Education taxes a ‘double edge sword’

Would you shell out more of your hard-earned dollars for schools to improve teacher pay and safety measures to keep kids safe?  

A recent InMaricopa poll found local residents are split on the issue. 

Students returned to Maricopa Unified School District schools yesterday, marking the end of this year’s summer vacation. Fervent discussion about teacher pay and student safety dominated the start of the school year, prompting InMaricopa to ask its readers if they are willing to pay more taxes for these improvements. 

About 500 people voted. 

Nearly half of respondents said they would support a tax bump. One in 20 said they would pay strictly for a bump in teachers’ pay and another 1 in 20 said they would do the same for student safety measures. 

A third of voters said they would pay more taxes for both. 

About half of voters said they are not willing to pay more taxes. 

“Not a chance would I willingly pay more taxes for more schools,” Robert Brown commented. 

Reader Will Sherwood gave his opinion about last week’s poll question. “This is one of those ‘double edge sword’ dilemma type things,” he said. 

“We need better schools in order for our city to thrive,” he continued. “However, to just raise taxes and throw money at a system that is not doing better or very good is a waste of money and tax dollars.”