EPISD bond–2007 leftovers

September 15, 2016

The 2016 financial audit for EPISD has not been published yet.  Their fiscal year ended June 30, 2016 and it is reasonable to think that it will be a few weeks before it is published.

We do have the 2015 audit.  Remember that in 2007 the voters approved a $230 million bond issuance.  Among the projects that were approved was a new $49 million high school in northeast El Paso.  Subsequent school boards have decided not to build the high school and are spending the money on other projects.

The 2015 audit includes numbers for showing the bond balance eight years after the bonds were approved.  From the audit:

The 2008 Bond Capital Projects fund balance is $73.2 million and includes expenditures of $11.5 million at June 30, 2015.

Treble trouble

Even though they have not spent all of the money that they got in 2007 they are now asking us to approve another $670 million for more construction.  That is almost three times as much money as they were given in 2007 and have not been able to manage yet.

A future school board might have to work overtime to figure out how to spend the last of the $670 million a few years from now after their historically wrong projections have to be adjusted.

Slush fund

That’s what its called.

We deserve better

Brutus

 

 

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

EPISD staff leaving

September 14, 2016

We are hearing news of an exodus of senior officials from EPISD.

Some of them reported to the district’s new deputy superintendent–the one that was at the heart of the city’s financial misstatements.

Does anyone have specifics that can be shared?

We deserve better

Brutus

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

EPISD Bonds–teachers divided

September 13, 2016

It appears that one of our local teacher unions has endorsed the issuing of the school bonds.

According to an article in the Times their support comes with some self serving strings:

  1.  Savings from closing schools must be returned to teachers in salaries.
  2. Closed facilities cannot be sold to charter schools.
  3. The list of bond-funded projects cannot change.
  4. The Forma Group cannot be involved with the bond.

Evidently their vote will not be “all about the kids”.

Faint praise

The Times article did not tell us what the teacher vote tally was.  Instead it told us that a majority of the union members were in favor of selling the bonds–as long as their four conditions were met.

The article did not tell us that there was a formal vote.  Surely they would not issue their endorsement based on an informal poll taken by the union leaders, so let’s proceed thinking that there was a vote.

We don’t know how many of the teachers participated.

We also don’t know how many teachers voted no.  If the facilities that they teach in were truly in bad shape one would expect that the vote would have been nearly unanimous, not a simple majority of those that voted.

We deserve better

Brutus

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

EPISD superintendent certified

September 12, 2016

We’ve been asked about the status of the EPISD superintendent’s certification.

According to the district he has been certified.

https://www.episd.org/public_relations/news_detail.php?id=2324

I wonder if I could become a surgeon with the promise that I would earn the necessary qualifications sometime in the next three years.

Could it be that the entire certification process is just a way to keep the process incestuous?  Is he somehow more capable of doing the right thing for the students now that he is certified?  If so why was he allowed to serve before he was educated (or indoctrinated)?

We deserve better

Brutus

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

Ill spent funds

September 8, 2016

Our county hospital board has let us down again.

According to a recent article in the Times they paid $208,000 to a recruiting firm to perform the search for a new hospital administrator.

Comparing that amount with the $23,000 that the city paid when searching for a city manager or the $30,000 that EPISD paid looking for a superintendent makes the hospital board look like fools.

Even more damning is that the new hospital administrator that the board hired was working right here in El Paso and was the obvious choice.

Our county commissioners need to quit planning how to spend their astronomical pay raises and put some people on the hospital board that will get things under control.

Instead they recently appointed the city’s former chief financial officer to the board.   Remember what she did to us?

We deserve better

Brutus

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

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