If ever there was an indicator of a family’s financial distress, it’s when their home’s value declines by 50%, but not their mortgage payment. During the housing crash, many families walked from their homes. Another indicator of personal financial distress is when, as occurred in Gilbert, there is a 10% default rate in property tax payments. Ten percent of homeowners did not, or could not, pay their property taxes.
As this article, Taxation Vexation:Phoenix-Area Home Values Went Down; Property Taxes Stayed Up, explains, homeowners who believed they would see a corresponding lowering of their property taxes got a jolt. Their taxes remained pretty much at the same level.
School Board
There is No Correlation between Spending and Performance. Vote NO to the Override
by Victor Petersen
Gilbert Town Council Member
Gilbert Public Schools Resident
While the issue before us is complex, I believe it boils down to one simple question: Are the voters getting the value for their school tax dollar that they should be?
Before the last time we voted against the override, we were told by those in favor there were no more efficiencies left to be realized. However, with our "no" vote, we saw not only a reduction in our taxes but also a reduction in class sizes.
Read moreGilbert Schools Receive Money from Multiple Sources, but they Want More. Vote NO to the Override.
by Julie Farnsworth
Gilbert Unified School District Parent
LD12 Precinct Committeeman
The 2012-2013 Gilbert school year operated on a $300 million plus budget. The school district operates with funding from multiple sources, including state tax dollars, federal tax dollars, primary property taxes, secondary bond monies, the current override, some corporate/private funding, plus additional fees collected from parents (e.g., fees for certain classes, sports, parking, etc.). Throughout the year, Gilbert Unified School District receives hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations and equipment, including laptop computers. Citizens also donate money every year which they can deduct from their state tax return in the form of a tax credit. The School District uses this money for curricular activities.
Please click the “Read More” link below for the rest of the story.
Technically Correct, Gilbert Schools Administration, but what are you hiding?
Gilbert Public Schools Board Member Julie Smith points out to Superintendent Dr. Jack Keegan, there is more funding of the schools than his presentation revealed.
Gilbert Schools Want Property Tax Override, yet Still Squanders Money
by Gilbert Fidler
"The Gilbert School District continues to ask for overrides while continuing to squander public tax dollars. Here are some examples:
Lack of oversight in vendor "no-bid" contracts.
Unreported donations to schools.
Monies "floating around" in schools with no oversight.
Bloated bureaucracy.
Please click the “Read More” link below for the rest of the story.
Read moreIntroducing Support Strong Schools: Get the Facts
Please visit the new website Support Strong Schools: Get the Facts for information about Voting NO to the Gilbert Unified School District’s 6.6% property tax override. The override election will be held on November 5, 2013. Early ballots will be mailed to Gilbert voters on October 10.
This special, off cycle election will cost Gilbert Public Schools taxpayers about $350,000.
Please click the “Read More” link below for the rest of the story.
Vote NO to Gilbert Schools Property Tax Override!
Harry Mathews of the Education Action Network has alerted me that the Gilbert Governing Board might be voting on a Tax Override tomorrow night. If you would like to speak out against it, I suggest you attend the meeting. The other option is to send the Governing Board an email as quickly as possible. Here is the email address: board@gilbertschools.net.
Here is a link to the agenda. It will likely be part of agenda item #8.01. That’s the one you are addressing: .
The conservatives on the school board have worked extremely hard on behalf of the students, parents, and teachers. They have repeatedly held staff accountable, and they have rolled up their sleeves and examined the budget far more than any board before them. They have rewarded teachers with Prop 301 money. Instead of passing out a salary increase to staff, they decreased class sizes!
Ken Robinson: How to Escape Education’s Death Valley
Sir Ken Robinson outlines 3 principles crucial for the human mind to flourish — and how current education culture works against them. In a funny, stirring talk he tells us how to get out of the educational "death valley" we now face, and how to nurture our youngest generations with a climate of possibility.
Will Parents Lose the Right to Send their Children to Kindergarten for Half a Day?
by Gilbert parent Janena Williams
Ms. Williams sent the following letter to the Gilbert Public Schools Governing Board on May 16, 2013
(GW Note: The Governing Board voted on May 16 to continue free All Day Kindergarten.)
I am writing regarding the controversy in the Gilbert School District over half-day vs. all day Kindergarten. I have been a resident of Gilbert for 10 years and have had three of my four children attend half-day Kindergarten here. My oldest child also attended half-day kindergarten in another state. I have been bothered by a lot of the policies and actions that have taken place over the last few years with the implementation of full-day Kindergarten at elementary schools throughout Gilbert.
My second child attended half day K at Mesquite Elementary and then all day K was started a year or two after that. At my children’s school, they did away with any half-day kindergarten classes after the first year. So, this meant that for my third child I needed to send her to another school within the district that still provided half-day K. This school was Spectrum Elementary that is about 6 miles from me. The district provided a bus for my daughter to take her to and from school each day. This was a full sized bus that picked up only 8 children. This seemed a large cost for the district. In my daughter’s after K class there were only one fourth of the kids that actually lived in Spectrum’s boundaries. Most of us were attending there because we really wanted half-day K.