a commentary on bond elections by CEO Julie McCarty
Who of you has a swimming pool? I wanted one my whole life, but I’d heard horror stories about all the maintenance and repair costs. We finally got to a place in life where we were comfortable with that expense, and we put in a pool 5 years ago with eyes wide open, knowing there would be hits to our budget.
When a school system tells you they have to charge you taxes to maintain a pool that’s falling apart, I can’t help but think, “Why was this not already anticipated and budgeted?” Oh, they’ll give me an earful about what funds can pay for what items, but the truth remains… you knew all along pools need work.
Let’s talk about technology. We’re told we must pay taxes to cover devices for students to use. These devices lose their life often before the debt (plus interest) is paid off. And we all know if something is given to a student “free” they don’t treat it with respect, so the lifespan is probably even shorter. When I was in college, I couldn’t afford a printer. Nobody gave me one. I went to the library and used theirs. Another argument is that we can’t compete with India IT students if we don’t provide devices. Guess what… we can’t even keep up with reading, writing, and arithmetic, and those don’t require devices. They require focus that American schools give to gay pride and saving the planet instead. And should I remind you that I lived in India? I worked with high school students in slums, in the middle class, and in the upper class. Slum kids don’t even go to school. Middle class kids go to school and study insane hours all day every day under incredible stress because they know it’s their only ticket out (and into America). Wealthy kids can do whatever they want. But the point is those middle class kids had the bare minimum at school… it would be considered lower class in the US… and still excelled. Technology is a nice-to-have, not a must have.
My school district, Grapevine-Colleyville ISD, has both of these issues on the ballot, plus 1 more, but that’s not why I’m writing. (We’ve had crappy board members for a long time and have only just recently taken over, so I don’t know how much is needed to clean up the inherited mess). I do know school boards across the state are seeking *billions* of dollars in Saturday’s bond elections. They’ll try to tell you it won’t affect your taxes. They are lying, 100%.
Most of these bloated, wasteful, poorly-thought-out bonds will pass because voters are just as short-sighted as the school boards and are incredibly naive to boot. I don’t know why I even bother trying to shed light on this. Carry on. I’m going swimming.