John Little: My Commitment to Education and the City

Dear Scottsdale Educators and Education Advocates:

There are many reasons to love Scottsdale.  At the top of this list is our city’s renowned school system, which boasts the nation’s most passionate and dedicated education professionals.

I have always believed that a community’s success in both the short and long term depends on its schools.  In the next few years, we must grow our population and attract more families to Scottsdale.  There is no greater enticement to a municipality than a high-performing education system with high graduation rates and low teacher attrition rates.

As a lifelong proponent of Scottsdale schools, my commitment to these institutions extends far beyond this, or any, political campaign cycle.  This is personal.  Scottsdale Unified School District has played an integral role in my life and in the lives of my family members.  My children and my wife are graduates of SUSD schools.  My mother-in-law taught in SUSD schools for decades.  Without fail, I have supported every bond election and have voted in support of every override to improve aging school infrastructure and pay for operational costs and new technology.  While serving on the Board of the Scottsdale Education Foundation, I sought to create a community endowment for the purpose of ensuring that each and every SUSD high school senior who wants to continue his or her education can overcome financial barriers, and thereby could attend any Maricopa County Community College at no cost.

Two years ago, I became the first candidate for political office in our city’s history to propose adding an Education element that would enable lifelong learning for our residents to the Scottsdale General Plan.  This innovative measure would ensure that Scottsdale is not only a great place to live, work, and play, but also a marvelous place to learn.  Through my work as the Co-Chair of the Education and Workforce Subcommittee on the Scottsdale Coalition of Today & Tomorrow, I have forged strong, meaningful connections with SUSD – teachers, staff, administrators, and Board Members.  With your help we can continue sharing our stories of dedicated teachers and their great work in guiding Scottsdale’s youngest residents.

Let’s work together to make the next four years the best four years in history for Scottsdale’s teachers, education professionals and our students.

Please visit www.johnlittlescottsdale2020.com  to learn more about how we can, and will, make this happen.

Sincerely,
John Little
Candidate for Scottsdale City Council