Well, they did it.
They raised the taxes even though over 300 residents in standing room only conditions were there to show their objections. They raised the taxes even though people called and called and called with their objections. They raised the rate even though Dan Patrick was there to speak against it.
They did it because it was “for the children.”
Let’s see some of the reasoning:
“I want this board to do what’s right for kids in this district. What’s right for kids in the district now is to raise taxes,” school board President Don Ryan said.
Hmmm. Interesting. What if mom and dad can’t afford to live in their home anymore because they have been taxed out? I guess that would be “good” wouldn’t it?
Board members — as well as several audience members — said the district has an obligation to balance its budget and maintain the quality of education that sets Cy-Fair apart from some of its neighbors. Strong schools are why many people move to the area, they said.
This is true. I live literally blocks away from the School Board offices on Jones Road. We moved to Cy Fair initially because it was a good District. The Board does have an obligation to balance its budget; try making some cuts (that’s what we would do).
“We’ve tried very hard to hold down our taxes, and we’ve made a lot of cuts,” Associate Superintendent George Hobson said.
Oh wait, you have made cuts. Make more.
Several school trustees said they were disappointed that the vote had become so political.
“The worst thing we can do for this school district is to undermine education,” board member Al Martinez Jr. said. “The quickest way you can undermine education is to put partisan politics in.”
Well good lord, Al, when you talk about raising people’s taxes, it becomes political! It’s that simple.
Cy-Fair Superintendent David Anthony said he asked for the tax increase to cover a $10 million deficit remaining after his administration already made $14 million in cuts and “cost avoidances” this year.
School board member Bob Covey said balancing the budget is the right thing to do.
Agreed; balancing the budget is the right thing to do. But balancing it on the back of taxpayers already stretched thin isn’t exactly the right thing to do.
“If we don’t educate these kids with the best education we can give them … in five to ten years you’re going to have to be taking care of them … because they’re either going to be in prisons or they’re going to be non-productive citizens,” Covey said.
Blah, blah, blah….. Not listening. Not relevant to the argument. You mean to tell me without the extra tax money Cy Fair would not be educating children? You mean Cy Fair would get rid of all of the teachers and keep everyone else? Very smart administrators….
School Board President Don Ryan said the move was unavoidable and that there’s nothing more important than ensuring the education of children.
“I’ve got three kids in here. Y’all have kids in here, and this board and this district have been prudent with the money and has done everything they can to benefit the kids,” Ryan said
Not exactly true. Let me say first, “ensuring the education of children” is probably most important. But, the board and district have not been exactly “prudent”.
Behold the massive money sucking boondoggle behemoth that is The Barry Center.
Behold it’s glory:
Behold the goodness that is $80 million to build and more than $35K to operate utilities in August. It is so huge and magnificent that during the construction, it was named the “Project of the Month” by Texas Construction.
By the way, kind of hard to deny it when it is so darn Texas Sized-BIG and you were there:
Local mainstream media has reported on it as well as the controversy surrounding it.
To characterize yourselves as “prudent” is to stretch the meaning of the word especially when you have to borrow $20 million to meet payroll as reported back in March 2006.
That’s right, they borrowed $20 mil to pay the teachers and everyone else.
Could you do that? What if you went to the bank and asked for a cool 20 mil for payroll, what do you think would happen? I think they would be suggesting you cut budgets immediately and give you the names of Bankruptcy attorneys. Keep in mind, Cy-Fair Superintendent David Anthony thought he was doing great because they made $14 million in cuts and “cost avoidances”.
I don’t have an accounting degree, but I can see there is a problem with these numbers.
Cy-Fair is keeping property taxes low compared to many other school districts, the administration said. The CFISD is the third-largest school district in Texas, surpassed in size only by Houston ISD and Dallas ISD, with enrollment that surpassed 92,000 this month.
I really don’t care what the tax structure is for other districts; I don’t live there. I live in Cy Fair. My 3 kids go to Cy-Fair schools. We budget our money dependant on our obligations, not someone else’s in another District. It’s nice that we have “lower” obligations than another family in another District, but again, not relevant.
Some Republican activists said they would organize to “vote out” board members who approved the hike, but trustee John Ogletree said he doesn’t care. “You go about your threats and misinformation, and I want to tell you I’m going to go about doing what’s best for the citizens and the students and the parents of Cy-Fair ISD,” Olgletree said.
Dan Patrick may have said it best:
“These folks are going to be turning out (at the voting polls) because you’re driving them out of their homes,” Patrick told the board, drawing a standing ovation from the crowd.
One audience member shouted: “You can’t live in a stadium.”
Actually on second thought, the heckler said it best.
Extras:
Cy Fair ISD Web Site
Cy Fair ISD Board of Directors
Cy Fair ISD budget
David Anthony defends the Berry Center
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33 Responses to “Cy Fair ISD Raises Tax Rate”Search
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the sad thing is these people have just signed their job termination and do not realize it yet. This will end up costing them several bond elections as well as some of them their board positions.
The people should consider themselves lucky that the school district didn’t decide to make a dome stadium with a retractable roof. Or maybe its in the next bond issue.
Announcement to all… I am proud to say that the board of directors of the MUD District that I reside are planning to vote on the 18th to lower our tax rate from 1.09 to .99 per 100 of valuation. I am proud to say that we will be continuing a plan that has seen the rate come down by .26 in the past 6 years, and yes I am on that BOD and am proud of it.
“If we don’t educate these kids with the best education we can give them … in five to ten years you’re going to have to be taking care of them … because they’re either going to be in prisons or they’re going to be non-productive citizens,” Covey said.”
Your children are being sacrificed on the altar of public education. And the school system wants more of your money to build bigger altars. That’s why my husband and I chose to homeschool, more than twenty years ago. Just think, if you only do as badly as the public school system, you’ll be a success. Chances are, you’d do much, much better.
Good summary. I’m currently doing an analysis of the Berry Center based on information provided by CFISD through an open records request. (by the way, the staff was very helpful - seriously - in walking me through this process.)
From April to Sept 28th, the cost to operate the Berry Center (less revenue received from renting it out) has been $497,430.02 (I’ll post the documents on Cy-Fair Citizens once I can scan everything to PDF)
That’s a half a million dollars in operating costs (not including debt repayment) just to have a place to hold district events that would not fit in the administration building on Jones Road.
Because it’s for the children.
Enough complaining! Back to work peasants!
Makes me think of Ben Hur, the Galley scene:
Quintus Arrius: Now listen to me, all of you. You are all condemned men. We keep you alive to serve this ship. So row well, and live.
Quintus Arrius: Your eyes are full of hate, forty-one. That’s good. Hate keeps a man alive. It gives him strength.
I’m not sure if the district borrowing money to meet payroll is some type of spin. It may be a matter of timing. I think that they buy and sell bonds a lot based on when tax revenues come in. And they have 79 million in surplus that is supposed to cover a month’s operating costs. Someone needs to dig into this further to see what the truth is.
#5 - Don: I think this analysis would be tremendously beneficial in putting the Berry Center into black and white numbers. I have heard more rhetoric (from both sides) than I can stand on that project, and I have been waiting for someone to actually put pen to paper (or fingers to keys, as it were) to put some real numbers on this deal.
I’m willing to give the district the benefit of the doubt with respect to Berry; BUT, I demand to see a demonstration that, financially, the benefits of third-party use can defray to some significant level) the additional cost associated with what would have been needed to support district growth alone.
Looking forward to your conclusions.
#8 - I’ve added an Excel summary that I put together, using the numbers from the information given to me by CFISD. (I received print outs, so I will need to scan and upload the detail data) I also received a list of district events held at the Berry Center. I’m attempting to quantify what was spent so I can do a cost/benefit analysis.
This is a work in progress, so infer what you will from these numbers. Information is on the CyFair Citizens website.
#5/7: as a follow-up, and please excuse the remedial nature of the question, but what exactly does “65% of the money to the classroom” mean?
Specifically, what is considered “in the classroom”? Teacher’s salaries? Textbooks? Desks/Chairs? Computers/other amenities? The physical school building itself? Debt service? O&M / utility requirements for the school?
I hear this phrase bandied about early and often and, frankly, with not a lot of background to explain the intent, and I would like to understand better what is meant by this.
I appreciate whatever clarification and insight folks can provide.
Is there a provision for recall elections in Texas law? In the state I grew up, there was an absolute right (at that time anyway) for citizens who could collect enough signatures, to hold a recall election to immediately terminate an officer holder’s service. Sort of a grass-roots impeachment provision.
I am sick of the loose spending habits of CyFair school district. I have lived in this district for 20 plus years, paying higher and higher school taxes, while my daughter went to private schools.
If you look at the number of properties paying property taxes verses the number of students, then take the cost per student (use national average) you will see why CyFair can afford to build temples to themselves.
It ought to be a crime!
Vote these high spending creeps out!
#10 There are several articles on the web, here’s one http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/083106dntex65percent.325e707.html There is a summary of what counts/doesn’t count at the bottom.
CFISD passed out handouts in last week’s Thursday meeting with their FIRST (financial integrity reporting ???) results. I think CFISD says they spend about 64% in the classroom
Where’s the stuff about the CyFair ISD Board members not having an increase in their appraisals since 2003?
I linked to the budget and noticed that it is 9% larger this year than last, more if you consider that this year there is no more Katrina money pouring in from the Feebs. The published budgets of these school districts is a joke. There is no detail at all. In the district I live in I requested a detailed general ledger which gives amount written and to whom (with the exception of employees salaries). To really see the waste, this is what you need to request. My district has one high school with around 675 students, 1 jr hi, and 2 elementary schools. Yet if I printed out this general ledger it would be around 2000 pages. Imagine how large it would be in a district as large as Cy-Fair.
Re: The Berry Center. You forgot the pictures of the locker rooms under the stadium with the closed circuit TV’s in them……or maybe they thought no one would tell anyone about them!
Wow. The Berry Center. That is so insane. I’m old enough to remember sweating in an East Texas classroom without A/C, with school prayer, and with pine boards to remind us we never had it so good! And that was just 35 years ago. We’ve come a long way, baby! The wrong way in my opinion.
If I ran my peronal finances like Cy-Fair ran their school budget, I would lose my car, my house, my business, my marriage, my friends, my self-respect, my future, and my dog. Not necessarily in that order.
Voters in the Cy-Fair district know what needs to be done.
My bet is the board members will be shocked when they are given their walking papers. They have no clue of reality.
To my eyes, the Berry Center looks like a boondoggle. This kind of overspending is NOT necessary to a quality education!
Heard on KSEV yesterday that these board members, as well as other municipal, county, etc. employees actually go to seminars showing them how to raise taxes. Funny why they don’t teach them how to budget or cut spending. 9% increase a year isn’t enough, they have to raise it 13%. Remember school board elections take place in the spring. For the ones coming up for reelection, vote ‘em all out. Ogletree is the consumate big spender, big taxer — never saw an increase he didn’t like. He has basically challenged the voters to take him out! Who the heck does he represent anyway? If voters have no homes, how is that good for the children? All someone has to do to beat these board members is to point out the Berry Center boondoggle. It is for the children, my butt. 70% of all income is spent on administration with 30% spent on education, despite what the “official” website says. Vote ‘em all out when their time comes.
If I had it my way, all public schools would be cinderblock rectangles. There wouldn’t be any over the top architecture wasting taxpayers money. There would be one floor plan for elementary, middle and high schools. Every public school building in the country would look the same - bare bones. That way, nobody would be discriminated against with regard to something that doesn’t add one bit to the quality of education. The taxpayers would only be on the hook for the public school EDUCATION. All extra-curricular activities, including athletics would be a “user pays” system. In my world, free public education is not a right guaranteed by anybody - it is a PRIVILEGE. Free lunches, breakfasts and transportation would disappear. In my world, that would fall back to the parents. I would actually have expectations of people! OK, my fantasy is over.
These board members are kissing someones a$$ and/or totally misinformed by the higher ups. I am a teacher in the great Cy-Fair district. It’s obvious to almost any classroom teacher I know that this district wastes money like they will never run out of it. Hell, the Berry Center is just the most noticeable. As far as educating the kids, ask the well informed board how many kids are being passed through the system so the teachers can avoid being harassed. The public has no idea how screwed up our education system has become.
I heard Dan was at the meeting.
1)Does he live in the district?
2)Will he represent these people in the legislature?
Sign me up. These people need to be voted out. We need to set up a network (e-mail) of interested voters to keep track of these bureaucrats.
I would have missed that last (eventually canceled) school bond election if not for KSEV. They really tried to sneak that one under the radar. After KSEV announced the plot, I went to early vote and listeners literally overwhelmed their little sneak polling room at the community college. I got my flyer announcing the bond election 4 days after early voting closed. No accident there! I think they would have lost that one had they not cancelled, but we all know they do a good job of hiding these things and that is why some of us need other means of being alerted.
These are sneaky people. They flat-out lied to me when I called in to complain about the tax increase. “Did your appraisal go up? No. “Then you are not getting a tax increase”. Flat-out lied! Why would any of us want someone working for them that will lie to you?
I hear these board members haven’t seen an appraisal increase since 2002. Well check out the city council. I could only find one that has seen an increase in the last 5 years shown on HCAD.
Must be nice; raise your taxes, but not theirs.
Network! We need a network!
Greg
GJ
I’m ready for a network. I personally know one of the board members. I voted for him because I thought he was conservative and would not raise taxes. Little did I know that his taxes haven’t increased in 3 years! There are 5 board members whose appraisals have not increased out of 7! I am ashamed I voted for this guy and will vote against him in the next election. Why can’t we just clone bweldon and place him on all the school district boards?
All them Goobers standing out there with feet on shovels and a grins on their mugs and dark clouds rollin’ in behind them had me thinking of a line from Clint Eastwoods movie, “The Unforgiven”, when Morgan Freeman states, “Don’t look now but we’ve got a storm ridin’ up our ass.” Hope a voter storm blows all these idiots out to sea.
Read the board members bio. It just makes you sick! These are people of the community. People we know! Yet, given the chance, they will raise your taxes without THEM paying the same increased taxes. This is pitiful. Albert, you are a disgrace for voting for this tax increase. Once elected, you went along to get along. I will personally see that you, as a board member, are replaced, if I have to run myself. Too bad being a board member went to your head. The same with the other bored members!
Yellowdogdem - I gotta call you on this one. Senate district 7 covers MOST of Cy-Fair ISD, so Dan will be representing these folks. You should really research your outlandish claims before you make them.
/going back into hiding now
#27 & #28 4Alarm & Neo: Glad to see others getting as fed up as me with this hooey.
You both are right! Vote ‘em out!!
Look what happened in Friendswood………it’s the only thing these self-serving sponges understand!!
Is anyone paying attention to the Community College District Election: Here we go again, everyone all now talking about how we’d wished we had not elected these “dogs” and that they go to the fancy schools (seminars) to learn how to raise taxes the “stealth way” and yet we have another election right under our noses with a 1/4 BILLION DOLLAR bond issue.
Sure I like the college next to the Berry Edification Center….. but at what cost and could it have been done for a little less? What is it’s light bill with all of that glass?
So are we going to take a page from Clayton Williams: ….”just lay back and enjoy it…” or are we going to do something about it?
What have the incumbents in this college election been doing? Who else is running and what is their track record? One is a totally unknown, One has a lot of history here and it looks like there are a lot of questions about it… a lot!. The other one is also unknown around here but has some experience. I am going to check them all out, as we just don’t need another “dog pile here.”
It looks like Cy-Fair has a history, as recited above, of saying “conservative” and electing some “liberal” educrat that is doing it for the “children” …. just as these stupid fools were taught in “board member training camp” while they were whisked away in fleeing limos on some drunk trip out of town…..
Reminds me of a weight loss meeting or an “AA” meeting where “we are never at fault, as the bottle made me drink, and the food just forced it way down my big fat mouth.”
Yep and the college election looks like it’s a typical Friday night in good ole’ Cy-Fair….
And by the time the next school board election rolls around all will be forgotten and forgiven. Look at the history, as it fortells the future, without fail!
I live a mile or two down the road from this little fantasyland.
A while back they had some kind of function and traffic was backed up past 529/BarkerCypress intersection.
Someone had his/her head up their backside building this with only one access road.
How many thousand can be seated in each stadium? Now tell me how many parking spaces they put in. (maybe they plan on using the College parking.)
Can we please get a look at the lobby guys who sell all these ideas? Don’t Architects and construction people have enough work? They must travel around to each taxing entity to get work. Why not eliminate sports from school? They’re being taught PORK 101.