Under performing schools

December 20, 2016

This came in anonymously:

Here’s some data that EPISD must be glad came out AFTER the bond election…

http://www.elpasoproud.com/news/local/el-paso-news/tea-releases-list-of-underperforming-schools/619655255

And, this list will just increaseas every dollar poured into everything in the world that has nothing to actually do with learning or teaching continues apace in EPISD. Fully suspect ANYTHING that carries the buzzwords: “21st Century Learning” or “Innovation”…

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The list shows 16 EPISD schools that are under performing according to the state.

  • Bassett Middle
  • Bowie HS
  • Burnet Elementary
  • Canyon Hills Middle
  • Charles Middle
  • Guillen Middle
  • Henderson Middle
  • Irvin HS
  • Lee Elementary
  • Lincoln Middle
  • Magoffin Middle
  • Morehead Middle
  • Rusk Elementary
  • Schuster Elementary
  • Stanton Elementary
  • Terrace Hills Middle

Ysleta has two.

  • Riverside Middle
  • Ysleta Middle

Socorro has two.

  • Desert Wind Elementary
  • Ernesto Serna School

We deserve better

Brutus

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

The more we pay the less the state pays

December 15, 2016

This came in from Tim Holt:

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

EPISD tablets

December 14, 2016

The Wizard sent this in:

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

State funding of public schools

December 6, 2016

This came in from Mr. Tim Holt:

https://www.texastribune.org/2016/10/24/analysis-high-property-taxes-start-austin-not-scho/

The article explains much about the way schools are financed in Texas.

We deserve better

Brutus

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

A tax increase for the refinery?

December 3, 2016

Dan Wever brings up an interesting point:

Something I do not understand.  Looking through some old records I have, I found that the EPISD paid Western Refining Company  $5,432,688.29 in June of 2013.  This was a payment that a lawsuit Western Refining won required the EPISD to pay back taxes that had been collected for them.    I tried to find out the whole story in the newspapers but only found that is 2014 the company was evaluated at 1.8 billion and the company said that this was way out of line and was suing again.  Then last week we were told the company had been sold for 6.4 Billion. 
I wonder just how much tax money was lost because of the court and appraisal people’s inability to evaluate this company’s proper tax rate.   
All of the taxing entities should go back to court and try and get their millions of dollars back that they  had to repay since 2008.  Also, we should look at the payments to the Company in Austin that does this type of appraisal and try to get our money back, something like $340,000 a year. 
What am I missing on this deal?
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Western owned several refineries and many operations.  Tesoro paid $6.4 billion for more than just the El Paso Refinery.  The deal undoubtedly also included compensation for future profits.
I doubt that any of the taxing entities will be able to re-open the old lawsuit.  It has been settled.

That having been said we should hope that there is a way to look under the covers of this deal between two publicly traded companies.  The corporate lawyers and accountants have probably done a good job of combining the numbers so that it will be hard to tell what they valued the El Paso refinery at.  Then again they may have slipped up.

Any increase in taxable value of the refinery will probably only benefit the taxing entities in future years.

In A dollar here, a dollar there we wrote about a current school board member’s inability to do some simple arithmetic.  She had written that an increase in the refinery’s value from $280 million to over a billion dollars was “about a 200% increase”.

We deserve better

Brutus

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

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