Testing, testing 1,2,3

May 18, 2013

The Texas senate has passed a bill that would reduce the number of tests that a student would have to take to graduate high school from 15 to 5.

Good!

I don’t know how this would  affect the lower grades but I do know that we are spending too much time preparing for and taking tests.  Teachers that I know are virtual slaves to the testing regimen to the extent that they teach to the test, not to the subject.

In my time we took standardized tests, both the Iowa and California ones.  The results reflected on us as students.  The results reflected on our parents.  Poor results brought the parents to the schools to find out what was wrong.  Was the child incapable?  Was the child not diligent?  Was the teacher not doing the proper job?

The families got involved and did not leave it up to our state government to see that the student progressed.

Now unfortunately we seem to have a nanny state where our government is acting to replace parenting.

Let the free market handle this.  A poorly educated student yields a low paid employee.  Parents used to recognize this.  Students were told this over and over.

Give the students a helping hand, not a push.

Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty

Cato

3 Comments | El Paso Independent School District, Federal Government, State Government | Permalink
Posted by Cato

A little help from the Times

May 17, 2013

We are hearing a lot of discussion around town about the Times’ using their editorial policy to slant what they publish.

Maybe suggesting news stories that they could publish would help.

My first suggestion would be a story about how city council is considering ordinances next Tuesday, May 21, 2013 to rezone over 1,100 acres of essentially residential property that was developed decades ago.  It seems that they want to change these areas to SCZ zoning (smart code zone).

You may agree that this would be a good idea or then again you might not.  Either way rezoning thousands of residences without public debate is shameful.  It is typical of this city council.

The article could point out that the items have been postponed twice, probably to consider them only after the election.  One current city council member who could not run again instead chose to run for the EPISD school board.  I can’t help but wonder what the residents of her school board district would have done had they known that she was advocating changing the rules on their property.

Muckraker

4 Comments | City government, El Paso Independent School District, El Paso Times | Permalink
Posted by Muckraker

Appraisal uprisal

May 17, 2013

Commercial property owners in town have just received their new valuations from the Central Appraisal District.

Many have seen increases of 200 to 240% from last year to this.  If all property in the area went up by the same percentage our individual taxes would remain essentially flat.

Unfortunately that will not be the case.  The district seems to have a policy of raising values indiscriminately and waiting for the property owner to protest.  We know that they do not actually do an appraisal.  They simply place a value on the property with the hope that it will hold.  If you keep quiet you lose.

I have heard many horror stories from property owners who went to the district to protest valuations themselves.  If you have never been through this be prepared for an incredibly unfair journey.  Staff will set you up for failure at your hearing.  When you are at the hearing and learn what you should have done to prepare you will be told that you have already had your chance.  Better luck next time.

You should protest.  You should be prepared.  Talk with someone who has been through the process successfully.

Another approach is to hire a firm that will handle the protest for you and charge you a percentage of the amount that they save you.  While I do not condemn those people who provide the service, think of the situation.  We have a government agency that is so hard to deal with that you have to hire representation.  I am not talking about complex legal or tax matters.  Every property owner knows that his property is worth and can prove it.

The district is run by a board that is made up of elected officials.  Shame on them.

Our alternative to higher taxes is to go to the district and protest.  If politeness does not work you should demand your rights as a citizen.  Remember the the review board that you will be presenting to is paid by the district.  What is worse is that the district gets to choose who stays on the board and who is let go.

Most of us don’t have a problem paying our fair share.  These people are thugs.

They need to hear from us in person.

We deserve better

Brutus

2 Comments | City government, County Government, El Paso Independent School District | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

$40 million conflict

May 14, 2013

I have written before about the conflict of interest the city chief financial officer will have if she votes on an item where the El Paso Independent School District (EPISD) and the city are both parties.

She has been appointed to the Texas Education Agency’s (TEA) board of managers for EPISD.

We won’t have to wait long for a test.  The EPISD board of managers meeting scheduled for this evening includes item 12 which has to do with leases between the airport and the district.

It seems that the district has been leasing a parcel of land from the airport since 1963.  The lease is about to expire.  The airport has determined that EPISD’s use of the land is “not in conformance with the proposed transition to the planned mixed land use”.  The result is that the airport is willing to give the district a 3 year extension and the district will have to move it’s administrative office complex.

If you read the board backup material you will see that more than one lease is involved.  The airport predicts that the rate “will probably increase the maximum allowed (10%)”.

Tear it down

At the end of the lease EPISD will be required to tear down the office buildings.  Sound familiar?

EPISD will also have to build a new facility.  The cost?

$35-40 million!

I hope that she recuses herself on this matter.

Even if she does, it does not explain why the city is prepared to take $34-40 million dollars of taxpayer money that could otherwise be spent on educating the children.

We deserve better

Brutus

6 Comments | City government, El Paso Independent School District | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Numbers don’t lie, neither do voters

May 14, 2013

In my ongoing effort to help the city council woman who just got elected to the El Paso Independent School District Board of Trustees understand basic arithmetic I offer the following.

Before I do though let me reflect on the fact that the board is  longer independent, does not have my trust, and is currently a board in name only.  They are from El Paso, but they have nothing to do with our schools right now.  Other than that their title is accurate.

Our new trustee-elect saw her fellow councilman and  mayoral candidate come in a distant second in the polling.  Let’s call him the first runner up.  The first runner up got 22% of the vote.  The winner got 47% of the vote.  What is the percentage difference between the two?  Hint, the answer is not almost 200%.  I had to look up how to compute it.

First, find the difference.  It is 47 minus 22 or 25.

Then find the average.  It is 47 plus 22 (that is 69) divided by 2.  The answer being 34.5.  I left off the parenthesis for elementary clarity.

Now the percentage difference is the difference (step one) divided by the average (step two).  We have 22 divided by 34.5.  That gives us the answer of .7246.

We will skip the step where we multiply by 100, once again for simplicity.

The percentage difference between the winner and the first runner up was 72.46%.

Can you compute the percentage difference in your race?

More practice can be had here.

We deserve better

Brutus

2 Comments | City government, El Paso Independent School District | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

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