Don’t miss the show Wednesday, February 25, 2015 at 1 PM.
City council is holding another one of its special meetings.
The only item on the agenda is:
We deserve better
Brutus
Charter school funding
February 24, 2016Dori Fenenbock sent this in relating to our recent post Texans For Education Reform. She evidently got it from an official at EPISD.
That assertion is wrong. All public education institutions in Texas, including charters, are funded using a combination of Weighted Average Daily Attendance (WADA) credits applied to a set of per student formulas as determined by state law. The money comes from a variety of sources of which property taxes is just one element.
To say that school districts that tax get a net gain to charters is a fundamental misunderstanding of how the system works.
In fact charters are funded at the state average of all traditional schools on a per student (WADA) basis which includes property rich districts. As a result charters are funded better on a per student basis than any of the traditional school districts in our immediate area because all of them are in the property poor category.
The amount of money a public school, including charters, gets is driven by a formula of which property taxes is one element. The formula used for charters excludes property taxes but captures the benefit of those taxes because of the averaging mechanism used by the state for charters. That averaging provided to charters results in a benefit over property poor districts like EPISD.
If the blogger doesn’t understand that then he doesn’t understand how the system works. It appears that he’s picked out one element used in the funding system and has used it out of context of how the overall system works to make a point that is fundamentally incorrect.
Hope this helps.
We deserve better
Brutus
6 Comments | 
El Paso Independent School District | 
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Posted by Brutus
Not responsible
February 23, 2016Helen Marshall sent us this:
Headline on the EPTimes Saturday
City Manager Blames Staff.
Strangely enough, he echoes Niland’s approach – “it’s not our fault! It’s HIS fault!” “If something is wrong, it’s not MY fault!”
4 Comments | City government, El Paso Times | Permalink
Posted by Brutus
No private discussions during open meetings
February 22, 2016Things might get better.
The Tuesday, February 23, 2016 city council meeting has this agenda item on it:
Discussion and action regarding amending City Council rules of order to prohibit the use of personal electronic devices during the City Council meetings and executive session, banning using any private and/personal electronic device such as computers, cell phones, tablets, and/or any other electronic devices during Mayor City Council meeting and executive session; to include but not limited to ban from texting, tweeting, emailing, blogging, Facebook, Instagram, and/or all social media platforms posting and/or and communication with each other, with individuals or groups attending the meeting, and with individuals and groups anywhere in the world.
Even with the mangled English this looks like a really good thing.
They should also ban passing notes between each other.
Open meetings should be transparent.
Our thanks to representatives Robinson, Acosta, and Noe for placing this item on the agenda.
We deserve better
Brutus
5 Comments | City government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus
Shining the light
February 21, 2016It looks like our new west side city representative is trying to help us with the city’s transparency problems.
He has placed these two items on the Monday, February 22, 2016 city council work session agenda.
Discussion and action authorizing free public parking zones along Main St., Campbell St., and Mills St. during City Council Regular Meetings, Special Meetings, Advisory Board/Commission Meetings, and during normal City business hours.
Discussion and action directing City Manager to post video of City Council Regular Meetings, Special Meetings, and Advisory Board/Commission Meetings to YouTube.
Our thanks go to Mr. Svarzbein.
Brutus
2 Comments | City government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus
elpasospeak 
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