I voted against the TRE.
However, the Star was a "no brainer". It was paid for by funds that could not be used for operations. The district needed a new stadium for 10 High Schools - Memorial and Toyota are the only 2 other stadiums. $30 million is cheap for the use of that stadium with no on-going maintenance fees. McKinney just passed approximately $60 million for their new stadium.
My reasons for voting against - I have lived there since 1995 and have an 8th grader who would have opened Memorial HS next year - were very similar to the reasons listed above. In addition, I do not believe the district has done everything they could to manage expenses. They knew what was coming for over 5 years now and their plan was this tax increase.
I say that because of the way the election was handled:
- in the summer instead of with the general election
- election sites at schools exclusively
- asked for max amount
- scare tactics if it didn't pass
For instance, the ISD floated the idea of "Participation Fees" for extracurricular activities, the amount mentioned was $300/activity. I contacted the ISD after the election to ask how many kids participate in extracurricular activities, how many in 2, how many in 3. I was told by a trustee and somebody in an official capacity that they did not know the answer to those questions and had no way of giving me a number without doing a substantial amount of work. Of course I asked, "How did you come up with the $300?" - no answer.
After the conversations I have had, it is my belief that the ISD will do everything they can to cut costs, hope the State improves funding, and then go back to the voters with a new TRE in 2018 for an amount less than the maximum.
In the mean time, they will be watching enrollment #s closely. Two years ago enrollment increased by 3000, last year, 3500, this year only 2500. In fact, this is the first year in over 20 that the incoming kindergarten class is smaller then the previous year's. They need to know if this is a blip or a trend. Have housing prices grown to the point that young families with young kids can't afford to move to Frisco? Will this cause growth to slow.
They were able to absorb not opening the 4 new schools because of excess capacity in other schools. So why did they accelerate the building of these new campuses? The answer I received was it takes them 3 years to get a new HS opened - 1 to plan and 2 to build. Elementarys they can get done in 1 year because they use the same plan for each school.
It is a difficult position, but I do not believe they have operated as efficiently as they could because of how easily tax increases have passed for the last 20 years.
However, the Star was a "no brainer". It was paid for by funds that could not be used for operations. The district needed a new stadium for 10 High Schools - Memorial and Toyota are the only 2 other stadiums. $30 million is cheap for the use of that stadium with no on-going maintenance fees. McKinney just passed approximately $60 million for their new stadium.
My reasons for voting against - I have lived there since 1995 and have an 8th grader who would have opened Memorial HS next year - were very similar to the reasons listed above. In addition, I do not believe the district has done everything they could to manage expenses. They knew what was coming for over 5 years now and their plan was this tax increase.
I say that because of the way the election was handled:
- in the summer instead of with the general election
- election sites at schools exclusively
- asked for max amount
- scare tactics if it didn't pass
For instance, the ISD floated the idea of "Participation Fees" for extracurricular activities, the amount mentioned was $300/activity. I contacted the ISD after the election to ask how many kids participate in extracurricular activities, how many in 2, how many in 3. I was told by a trustee and somebody in an official capacity that they did not know the answer to those questions and had no way of giving me a number without doing a substantial amount of work. Of course I asked, "How did you come up with the $300?" - no answer.
After the conversations I have had, it is my belief that the ISD will do everything they can to cut costs, hope the State improves funding, and then go back to the voters with a new TRE in 2018 for an amount less than the maximum.
In the mean time, they will be watching enrollment #s closely. Two years ago enrollment increased by 3000, last year, 3500, this year only 2500. In fact, this is the first year in over 20 that the incoming kindergarten class is smaller then the previous year's. They need to know if this is a blip or a trend. Have housing prices grown to the point that young families with young kids can't afford to move to Frisco? Will this cause growth to slow.
They were able to absorb not opening the 4 new schools because of excess capacity in other schools. So why did they accelerate the building of these new campuses? The answer I received was it takes them 3 years to get a new HS opened - 1 to plan and 2 to build. Elementarys they can get done in 1 year because they use the same plan for each school.
It is a difficult position, but I do not believe they have operated as efficiently as they could because of how easily tax increases have passed for the last 20 years.