Spending vs. results

June 11, 2013

Now let’s look at how the money spent per pupil and SAT score results chalk up.

CAMPUS SPENDING PER PUPIL %ECONOMICALLY Average SAT
Riverside Hs $8,557 87.1 750
J M Hanks Hs $8,086 67.7 823
Anthony H S $7,926 100.0 934
Fabens H S $7,899 90.2 849
Irvin H S $7,463 86.9 881
San Elizario H S $7,234 90.0 851
Bowie H S $7,173 96.4 826
Parkland Hs $7,169 76.3 774
Clint H S $7,152 78.5 831
Jefferson H S $6,864 90.3 865
Ysleta Hs $6,800 87.9 739
El Paso H S $6,671 74.4 909
Andress H S $6,658 61.6 818
Mountain View H S $6,295 90.6 842
Horizon H S $6,259 93.8 846
Del Valle Hs $6,235 88.2 789
Burges H S $6,120 70.1 976
Eastwood Hs $5,979 58.4 874
Austin H S $5,689 80.6 877
El Dorado H S $5,662 69.6 858
Bel Air Hs $5,648 79.7 809
Silva Health Magnet $5,633 53.4 1034
Tornillo H S $5,588 93.5 801
Americas H S $5,514 58.3 876
Chapin H S $5,467 61.0 954
Canutillo H S $5,442 71.2 833
Socorro H S $5,440 85.7 856
Montwood H S $5,422 55.9 883
Franklin H S $5,416 38.7 979
Coronado H S $4,997 41.9 1007

What is going on at Ysleta?  Jefferson scores 126 points higher on the SAT than Ysleta and spends only 1% more.

If poor kids do worse on SAT scores how can Burges score 102 points higher than Eastwood?

Look at your school on the chart.  Find another one that is close in the spending category or in the disadvantaged category.  How do their test scores compare?

Then we have Franklin that has fewer poor kids than Coronado, gets 10% more money and yet scores below Coronado.

We’ve got some schools where we are spending a lot of money and not seeing the results.

We deserve better

Brutus

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

Desperate Times

June 10, 2013

I would be embarrassed.  It is one thing for an error to creep into a reporter’s article in a newspaper.  Editorials however reflect on senior management at the paper.  To have an error in an editorial, much less multiple errors, tells us a lot about the quality of their product.

The El Paso Times edition of Sunday, June 9, 2013 either shows how desperate they are or how little they really care about facts.  This is a link to the editorial.

Let’s not discuss their opinion at the moment.  Let’s discuss why we might even consider listening to them.

Major mistake

The Times wrote “And that’s why it’s important that Steve Ortega be elected major”.  Major?  After a few years would he be able to appoint himself Emporer?  Then again maybe he should join the army.

Feral spending

Later in the editorial the Times incredibly  states that the voters of El Paso granted “approval for more than $700,000 million in quality of life projects…”.  I hope not much more.

The number they used equates to $700 billion dollars.  Those kind of numbers used to only be thrown about by the government in Washington DC — you know, the feral goverment.

The incredible shrinking budget

The editorial page writer for the Times put the number at $700,000 in an article on the same page that day.  That’s might be enough to build a new press box for the Times.

We heard you the first time

The Times previously endorsed their candidate.  Now they devote over 95% of their editorial page to trying to help the same candidate.

With friends like that who needs an opponent?

Muckraker

2 Comments | City government, El Paso Times, Federal Government | Permalink
Posted by Muckraker

Buying a lie

June 9, 2013

Next week’s city council agenda has a flurry of purchasing items on it.  I guess council has been busy watching the management team disintegrate.

The Information Technology department seldom takes items out to bid.  They prefer to use buy boards.

Item 6A proposes spending $425,583.73 for various security devices (cameras, locks, and things like that).  The backup material points out that “The City has made the determination that purchasing from this cooperative offers the most cost-effective pricing”.

Horse feathers!

The backup material actually lists the items to be purchased as well as the prices.  The second item on the list is a Model 5200 electric strike.  The city is willing to pay $124.43 for each one of these.  A quick internet search showed a supplier willing to sell the items for $92.25.  The next item on the list is a Model 9500 surface strike.  The city proposes to pay $417.00 each.  They are available on the internet for $313.00.

Another camera on the list is an AXC-0515-001 that the city is prepared to pay $727.17 each for.  The first one I found on the internet was for sale for $649.00.

Safe landing

Then another item proposes to spend $1,000,000 over a four year period with an out of town company for “Airport Financial and Planning Services”.  Pricing was not part of the evaluation.

We deserve better

Brutus

1 Comment | City government, Purchasing, State Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Getting out of Dodge

June 8, 2013

Well folks, it’s J.W. Dance time.

Our City Manager sees the writing on the wall and even her quintet will be shocked when they find out how broke the City is. Oscar must have some inkling but until he’s in office and can get the financials, we(he)doesn’t know how bad it is.
The CFO whose estimates have had one thing in common and that is they are more than 25% of what are the estimated final figures. The cost of the implosion City Hall, the Move, the Stadium, the Streets and on and on, are at most, as they finally admitted, guesstimates. As one noble Pol put it, you’ll know when we finish. Trust us.
Brutus estimates 1 billion, which is twice our yearly budget. Anyway you cut it, if you lease it, borrow it, you still have to pay it back with interest. (What was that show, “so you want to think like a fifth grader or something like that?”).
So get ready for the “exit dance ala Jimmy Durante”.
style: Exit, Stage left!
Let’s have it:
step-kick step-kick,
shaking straw hat in right hand,
cane under left arm,
singing,

Hello Fort Meyers, Good-bye El Paso.

4 Comments | City government | Permalink
Posted by M.T. Cicero

No show

June 8, 2013

I heard some talk about the Times not covering the Tuscon Padres AAA baseball team results so I thought I would go look for myself.

League attendance

Team Yesterday Total Openings Average
Tucson Padres 4,139 67,921 28 2,426
Tacoma Rainiers 0 86,911 24 3,621
Reno Aces 0 119,692 27 4,433
Omaha Storm Chasers 0 96,627 21 4,601
Nashville Sounds 8,161 138,325 30 4,611
Colorado Springs Sky Sox 5,505 112,299 24 4,679
New Orleans Zephyrs 6,898 132,061 27 4,891
Iowa Cubs 0 116,330 22 5,288
Salt Lake Bees 0 143,788 27 5,325
Oklahoma City RedHawks 0 136,248 25 5,450
Las Vegas 51s 8,015 152,754 28 5,456
Memphis Redbirds 6,274 174,547 26 6,713
Fresno Grizzlies 0 194,848 28 6,959
Albuquerque Isotopes 0 188,001 27 6,963
Round Rock Express 0 205,510 28 7,340
Sacramento River Cats 10,167 236,270 31 7,622
 
The team is moving to El Paso next year.  I guess the good news is that there is a lot of room for improvement.
By contrast the AA San Antonio Missions trail the Texas league with an average attendance of 4,002.  A 2012 El Paso Inc. article told us that average attendance last year was 3,696 for the El Paso Diablos.  The Diablos are  an independent team.  They are not AAA, or AA, or even A.  They are categorized outside of  minor league baseball. 
El Paso loves a winner.  I hope that we support the team.  If we cannot improve the attendance numbers this whole ball park deal will get even worse.
We deserve better
Brutus

7 Comments | El Paso Times | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

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