From an EPISD report:
In addition to the 2016 bond funds described above, EPISD has transferred available 2007 Bond Funds for Andress High School ($10.2M) and Irvin High School ($25.6M) into Jacobs’ management scope of work in order to maximize the effectiveness of those dollars in a cohesive plan for each of those campuses.
Most of us realize that we are in the year 2018. The bond money being transferred was approved by the voters in 2007.
Eleven years later they are thinking of doing something with it.
Many of us think that maximizing effectiveness of the 2007 money would have meant using it sooner or not asking for it in the first place.
We deserve better
Brutus
elpasospeak 
We paid interest on that 2007 bond money with our tax dollars. EPISD Bean counters had the audacity to tell us those funds were invested and earning interest. What they didn’t want to tell us is we paid higher interest than we made. Must be that new math they are teaching.
And all the while facilities deteriorated to point where we needed to pass an even larger bond issue to fix what they failed to maintain in the first place. On countless occasions they showed picture after picture of truly deplorable conditions our children were being subjected to. We needed to pass the bond, it was “for the kids”!
And still, today, over a decade later, we have 10’s of millions of dollars in unspent money. Why wasn’t it spent to replace those broken toilets, fix those air conditioners…
Who got fired for that negligence? Anyone? Bueller?
What was one of the first expenditures out of the latest bond issue? A big fat bonus to the Superintendant who knew we had all that money stashed away, who failed to use it to fix the problems, but instead invested in lavish out of town trips, flying first class.
Maybe if we took some of that money and invested it to educate our voters we would ‘get better’.
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Anonymous says: I think the bonus you are speaking of was given in Jan of 2017 and it was over $45,000. It was not bond money but local taxpayer funds that had not been budgeted. He then was given the 4% raise the teachers got which I think was almost $14,000 more. He is listed as the 7th highest paid superintendent in Texas is a joke. His benefits dwarf other superintendents. One of them is a cash stipend of $2,500 a month for employee benefits, which I don’t think anyone knows what it is for and it is not even counted as salary.
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Ummm…you can’t use bond money for bonuses or travel.
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Three card monte…
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Let’s not forget the last penny swap election was going to increase available maintenance funds. Yet maintenance was used to justify superbond last year.
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Insanity is continuing to do the same thing over and over again, making the same mistakes time and time again, and expecting to see a different result.
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Sure – giving to their friends at whatever consulting/management firm. They wonder why charter schools are thriving…
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Let’s get some facts straight. That money was originally earmarked for a new HS in NE. That project was scrapped (as it should have been) when the NE master plan never panned out as planned. The BRAC numbers didn’t affect the NE like Ft. Bliss thought it would so building a new HS in the NE would have been irresponsible. If built that HS would be sitting there with about 900 students, leaving Andress also at around 900. The Bond Advisory committee of that project stated that the monies allocated to that project MUST stay in the NE. Many NE elementary schools received Multi-purpose rooms form that change. Also, some monies went to the new Irvin project (further supported by the latest bond). The remaining money was to go to Andress for the fine arts building. The delays were not the fault of EPISD. The delays were due to Andress supposedly being located in a flood zone. That designation caused YEARS in delays. The new Fine Arts building scheduled for Andress is not part of the current bond but from the previous bond (after years of delays by other governmental entities). Bond money can only be used for Brick and Mortor projects and cannot and are not used to provide the Superintendent with a bonus. You can say what you want about EPISD spending but you are wrong on this one.
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You’re right. I agree. There are plenty of things they’ve screwed up, so there’s no need to invent one. But make no mistake. They’ve screwed up a lot and wasted a lot of money due to mismanagement. No matter where the money comes from, Cabrera is grossly overpaid and his perks are egregious and an insult to hardworking taxpayers as is his claim that he has one of the hardest jobs in America. Those are the straight facts.
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And , apparently, you don’t use it to fix the shit that you said needed fixing when you asked for the bond over a decade ago! It becomes a contingency fund in case they need it something more important than “the kids”!
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