Community College failure

July 23, 2016

It appears that the El Paso Community College District may be  violating a state law relating to the posting of meeting materials.

Sec. 551.1282. GOVERNING BOARD OF JUNIOR COLLEGE DISTRICT: INTERNET POSTING OF MEETING MATERIALS AND BROADCAST OF OPEN MEETING.

(a) This section applies only to the governing board of a junior college district with a total student enrollment of more than 20,000 in any semester of the preceding academic year.

(b) A governing board to which this section applies, for any regularly scheduled meeting of the governing board for which notice is required under this chapter, shall:

(1) post as early as practicable in advance of the meeting on the Internet website of the district any written agenda and related supplemental written materials provided by the district to the board members for the members’ use during the meeting;

If you go to their website you will see that they post their agendas but do not post any backup material.

We deserve better

Brutus

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EPISD bond issue–valueless property

July 22, 2016

As A DOSE OF REALITY pointed out the other day the district is not asking its facilities advisory committee to consider the cost of closing schools.

The EPISD school board has not made final decisions but it is considering asking the voters for a $500-700 million bond program that among other things would allow them to consolidate schools that they feel don’t have enough students.

Thirteen elementary schools are being considered for closure.

Those thirteen properties have value.  The presentations that have been given to their facilities advisory committee do not address what the district will do with the closed schools.  Mothballing the schools will cost money.  No mention is made of mothballing.  Tearing down the schools will cost money.  No mention is made of demolition costs.

They could sell the schools to developers.  They could sell the schools to charter schools.  They could place central office functions in some of the facilities.  Many possibilities exist.

Those properties are worth money.  No mention is made in the district’s plans of using the proceeds of the sale of the closed schools to lower the bond.

Evidently that’s extra money that they don’t want us to think about.

We deserve better

Brutus

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Did they give him another bonus?

July 21, 2016

In One more time? we pointed out that our county hospital board considered the 2016 performance goals and objectives of our soon to be ex hospital administrator.

They went into executive session, came out and then voted to approve something.  We say something because they did not discuss anything in the public session.  Evidently they made decisions and came up with an item in executive session.

That does not work well with the Texas Open Meetings Act.  All of the board’s actions including decisions  are required by law to be made in view of the public.

We concluded the article with the statement that we would have to wait for the meeting minutes to be published before we would know anything.

Still a mystery

The minutes of that meeting are out.  They read:

19.  Discuss and take appropriate action regarding the 2016 Performance Goals and Objectives of Mr.  James N. Valenti, President and Chief Executive Officer of the El Paso County Hospital District, pursuant to Texas Government Code §551.074.

ACTION:  MOTION to approve this item was made by Mr. Volk and Seconded by Mr. Anderson.  The vote was Mr. Anderson, Yes, Mr. Volk, Yes, Mr. DeGroat, Yes, Mr. Gallardo, Yes, and Ms. Arrieta, Yes.  Motion Carried.

Huh?

All we know is that they went into executive session, came up with an item, came out of executive session, and then approved the item.

What does the item say or do?

Beats me.

We deserve better

Brutus

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EPISD bonds–she’s at it again

July 20, 2016

Look at this chart from the June 29, 2016 presentation to the EPISD facilities advisory committee:

EPISD-tax base assumptions

We can all understand that forecasting is more difficult when looking out long periods than short.

Why then could the district’s new deputy superintendent of finance and operations tell us what she thinks the taxable value of properties in the district will be in 2046 but not what enrollment will be?

The chart shows a steady decline in average daily attendance at the district up through 2022.  Average daily attendance is important because it is the primary source of revenue for the district.

How can she tell us with a straight face that attendance will magically stabilize six years from now in 2022 and that we will see no further declines?

Her numbers show a further 10% decline in attendance in the next 10 years.

Maybe we should be saving our money instead of buying luxuries.

We deserve better

Brutus

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EPISD bond–transportation costs

July 19, 2016

The June 29, 2016 presentation to the facilities advisory committee at EPISD contained this slide:

episdconsolidation

They are considering the closure of these elementary schools:

Alta Vista

Beall

Bond

Bonham

Burnet

Collins

Crosby

Fannin

Jefferson

Kohlberg

Rivera

Roberts

Schuster

That’s thirteen elementary schools by my count.  Let’s assume that the consultants are right and that the schools need to be closed.

In that case a lot of students are going to have to travel further to get to school.

As I recall Texas requires the district to provide bus transportation for all children that live two miles or more from their assigned school.

We see nothing in the financial workups that show the increased cost in busses, drivers, and fuel.

We deserve better

Brutus

 

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