There was a time when the Times would help correct pieces that were published in their newspaper.
Recently they printed an “Editorial graphic” and left a few errors in it.
For the benefit of their staff:
booboo should be hyphenated
tax-payer should not be hyphenated
beaurocratic is properly spelled bureaucratic
Then again they may have left the errors in order to try to discredit the author.
We deserve better
Brutus
3 Comments | 
El Paso Times | 
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Posted by Brutus
Evidently the city and the contractor doing the work at San Jacinto Plaza have reached a settlement.
The result? We were lied to.
As the project drew on and on we were frequently told that the contractor was at fault and would be fined $1,000 a day for being late.
They settled for the original contract amount without late fees.
Other reputable bidders complained before the bid was awarded that the low bid was unrealistic–the project would end up costing more. City council ignored them.
Even more troubling is this statement by the city attorney: “The City received the benefit of the additional work but did not pay additional funds”.
The city received $500,000 of free work according to the contractor.
How can that be fair?
The city’s reputation for using its legion of lawyers to cheat vendors is only getting worse. Contractors bidding on the quality of life projects will take note and will add money to their bids to try to protect themselves.
We deserve better.
Brutus
8 Comments | City government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus
Three of our local state legislators recently came out in support of the EPISD bond issue. Our state senator was quoted in a Times article this way:
“We can’t count on, we can’t rely on, the state of Texas to help us.”
What we did not hear from them is “We will work hard to get the legislature to more fairly fund our local schools”.
It is evidently easier to lecture the voters than it is to represent them.
Their solution to the local school finance problem involves taking more money out of our pockets.
Many of us would suggest that the district do a better job of managing its expenses.
It is clear that our children need to be educated. Our local school administrators should focus on putting more of the money that they already have from us in the classroom and eliminating the wasted spending.
We deserve better
Brutus
9 Comments | El Paso Independent School District, State Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus
Dan Wever provided us with this report. He tells us that the numbers are taken directly from the Texas Education Agency web site.
The numbers are alarming.
While statewide a slightly higher percentage of students are passing the STAAR English I test, many of our EPISD schools are showing declining percentages of passing students.
According to the report the list below shows the percentage of students that failed the test in the spring of 2016:
Bowie 69 Jefferson 64 Austin 62 Irvin 62 Andress 55 Burges 47 Chapin 36 Franklin 34 El Paso 33 Coronado 26
Can anyone explain these numbers?
We deserve better
Brutus
4 Comments | El Paso Independent School District | Permalink
Posted by Brutus
A regular reader sent in this note:
Oddly enough, the district and the unions aren’t openly discussing the TEA’s released test results. Dan Wever should be able to shed some light on this quite soon. Perhaps the results make the recent expenditures on these “innovative” programs and initiatives a waste of money. The media sure isn’t making inquiries as well.
Time to put our children first, and stop making money off of them.
5 Comments | El Paso Independent School District | Permalink
Posted by Brutus
elpasospeak 
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