On July 14, 2010, the Maricopa Unified School District (MUSD) Governing Board approved a resolution to try and pass the Maintenance and Operations (M & O) Override again. This will be the third time in 12 months that the MUSD has asked the voters to approve a tax override. The Governing Board was considering four possible override amounts: 5%, 6.67%, 10%, and 15%.

This is not a new tax, and won't add any more tax burden. It is a continuation of the tax override voters approved in 2005. Before the Board meeting, Superintendent Kleck explained what the override would be used for. Kleck said, "We need to reduce classroom size throughout the district. Forty students is way too many students for one teacher to have in a classroom, and believe me, there will be some huge class sizes in the elementary schools. But if we could get the number down to 30 or even 25, then you would see a big difference in the quality of teaching. Teachers would have time to teach, and explain the concepts of their subject. They could take the students that were having difficulty with the subject, and give them more individual attention. Also, if we pass the tax override, we could keep from doing further cuts. That is what we will do if the voters pass the override."

But what about the one percent that was added to the sales tax that the voters recently approved? Isn’t that going to help MUSD? Kleck responded, "Yes, it will, but even with that added money, we still had to cut 5 million dollars from our budget, and if the override doesn't pass, we will have to cut another million. The one cent sales tax kept us from cutting 7 million more additional dollars from our budget, and it kept us from making other cuts, even cutting more teachers."

Finally, the last item on the agenda came up. It was a motion to approve to adopt the resolution ordering/calling a budget override election for November 2, 2010. MUSD Business Manager Aron Rausch presented the four different proposals. "A 5% override that will provide $1,450,000 a year; a 6.67 % override will provide $1,934,000 a year; a 10 % override will provide $2,900,000 a year, and a 15% override will provide $4,500,000 a year. The current M & O Override is $2,000,000 and a tax rate of $0.41, which equates to $41 per year on a house that has a $100,000
assessed valuation. If we want to compare ourselves to the surrounding districts, we just have to provide the same services."

Several Governing Board members expressed different opinions. Governing Board President Geoff Goddard said, "I think people are tired, tired of us continually coming back to them and asking for more money." Governing Board member Carrie Vargas said, "What we are doing tonight is reasonable. The state sales tax has passed, and I think the people in Maricopa want to support education." Tim White said, "I think we should do what we told the voters we would do." Tracy Davis stated, "I think we should go with the tax rate that we had in 2005." Kleck summed up the override discussion. "This override is just continuing what Maricopa has been doing since it passed the first override in 2005. It is not a new tax; it just continues with the tax action that is in place. It is not a tax that can be used to build more buildings. That's what bonds are for. Override monies cannot be used to build any school buildings."

Finally, the board decided to go with the 6.67 % override, to provide $1,934,000, with an estimated tax rate of $0.8417 or $84.17 per year for a home that has an assessed value of $100,000. The vote was 4-1, with MUSD Board President Geoff Goddard voting against the measure.

Do you have an opinion about the 6.67% Override? Come to the next MUSD Governing Board meeting and make you thoughts known to the Board. There is a "Call To The Public" time, in the middle of the meeting, when anyone can speak to the Board members for three to five minutes. The next scheduled meeting will be Wednesday, August 11, at 6:00 P.M. in the Boardroom of. the District Administration Building, located at 44150 W. Maricopa-Casa Grande Highway. You can call (520) 568-5100 for more details.