Conflict of interest

August 15, 2016

Recently two people who pleaded guilty to conspiracy in the EPISD mess have had their feral sentencing delayed until next year.

Why?

According to a Times article the answer is “because the trial of six other ex-administrators charged in the EPISD cheating scheme has been delayed until February”.  Under their plea agreements they may be called to testify at that trial.

Huh?

Shouldn’t their sentence be determined based upon what they did, not what they will do at someone else’s trial?

Many of us see this for what it is.

What would you call it?

We deserve better

Brutus

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

EPISD bonds–why all at once?

August 11, 2016

EPISD’s new chief financial officer recently told us that the proposed bonds would not impact our school taxes all at once.

According to an article in the Times she told us that the bonds would be issued in three phases.

If that is the case why don’t they ask for the money for the first phase, prove to us that they can handle our money and then ask for the next phase?

Why do we need to approve money that they admit that they cannot spend before they are ready for it?

Could it be that things are going to get worse at the district and they want us to commit before we know the truth?

We deserve better

Brutus

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

EPISD bonds–the Times

August 9, 2016

The Times printed another one of it’s government service announcements the other day.  The article was about the bond election that EPISD is considering.

The reporter told us  that “State dollars finance school districts’ daily operations but construction is financed through bonds, which are paid for by property taxes”.

Firstly, I would enjoy meeting a property tax in person.  Bonds are paid for by tax payers through their property taxes.

If somehow we could be convinced that construction can only be paid for with bonds, that leaves a question about why the upcoming bond request will include requests for money for busses, laptops, and remodeling.

Granted that I am not an educator, but I have to wonder about the wisdom of buying laptops at all, much less with borrowed money.  Most people that I talk with tell me that they have switched over to tablets.

We deserve better

Brutus

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

EPISD bonds–financing laptops

August 6, 2016

We received this note the other day:

The approved projects also include student and teacher laptops totaling $6,565,000.

This is ridiculous—it’s like buying paper

Somebody must already have the bid on laptops!

Bond money should be spent on things that LAST

Laptops should be in the regular annual budget

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

EPISD bonds–running away from failure

August 4, 2016

A friend helped me to crystalize my thinking about what may be the largest problem with the EPISD bond approach.

The district tells us that they need money to close some schools and expand others so that the students from the closed schools have a place to learn.  Student enrollment in the district has been shrinking and we are told that a large part of the problem is that homeowners are moving to the perimeters of the city and thus to different school districts.

Run away

The district’s solution is to run away from the problem instead of fixing one of the fundamental reasons for the moves.

Those of us who are, or who have been, parents of school age children know that one of the prime considerations in buying a house is the quality of the school that the children will attend.   Some of us know younger parents who at one time lived in older neighborhoods and then moved into newer neighborhoods just as their children started to attend school.  They moved because of their perception that the educational opportunities in the newer neighborhoods were better than in the old.

Unfortunately these younger parents were right.

Instead of investing in existing schools to see to it that they are up to standard the district has decided to run away from them.

It’s not the shiny building

As the students from Chapin told the district’s facilities advisory committee the other day, they are more concerned about having better programs and teachers than they are better buildings.

Our housing authority is fighting to provide low cost housing for those that need it.  One of their methods is to see to it that they build facilities where the existing infrastructure of the neighborhood can support their housing.

Race to the bottom

The path that the district is on will lead to more and more declines in student enrollment.  They need to fix our existing schools and encourage in-fill activity.  We will see the benefits in many ways as we need fewer new fire stations, police, and other public facilities.

We deserve better

Brutus

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

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