Vick: MUSD not in ‘do-or-die’ situation

I am writing in response to Mr. Potter's rebuttal of my original article regarding the issues facing Maricopa Unified School District.

It is wonderful to hear MUSD has been improving.

I still have one child who attends Desert Winds Middle School. He goes there because he is successful at that school. His grades are being kept up, his AIMS scores are high as well and he is already making plans for college. I am sure that many other parents have some success stories as well.

However, rest assured that if MUSD fails to meet our needs, I have no qualms about moving my son to any of the several options available for education in Maricopa. Those options include MUSD, K12.com, Sequoia, Legacy, outside districts and other online options. While the viewpoint that we need a strong school district here to attract people to our community is a valid one, it should not be the main motivation for supporting the override. It is disconcerting that so many people measure prospective communities’ public education more heavily than they weigh all the options that a community has available. However, that is not the taxpayer's problem.

We have somewhat of a free market here in Arizona when it comes to a child's education. It is a great thing that we have so many choices for our children. However, the one choice that costs the most also performs lower than some of their “competitors.” In a truly free market, such a poor business model would be doomed to failure except for the fact governments can simply force the taxpayer to sustain mediocrity.

I simply don't share your concern, Mr. Potter, as I know there are more choices in our city. You present it as a do-or-die situation when our options are readily available. Mr. Potter, you also propose the charter schools could not handle 6,000 students. This is a slippery-slope argument that if the override failed, that somehow the demand for alternative schooling would extend to all 6,000 students in short order. The reality of the situation is that as demand for charter schools and other options arises, the free market would likely respond as more charter school districts would expand into Maricopa to meet those demands.

In the end, Maricopans are sick of the high taxes we pay here. That is the elephant in the room.