MUSD employees have chance to redeem themselves

On Nov. 3, 1,618 Maricopans went to the polls specifically to vote against allowing our public schools to retain their right to exceed their maintenance and operations budget by up to 10 percent annually. They soundly won as only 510 voted for the measure.

The landslide victory didn’t surprise me given (a) it’s a perceived tax increase, (b) Maricopans are having a tough time with falling home values, rising utility costs and under/unemployment, (c) the benefits of a ‘yes’ vote were poorly promoted and (d) it was the lone item on the ballot. What did surprise me was the number of people who voted for it: a whopping 510.

This equates to just over 1 percent of Maricopa’s population. More alarmingly, it’s barely 60% of the 830-plus MUSD employees who live and are eligible to vote in Maricopa. Given that there was at least one non-district employee to vote in favor, the number of MUSD employees who turned out to support the district was embarrassingly low. Ironically, some of the folks who opted not to engage in the democratic process – or maybe they voted ‘no’ – could lose their jobs or get their pay frozen or cut as a result.

When it comes to elections, you typically have to wait two or four years for a “second chance.” But Maricopa voters will have another opportunity to approve – or deny – MUSD’s funding request after the school board adopted a resolution at a special meeting on Dec. 9 putting it back on the ballot. I’m eager to see if the hundreds of MUSD employees and thousands of parents who didn’t vote in November let the opportunity pass them by again March 9.

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