EPISD trustee finds her job to be too hard

December 27, 2018

We now have an EPISD trustee leaving her job to take a new job working for our congresswoman elect.

According to an article in the Times the decision was a difficult one for her:

  • “This decision was made less difficult however by the increasing challenge that I have had getting questions answered and concerns addressed,” Byrd writes. “This lack of access to information has made it harder for me to effectively advocate for and communicate to my constituents.”

Really?  She had to work hard to do her job.  To me that is not a valid reason to consider quitting.

Reality

The end result is that she got a job that pays.  Let someone else fend for the children, their parents and the taxpayers even though she committed to do the job.

At this point we don’t know how much she will be paid but that information will be publicly available next year.

It appears that this gives the board of trustees the ability to choose her replacement, probably guaranteeing another vote for whatever they want to do.

We deserve better

Brutus

14 Comments | El Paso Independent School District | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Good schools

December 10, 2018

The Texas Education Agency 2018 school ratings have been published.

You can see them here.

EPISD’s highest graded middle school was Hornedo with a score of 91.  Charles Middle was scored at 89.

The El Paso Leadership Academy is a chartered middle school and they scored an 85.

They did that with no bond money.

Our congratulations to the students, faculty and staff at these schools.

This is better

Brutus

7 Comments | El Paso Independent School District | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Carpetbaggers running our local governments?

December 5, 2018

For some reason our public institutions have been hiring their senior managers from out of town the last few years.

Look at what that has gotten us at the city and EPISD.

Maybe we should start hiring people who live here and are committed to our community.

We deserve better

Brutus

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

A stand alone indoor waterpark

November 30, 2018

The water park portion of the Great Wolf deal is planned to occupy 86,138 square feet.

If someone wanted to build an indoor water park of that size and not build a hotel how much would it cost?

Let’s use one thousand dollars per square foot.  Industry reports actually put the number at $600 but let’s use the thousand dollar number so we can remove whether or not we have allocated enough money to the project.

This park would cost $86,138,000.

If the city and county were to contribute half of this amount the total cost to the public would be $43 million with the developer paying the rest.

We would then have a property that paid $2,763,495 to our local taxing authorities each year (roughly half of that would go to the schools).

Then the hundreds of thousands of tourists that the city claims will be attracted would stay in our existing hotels and we would get the hotel occupancy taxes as well as the sales taxes that the city and county have given away.

Even this $43 million dollar deal would be stupid but it sure would beat the $100 million deal we have been stuck with.

We deserve better

Brutus

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

EPISD–will they get caught?

November 21, 2018

EPISD has a real problem.

In EPISD–some real numbers we pointed out that taking ten cents out of the interest and sinking fund rate and giving it to the operations and maintenance fund would leave the district without enough money to make their bond payments.

The district failed to mention that to the voters.  The voters approved the move.

The district will have to add at least seventeen cents to our interest and sinking fund rate next year.  That will not trigger a rollback election because state law allows them to raise the rate up to fifty cents per hundred without being subject to a taxpayer rollback effort.

Without more money in the interest and sinking fund account the district will not be able to honor its obligation to the bond holders.  That could cause a bond default.

The district’s solution is shown in this document:

The document says “To make bond payments, there will be a transfer for the same amount from the GF (general fund, or operations and maintenance fund) to the DSF (debt service fund, or interest and sinking fund)”.

Texas attorney general

In July of 2017 the Texas attorney general wrote:

“Districts do not have authority to increase the maintenance and operations tax rate to create a surplus to pay debt service with maintenance and operations tax revenue”.

There you have it.

Their actions appear to be illegal.

We deserve better

Brutus

7 Comments | El Paso Independent School District, State Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

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