Few elections are more important to taxpayers in Texas than the local school board. Yet few people take the time to learn the issues or even to vote, allowing a very, very small percentage of the registered voters to control the direction of our children’s education.
Voters in the Katy ISD have an opportunity tomorrow night to meet the candidates for their board, ask questions and get a feel for the direction they want to take the district. The basic question is this: Should the incumbents be re-elected or should voters put in new faces and change the direction the district has been traveling?
Did you know that the Katy ISD has the highest tax rate of any district in Texas? That’s a fact. Did you know that their academic rating was dropped last year from Recognized status to Acceptable? That’s a fact.
Three members of CLOUT are running as a team to help change the direction that Katy ISD is taking. You can meet them and the other candidates at the forum tomorrow.
KPGT’s Annual School Board Candidate Forum
Thursday, April 24th at 7 pm
Cinco Ranch High School Cafeteria
The only requirement to attend is that you get up off the couch and go. Why not take your neighbor with you? Getting involved could save you money and improve the academics of the district. Which is more important? Marble tiled floors or higher teacher pay?
Here is what candidate Kameron Searle had to say about the current state of the school district:
Last year, Katy ISD fell from “Recognized” to merely “Academically Acceptable.” At the same time, Katy ISD taxpayers are paying the highest school property taxes in the State of Texas. I don’t think we’re getting our money’s worth.
Indeed.
18 Responses to “KATY ISD Candidate Forum Tomorrow”
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April 23rd, 2008 at 9:42 am
If i was in KISD I’d really be PISD.
April 23rd, 2008 at 9:44 am
“Few elections are more important to taxpayers in Texas than the local school board. Yet few people take the time to learn the issues or even to vote, allowing a very, very small percentage of the registered voters to control the direction of our children’s education.”
AMEN!
And that small percentage, more often than not, seems to believe the solution is always spend, spend, spend.
Guess what people you can have fancy, expensive football stadiums fit for the Houston Texans, you can have fancy, expensive high-tech schools, you can have all the bells and whistles in the world, you can give the teachers pay raise after pay raise but it still doesn’t change the fact that half the high school grads out there can barely read and write and it still doesn’t change the fact that we are falling behind the rest of the world in math and science.
We need emphasize the IMPORTANCE of education not the IMPORTANCE of the material objects associated with schools.
April 23rd, 2008 at 10:25 am
2. houstondem
You sould like a good Republican. Well said!
April 23rd, 2008 at 10:56 am
yea yea the ex superintendant lives down the street seems like a nice enough fellow.
they are just teaCHING TO TAKS FOLKS. its what the state wand feds want. did voting for least evils cause this?
April 23rd, 2008 at 10:57 am
oh his name is merril.
April 23rd, 2008 at 11:10 am
dowjones, actually they are teaching to the TEKS which are the State required standards for public education in each class. Then the TAKS is created using the TEKS as a basis. In fact, every question on the TAKS is notated as to which of the TEKS are being tested. The TAKS test and the TEKS are so tightly aligned that if a teacher did in fact teach to the TAKS, they would cover the entire State mandated curriculum. The problem is that teachers are not teaching to the TAKS, instead they are teaching to a subset of the TAKS.
April 23rd, 2008 at 11:26 am
6 my wife just taught along term sub here in Waller working with merril’s son who is principal at the school and she taught to take the taks test.
most teachers do not like it because they cannot have freedom like they use to so they could teach a subject until learned - like math. they are under such time constraints they have to go fast.
of course the little darlings parents help the kids learn as they go right? thats a bigfat yoke!!!
April 23rd, 2008 at 11:32 am
dowjones, I used to teach math and I can tell you the reason the schools are pushing to teach along the TEKS is that the Teachers were doing miserable when trying to create there own course outlines.
April 23rd, 2008 at 11:55 am
#2 Houstondem: We need (to) emphasize the IMPORTANCE of education not the IMPORTANCE of the material objects associated with schools.
******
Can I use that line? It makes infinite sense to me!
April 23rd, 2008 at 2:00 pm
I don’t know how they are performing academically, but they have one helluva football program, though.
April 23rd, 2008 at 3:48 pm
KISD did much better back in the day when we didn’t accept any Federal funds because accepting Federal dollars meant accepting Federal commodity food which meant serving chocolate milk to our kiddos, and one Trustee who was a dentist was dead set against that because of tooth decay.
Funny, I thought he was being ludicrous back then.
BTW, Houstondem, you keep posting like that, you’ll need to change your handle to HoustonREP. You’re making sense.
April 23rd, 2008 at 10:23 pm
Big Jolly,
You seem to be willfully posting misleading articles about the situation in Katy ISD in spite of having been corrected.
It is true that KISD has a high tax rate, but it is also true that KISD has had one of the highest growth rates in Texas and it is also true that KISD does not have the tax base per student that other districts have so the high tax does not establish that KISD is mismanaged in any way.
KISD’s rating drop from Recognized to Acceptable is due in part to rising state standards and the difficulty of coping with growth. KISD still does very well compared with other districts in the state. Cutting spending as suggested by this group will not help this situation in any way.
Maybe you or others are against taxpayer funding of public schools. If so, I wish you and others would just be honest. That is easier to accept than the numerous canards flying about which seem to be aimed at discrediting the KISD school board and administration for some political agenda.
Would it be possible for you to provide the proof for your implied charge that KISD schools have “marble-tiled” floors?
This link suggests that ceramic tile is used KISD schools.
http://www.katyisd.org/services/communications/fact_fiction_archive.htm#Tile
Teachers are the most expensive part of the budget. How can we have “higher teacher pay” while cutting spending which is the centerpiece of the campaign of this “conservative” trio?
I live in KISD and we have been dealing with this misinformation for the better part of two and one half years. You have stated that you do not even live here (yes, I know that your tax dollars come here in some form or fashion if you live in the USA). Is it too much to ask you to stop adding to the misinformation being spread by those with political agendas?
April 23rd, 2008 at 11:12 pm
Mr. Pogo
We have called for town hall meetings with Mr. Duhon (KISD School Board President) to discuss our serious financial situation in KISD. Prominent Taxpayers have asked to meet with Mr. Duhon to help give him direction on how to save money. Our “Watchdog” group have asked numerous times to meet and discuss where savings can be found. He has chosen an arrogant path of an ostrich. Duhon who once believed in term limits, now has decided to break his own philosophy. The Katy Citizens Watchdogs would be more than happy to meet with any school board member to disscuss fiscal restraint.
We have one member on the school board (Tom Law) that would like to bring this issue to the public. However, KISD is one of only two school districts in Texas to require three school trustees to place an issue on the agenda. This happened when C.L.O.U.T member Mr. Law was elected. Thanks to the liberal incumbents, Duhon, Snyder, and Crockett, the one conservative Mr. Law has been silenced.
Cutting open ended technology contracts, HD televisions in each classrooms, credit cards to administrators, junkets to Florida, San Antonio, California and Golf games at Horseshoe Bay would be a symbolic gesture to the taxpayer. Mr. Pogo, what did you spend on your last hotel room? Was it over $400 a night? Do you care if our board spent your money at a resort? Call me Mr. Pogo, I will meet you any time to explain how to save money, and increase the teacher’s salaries at the same time. We need change in KISD. In KISD our taxes are up, crime is up, teachers are quitting, and academics are down. We need Trustee’s that actually have children attending school in the district, and can see first hand our problems. Twenty-year incumbents are just wrong. We need change now more than ever.
April 24th, 2008 at 4:08 am
Mr. Muller,
Respectable bond ratings from Moodys and Standard and Poors, arrived at independently, reflect KISD’s financial stability.
The Katy Citizen Watchdogs and this “conservative” trio ought to talk about specific long-term measures to be taken to cut spending. Your group had this opportunity at the 2006 bond committee hearing, but your leadership provided only a regurgitation of personal information posted on the web, misinformation about costs and vague generalizations, leading to an unfortunate result for all. In the end it was a complete waste of over two hours. You could not even agree on a bond package that you could support after more than two months of meetings. I fail to see how you could accomplish much in a meeting with the school board. Moreover, I cannot see how a Board dominated by your group could accomplish much of anything useful for the students and people of KISD and this based on what you have done for the last two and one half years. Rather than arrogantly clamoring a personal meeting with the Board why not send them a long letter detailing the specific items that they can cut so that we can have significant tax cuts while not running yearly budget deficits due to lack of revenue to fund maintenance costs?
The technology contract has been modified in response to a technology audit. HD televisions are more cost effective than maintaining the soon to be obsolete (and difficult to repair) standard systems. Change is here. You need to get your head out of the sand.
Please provide more specifics of alleged abuses of taxpayer money. Assuming that your charge of $400/night hotel rooms is true, and this is a big assumption given your penchant for distortion, how can we be sure that the district was not reimbursed for any nonstandard charges?
You say that we can “save money, and increase the teacher’s salaries at the same time”, but getting you to provide specific financial information showing how this would work is proving to be very difficult. I am beginning to doubt that you and your “conservative” friends have any real solutions. Do you even support tax money going to public schools?
It is not absolutely necessary that a trustee have a child in the school district. This fact might enable them to be more objective in looking at the needs of all students in the district. What we do not need are trustees that have personal agendas (i.e. rezoning) that will detract from their service to the entire district.
So far your “conservative” trio has shown breathtaking ignorance of the challenges of ADA law, the proper use of portable buildings and the complexities of the state accountability system. The people of KISD cannot afford to elect them if we want to have a chance of maintaining some semblance of a respectable school district.
We need to reelect the incumbents who have shown that they can lead if we are going to have a chance of preserving academic achievement in Katy ISD.
April 24th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
Mr. Pogo Stick
There you go again. First of all, none of these three candidates are a member of the Katy ‘Watchdogs” However, they are members of CLOUT, and are all Republicans. They all have children attending KISD. Do you really have a problem with that? Can our incumbents say the same?
I have supported many bond elections in the past. In fact I have over $100,000 dollars of Katy Bonds in my portfolio. I was pleased to see Moodys and Standards Bond rating. I was very concerned that a sanctioned Pac took it upon themselves to provide a helicopter ride and other services to rating company reps.
As you know, our bond committees in KISD are stacked with special interest groups and with some who profit from passing bonds. You’re right those bond meetings were a waste of time. You see, we can agree on some things. We need to put the word “trust” back into trustee. We are headed the wrong direction in KISD, academics down, and taxes are up. We need to get rid of these career politicians. Twenty years is too long to be on a school board. One has to question motive. Maybe you should make youself public. Are you on the board now?
April 25th, 2008 at 12:04 am
Mr. Muller,
You have written that these three candidates are members of CLOUT which I think stands for “Citizens Lowering Our Unfair Taxes”. Exactly why do they think the taxes that support KISD are “unfair”? Do you know? Why do you think the taxes are unfair? Do you think any taxes should be used to support public schools? Making money off of school bonds is not exactly equivalent to supporting public schools. You campaigned against the 2006 bond elections. Have you ever campaigned in favor of a KISD school bond authorization? Have you ever voted in favor of a KISD school bond authorization? I ask you again, what exactly would these candidates cut in the way of KISD services so that spending could be significantly reduced?
We have already heard that one of your “conservative” candidates would vote to eliminate a $1.5 million reading program. That is a drop in the bucket. Hardly enough to give raises to teachers, not to mention lowering our “unfair” taxes.
Would they cut athletics?
Another of your candidates complained as you have about the use of bond funds that are in excess of the estimated bond project costs. He seems to think that the district should know exactly what a particular project will cost up to 2-5 years before the project is put out for bids. Would he be happier if the bond projects cost more than what was estimated? Does he have a question about how the excess funds were used? Does he oppose using the excess funds for needed repairs? I guess he doesn’t understand the process.
Another of your candidates wants to fire the district architect which goes to show that she has no clue what the architect does in the way of planning for buildings, representing KISD on planning commissions, helping to keep costs as low as possible and generally ensuring that KISD gets a fair shake. She has no use for a demographer since the demographer cannot tell her to a student how many students KISD will have enrolled in any given year. She apparently has no appreciation of how demographic projections are utilized in school planning.
Your candidates seem to advocate a plan to rezone students every year to ensure that no school is ever under capacity. This shows that they know next to nothing about the educational, economic and political aspects of rezoning.
You and your shortsighted candidates want KISD to keep flat screen televisions which are soon to be the equivalent of eight-track players. How can you and your candidates advocate for such a fiscally irresponsible plan?
And then we have Kameron who misreads KISD’s 2007 accountability ratings to incorrectly conclude that KISD’s overall TAKS performance was worse in 2007 than 2006. It was actually better.
I would think that you would be grateful that a PAC (a group of concerned citizens) took it upon themselves to facilitate the process by which KISD’s bond rating was upgraded. The actions of these patriotic citizens will keep the KISD debt lower than it otherwise would be. Would you have preferred to contribute the money yourself? It is not enough for you to try to cut funding to KISD. It seems you need to criticize those who try to help KISD in any way.
I think that it is good (but not sufficient) that prospective board members have the experience of having children in KISD. At any rate, all of the incumbents have had students attend KISD schools so this issue does not distinguish the “conservative” trio from the well seasoned incumbents who have demonstrated competence as board members.
From what I can tell our bond committees in KISD are stacked with people from all walks of life who all stand to profit if KISD succeeds in its mission to give students the best educational opportunities possible. There is no shame in this fact. By and large, the bond committee meetings appeared to be very useful. KISD staff were asked tough questions and they answered those questions. It was the presentation of your group that was a waste of time because your watchdog leadership was so unprepared. If you had come in with some semblance of a plan demonstrating that you valued the time of your fellow citizens and the school administration, then the session may not have degenerated as it did, but you had absolutely no plan. Based upon their performance thus far, I expect nothing more from your “conservative” trio.
Why do you think I am on the board (I am not.)? Could it be that you can see that I know what is going on?
The incumbent board members are public servants in the trues sense of the word and we should not replace them with politicians who are either grossly misinformed or deliberately trying to mislead.
We need to vote for the incumbents in this election if we value the preservation of the educational opportunities offered to students in KISD.
April 30th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
Mr. Stick
Why do you liberals call everyone a liar that disagrees with you? You obviously are someone who derives part of their family income from trough of never ending funds of the taxpayer. This is only the third time that we have candidates running that bring up issues. In the past we had clones that ran because they agreed with the incumbents. You are an insider; get Mr. Fraliey to release the Staff and budget audit that was due April 1. Some of the issues Searle, Blackman and Sanders expound are in there.
I bet Duhon has seen it. Duhon needs to take a chill pill. Crockett has lost focus and Snyder has political skeletons. By the way, can you get trustee Fox to back down from her rhetoric with our Katy Sports guys? I know she is a motivational speaker, but her words hurt. However, she have motivated a new group to vote.
May 9th, 2008 at 8:28 am
Mr. Muller,
Why do you call anyone who disagrees with you a liberal?
Why do you call anyone who tries to get you to acknowledge the facts an insider?
Why do you continually distort the facts for political gain?
All I am asking is that you tell the truth. You know very well that Trustee Fox and KISD support the youth football leagues and you should have known better to advise your candidates against doing something that could endanger the 501c3 status of the youth football league. Do you now understand why the baseball field renovations had to be ADA compliant (you opposed this work because of the cost and claimed without evidence that it could be done for less)?
I am sure that Mr. Frailey will release the staff budget audit when it is complete.
As is the habit with your group, Mary McGarr has misrepresented the facts on another post which is now apparently closed to other comments. She tried to compare Plano ISD with Katy ISD. I will take back anything that I write if you can give me the facts to disprove what I am writing, but you and your group continue to try to mislead people and you never ever corrected (except once or twice that I can remember) your misstatements in three years. Here is what I would have posted there if allowed.
Ms. McGarr,
Your comparison of Plano ISD to Katy ISD does not support your conclusions because Plano ISD has been a large district far longer than KISD making Plano ISD more of a big brother to KISD than an “archrival”. Moreover, the educational attainment of the parents of Plano ISD students was higher than the educational attainment of the parents of KISD students as of the 2000 census when 36% of Plano ISD residents over 25 had a bachelors compared to 29% for KISD and 18.2% of Plano ISD residents over 25 had graduate degrees compared to 11.8% for KISD. Here are the links.
http://gis1.tlc.state.tx.us/Sf3ISD/K-N/Katy.Pdf
http://gis1.tlc.state.tx.us/Sf3ISD/O-S/Plano.Pdf
These figures also support the argument that KISD has seen massive growth since the 2000 census while the Plano enrollment appears to have been relatively stable.
Let’s throw out the TAKS since you have declared it worthless. Please be sure to tell this so-called “conservative” trio to stop using the TAKS scores to cast aspersions on the accomplishments of KISD students and teachers for political gain. I do not like the TAKS either, but if you want to go to achievement tests, then talk with your legislator because the school board cannot change TAKS.
The higher educational attainment of Plano ISD parents compared with KISD parents explains the higher percentage of G/T participation (more parents pushing) and the higher ACT and SAT scores of Plano ISD students.
The reports you cited also show that only 18.7% of the students in Plano ISD are considered economically disadvantaged compared to 24.3% of KISD students so KISD definitely has more challenges than Plano ISD in this area since we all know that economically disadvantaged students need more support to succeed.
These reports indicate that KISD has 762 more “auxiliary staff” than Plano ISD. Auxiliary staff includes bus drivers which are mostly part time employees. Katy ISD has an area of 181 square miles and is roughly 81% larger than Plano ISD (100 square miles) so the difference in auxiliary staff is now explained.
By the way you forgot to mention that KISD employs about half as many central administrators (44) as Plano ISD (80). You should laud KISD for having so few central administrators compared to Plano ISD.
The differences in salary for teachers would appear to be explained by experience as 42.5% of KISD teachers have over 11 years of experience versus 35.5% of Plano ISD teachers. The data is not available, but perhaps the same is true of the administrators.
If Plano ISD places 10% of its students in the GT program due to parental pressure and spends 3.4% of the budget on them while Katy places 5.8% of its students in the GT program and spends 2.6% of the budget on them then KISD is doing well in comparison to Plano ISD in regards to the proportion of money spent on GT students given that Plano ISD has chosen to put 1.8 as many students in the GT program as KISD.
Your quote on the athletic budgets is extremely disingenuous. You imply that KISD spends twice as much of its budget on athletics as Plano ISD when in fact KISD spends 1.7% to Plano ISD’s 1.3%. KISD spent about $400,000 more on athletics than Plano ISD according to the figures you cited. If you want to shut down KISD athletics just say so.
This campaign has been very nasty because this “conservative” trio has consistently misrepresented the facts concerning KISD’s finances including taxation per student, KISD’s crime rate and the academic achievement of KISD students. Your post is of a piece with the misinformation that has been spewed by this campaign and the Watchdog$ in the last few weeks.
I understand that people want to pay lower taxes, but that wish is no excuse for blatantly misrepresenting the truth and making false promises that the slate has no way of fulfilling.