School Budget Overrides (Sun City, Surprise, Sun City West: 2013, renting, school districts)

[KurtAZ]

Originally Posted by asufan

Now, I'm not dumping on Surprise, just offering an alternative as they voted down their overrides and seem to share his opinion. Of course, their High Schools rank 4/10 on greatschools.org not 9/10, so clearly a large percentage of the residents are apathetic regarding the schools. I agree with a post above that it is probably the retirees in Sun City Grand that are pinching pennies and vote these things down (maybe they should have saved a bit more in their working years).

I wouldn't think Sun City would have anything to do with the bonds...aren't they "property Tax exempt" or whatever due to them being over 55/no schools? Are they voting in the Surprise elections? That doesn't seem quite fair if they are voting down a bond when it means absolutely nothing to them financially?

[asufan]

Originally Posted by Burning Madolf

Fair enough.

About Dysart schools, remember it's not jut Surprise. And the SCG blaming is just ridiculous, they make up like 17k out of 130k and they're not all voters here. If families can't muster the energy to get off their arses and get involved, why should they?

Well, retirees in general not just SCG. There's oldsters peppered into all of those new communities in Surprise. Same as you would find in other fringe areas like San Tan Valley or Maricopa, they don't merely keep themselves wrangled up in the age restricted communities. These are people that likely moved here for a lower cost of living so anything that pops up that can take their money, they vote down. This is the "Vote NO" bumper sticker on the golf carts crowd

[asufan]

Originally Posted by KurtAZ

I wouldn't think Sun City would have anything to do with the bonds...aren't they "property Tax exempt" or whatever due to them being over 55/no schools? Are they voting in the Surprise elections? That doesn't seem quite fair if they are voting down a bond when it means absolutely nothing to them financially?

I believe they are not exempt being in Surprise, as opposed to those in the original Sun City or Sun City West which are not incorporated and do not fund schools.

[Burning Madolf]

Originally Posted by KurtAZ

I wouldn't think Sun City would have anything to do with the bonds...aren't they "property Tax exempt" or whatever due to them being over 55/no schools? Are they voting in the Surprise elections? That doesn't seem quite fair if they are voting down a bond when it means absolutely nothing to them financially?

SCG is 100% in (and a few SCW houses vote on Dysart issues) and they don't all vote in a giant no taxes block. They could easily be negated by involved "regular" voters if they bothered to participate.

[Burning Madolf]

Originally Posted by asufan

Well, retirees in general not just SCG. There's oldsters peppered into all of those new communities in Surprise. Same as you would find in other fringe areas like San Tan Valley or Maricopa, they don't merely keep themselves wrangled up in the age restricted communities. These are people that likely moved here for a lower cost of living so anything that pops up that can take their money, they vote down. This is the "Vote NO" bumper sticker on the golf carts crowd

Retirees that vote no could easily be overtaken by a combination of those that vote yes and families that not only cared enough about bonds but make involvement in education their highest priority.

[jnojr]

It's kind of interesting, and funny, to see how personally some people take this.

I'll continue to vote no on bonds. That's all I can do. If you like to dance around because someone voted and the vote didn't go their way, that makes you a pretty small person. Remember your pettiness the next time the vote doesn't go your way.

[asufan]

Originally Posted by jnojr

It's kind of interesting, and funny, to see how personally some people take this.

I'll continue to vote no on bonds. That's all I can do. If you like to dance around because someone voted and the vote didn't go their way, that makes you a pretty small person. Remember your pettiness the next time the vote doesn't go your way.

Of course you will, without even reading them to find out what they pay for. The fact that you blindly are promising a future of voting "no" on any bond that comes your way, is proof that you do not read them, do not care, and merely want/need to hold onto your money.

[Sno0909]

I'm in a tough position on this. My wife home schools my three children. I have absolutely no vested interest in public schools where I live. That being said, I tend to vote yes on bonds. The more money schools have, the higher they rank. It's pretty much been proven. That's why wealthier areas tend to overwhelmingly have better rated schools. This, in turn, increases property values. So, I guess voting yes gives me indirect benefits.

[MGS4EVER]

Originally Posted by pbenjamin

Bond elections are for capital projects, have nothing to do with anybody's salary.

Well it was over 40 years ago and I was just a kid. So not a bond, but it was something that was passed and my mom and the other school employees got nothing while the admins got nice raises.

[Finger Laker]

Something 40 years ago, an ancedote at that, is hardly relevant.

Especially after the hatchet taken to the education budget a decade ago and how we are still short to finding at that time.

Administrators are not the enemy. They make considerably less here than in other states and are when you consider the responsibilities and qualifications for these positions it is vital to have good options - they are already underpaid compared to other industries for the skills they bring