rather “do good in secret” (Intoku) than attempt to be a legend, but my goal is to help MUSD to be an A-rated district.

How would you like to see MUSD balance its budget concerns with the focus on being an A-rated district? The obvious goal is for the revenues to equal the expenditures but there are many unknowns over the next few years. I’m interested to know how much the unfunded mandates will cost MUSD after fully implementing the Common Core Standards. To promote access, budget cuts should be as far away from the students as possible. With recent cuts in the state budget and because of the unfunded mandates, we may need to look at deeper budget cuts such as administrative salaries for new administrators or even leasing out a school. I support grant writing that would help fund new medical and behavioral health programs. Fundraising is also imperative to help replace lost revenue to the district as well as help build the reserve fund for a rainy day. I vision a close relationship will develop between MUSD and the City of Maricopa to share non-economic resources to help MUSD become and maintain an A-rated district.

What are your favorite things about the school district? Being present to see the positive collective conscious of the community evolve to build culture within the school and community is priceless. Our district is highly competitive, and I believe competition through school choice may naturally bring forth innovation that serves the best interest of students and their family. I have met many great teachers, administrators, parents, volunteers and community leaders that are dedicated to better the learning experience for the children in our community.

What are the district’s greatest liabilities? No candy coating – as a Constitutional Conservative, I honestly believe Common Core is the greatest liability. I know that some may not agree with me, but because children are all unique with their own strengths and limitations, I don’t see how one size fits all, let alone see a need to further federalize control over state education. Unfunded mandates by the federal government alone raises many sustainability questions. I’m also concerned for teacher low morale and burnout in light of the new challenges posed by Common Core that give rise to a growing number of good teachers leaving the profession.  

What lessons have your children taught you?  
Patience. Patience. Patience. As a parent, there are many demands in our day. I discover that children respond better when we spend quality time with each one of them and actively listen with empathy.  Because we all have a difficult person inside us, children are no different. Rolling with the resistance is a good skill to learn. Being a dad and having the opportunity to teach and observe strengths and new adaptive behaviors is an honor.

BIO
Age: 41
Family:  Wife Jolene, two sons, up to three foster children
Education: Doctorate in behavioral health from ASU. Graduate degree in social work and undergraduate degree is in political science.
Occupation: Delivers cloud-based Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions that help set the new standard for timely and accurate data collection in the form of a Patient Health Record – “but most importantly, I’m a husband and dad.”
Hobbies: Community service and martial arts. Recently returned to the mat and earned Shodan degree in Shin shin Toitsu Aikido.
Maricopan since: 2005