Queen Creek Unified School District, No. 95
Voting without knowing what's on your ballot is like lighting your money on fire.
What is the upcoming election about?
The Queen Creek Unified School District is asking to sell $98 Million dollars in bonds in addition to a 7 year, 15% Budget Override of $14 Million.
What are the significant dates for the election?
- If you aren't already registered to vote, the last day to register in order to be eligible to vote in this election is Tuesday, October 10th, 2023.
Check your voter registration status at ezaz.org/vote
- Ballots will be mailed on October 11, 2023. The last day to request early ballot October 27
- VOTED BALLOTS MUST BE RECEIVED NO LATER THAN 7 p.m., November 7th. MAIL ballots by October 31st.
Who can vote in this election?
All registered voters that reside in the Queen Creek Unified School District will receive a ballot by mail with voting instructions in the envelope.
What policies did Queen Creek Unified School District implement with my tax dollars?
- Has at least 1 teacher who has signed a pledge to teach Critical Race Theory (CRT) and all other social justice-oriented curriculum to children, regardless of the law or the wishes of parents. - SOURCE
- Critical Race Theory teaches that systemic racism is part of American society - from education and housing to employment and healthcare. - SOURCE
- Dedicated to implementing and teaching Social Emotional Learning - SOURCE
- CASEL, a leading organization for implementing SEL in schools, displays on their website a poster to illustrate what Social Emotional Learning is. “Social and emotional learning (SEL) is a process through which children and adults develop the fundamental skills for life effectiveness. We need SEL skills for ourselves, our relationships, and our work. In OUSD, we believe that strengthening these skills enhances our ability to effectively and ethically connect across race, class, culture, language, gender identity, sexual orientation, learning needs, and age.” - SOURCE
- SEL uses emotional responses to generate student attention to drive learning. - SOURCE
Aren’t Queen Creek Unified School District schools doing a good job?
- 92.83% Graduation Rate
- 54% of students are proficient or highly proficient at English Language Arts
- 52% of students are proficient or highly proficient at Math
Aren’t Queen Creek Unified School District Teachers underpaid?
Queen Creek Unified pays an average annual salary of $55,151 to teachers.
The average annual salary in Queen Creek is $62,000.
What are taxpayers in the Queen Creek Unified School District being asked?
Voters will be asked to say yes or no on two measures:
- The sale of $98 million in new bonds
- A 15% Budget Override
What are the current tax rates for the bond and override?
Not able to find the information for what the estimated tax is.
- Shows up on your tax bill as secondary property tax.
- Property taxes combined add up to thousands of dollars!
- To view your current property tax liability, visit https://treasurer.maricopa.gov/Parcel/ParcelSearch.aspx
Is Queen Creek Unified School District underfunded?
Queen Creek Unified spends $17,680 per student per year.
If the bond and override fail, how will my taxes be affected?
- Without passage of the override, the district will have to reduce the operational budget.
- Once any outstanding Bonds and Overrides are repaid, you won't have to continue paying Secondary property taxes related to the bond.
How has more funding impacted Queen Creek Unified School District?
Comparing to the 2018-2019 School Year Performance to the 2021-2022 School Year Performance
- Drop in Graduation Rate of 1.35%
- Nearly 19% Increase to the Drop Out Rate from 1.4% to 1.66%
- 10% Drop in Math Proficiency
- 2% Drop in English Proficiency
- Added 4,795 Students to Enrollment: from 7,736 to 12,531
- Reported Instances of Violence Increased from 19 to 52 [Nearly 3 Instances per every two school weeks]
- Total Students with Chronic Absenteeism Increased from 905 to 3,122 [Nearly 25% of Enrolled Students]
- Total Students Enrolled in at least one Advanced Placement Course Increased from 168 to 229
- Total Students Reported as Harassed or Bullied Increased from 0 to 3
School officials claim there will be no new taxes. Is this accurate?
- Once any outstanding Bonds and Overrides are repaid, you won't have to continue paying Secondary property taxes related to the bond.
- If the measure passes, the current Secondary tax rates will remain the same; however;
- If the measure passes, the total amount of taxes paid will likely go higher if there is continued inflation related to property values.
What is the difference between an override continuation and a bond election?
- Queen Creek Unified is legally allowed to call the override a continuation even though we will vote to approve it as if it is new.
- The $98 million in bonds is NOT a continuation and is a separate item on the property tax statement.
- Both items will be separate items on the ballot.
What does Queen Creek Unified School District intend to use the additional funds for?
Bond:
- Security Upgrades
- Expansions
- Renovations
- New Buses
- Other Improvements Override
- Fund Teacher Salaries
- Reduce Class Size
- Acedemic Offerings
I’m renting. Why should I care about this election?
- If the override and bond measures are defeated, your landlord’s taxes will go down and could mitigate future rent increases.
- Irrespective of being a property owner, we all want to see the kids receive a quality education.
- To view your current property tax liability, visit https://treasurer.maricopa.gov/Parcel/ParcelSearch.aspx
The information above may have been compiled from the following additional sources:
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Arizona School Report Cards (https://azreportcards.azed.gov/)
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Center Square Website (https://www.thecentersquare.com)
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Arizona Joint Legislative Budget Council (https://www.azjlbc.gov/)
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Arizona Auditor General (azauditor.gov)
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Zippia Website (zippia.com)
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Maricopa County Treasurer (https://treasurer.maricopa.gov/Parcel/TaxBill.aspx)
Please Note: EZAZ.org takes no position for or against the items on your ballot. Vote your conscience.