Vote YES on the override

I own a house in Maricopa, attend church in Maricopa and currently have a first grader at Legacy Traditional School.  I am writing to urge all Maricopa Voters to vote YES on the Maricopa Unified School District override. 

Even though it may raise my taxes, by less than a hundred dollars a year, and my son will receive no extra benefit from it, since he goes to a charter school and not MUSD,I still support the measure. 

I could use the argument about good schools raise the property value, or the scare tactic of “if it doesn’t pass, programs will be cut or teachers will be fired.”  However, that is not my reason.  I believe we as adults have a moral responsibility to fight for children who are unable to fight for themselves.  We received the opportunities of education in our lifetime and we have an obligation to pass that to our children. 

There is never a good time to raise taxes, but there is a right time and that time is now.  The state legislature has cut K-12 education the last couple of years, and with continuing budget problems there is little doubt it will continue to cut education in the near future, in order to balance the budget. 

AZ is continually in the bottom 5 of states in funding education. What message are we sending to businesses and others? Are we saying kids in other states are worth more than ours? Are we saying that we do not value education (or the future?)

That is not the message I want to send. Some may say “why can’t schools stay in their budget, I do.”  First, many of us have some debt, i.e. our mortgages, car loans, etc. Second, I would ask, “if the state keeps cutting the budgets of school districts, then how can they keep a balanced budget?” My answer: PASS the override! Maricopans need to say YES, we support our future. 

The choice is clear – we need to put others (the children) first and give up $9 a month. Most people spend more than that on coffee for a month. Aren’t our kids worth more than that? 

We need to let kids know that even when times were tough, we cared and did our best to support them. Please, join me and VOTE YES ON THE MUSD OVERRIDE NOV. 2. 

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