Jordan joins MUSD board touting financial literacy

 

The newest member of the Maricopa Unified School District Governing Board has been surrounded by teachers all his life.

Jim Jordan’s parents were both teachers, his two daughters have been teachers and his sister was a gym teacher. A pastor by vocation, he was appointed to the board by Pinal County Superintendent Jill Broussard to replace Joshua Judd, who resigned earlier this year.

He said he plans to run for the seat in the November election.

Jordan, a Northern Arizona native who has lived in Maricopa nine years, said he spoke to MUSD Superintendent Tracey Lopeman about losing some students to other schools.

“I asked her, ‘Can we be better than them?’ And she said, ‘Yes,’” Jordan said. “I asked her, ‘Can we be No. 1 in the state?’ And she said, ‘Yes.’ I have my philosophy about financially managing a school, and they’re doing it.”

His economic philosophy is wrapped up in the financial discipline espoused by Dave Ramsey courses he has coordinated 16 years. He would like to see similar programs available to high school students.

“We need to teach financial literacy,” said Jordan, an across-the-board conservative. “It would save a lot of heartache.”

He wants to have students taught the basics of personal finance so they can graduate and go out in the world with confidence.

“They would learn how to invest, build wealth,” he said. “It’s possible.”

Jordan said when he first moved to Maricopa after living in Kansas 40 years, many of the seniors influencing his opinion of MUSD were primarily against school bonds. But he gained first-hand knowledge of the district’s programs when he took his brother-in-law, a remarkable veteran of the Vietnam War, to speak to the Junior ROTC.

“I was very impressed,” he said.

Then he came to know students and teachers in the district and watched what was being accomplished.

“I know they’ve had some problems with discipline and security, and I know they’re addressing that,” Jordan said. “Kids move here and bring their own school culture with them.”

MUSD’s last bid for a bond to help pay for a second high school was rejected by voters. With the district in the process of building a first phase, the administration has introduced the idea of coming back to voters to seek a bond during the second phase.

Jordan said he does not yet know enough to speak on that issue. But he said the time may come when he feels it might be necessary.

“I am for teachers,” he said. “And I am also for kids. I want to help the board in making the school great.”