Oh and another way BISD wastes money is by being a member of a PAC called fast growth Texas.org. They lobby the state leg for more facilities funding, raising the 50cents per $100 cap on I&S taxes and encourage members to use capital appreciation bonds. These are like long term pawn shop loans and don't have to be voter approved. Belton ISD is not a fast growth district by TEA standards.

Now they are buying more land so that they can expand things at the new high school.

It seems like they ought to be providing supplies to their teachers so they don't have to use donorschoose, but where are you seeing that?

http://kdhnews.com/news/education/belton-isd-may-buy-more-property-for-new-high-school/article_82d434b8-2a26-11e7-8e47-5721f80bd4c1.html

y'all are all in a tizzy and i'm over here enjoying my sub $2500 property taxes in TISD.


popkern.

nm

emailed back. don't pull me into BISD politics.


it's a good district, glad to have worked there and loved the people. i just struggle with a bond this huge when they have others outstanding. i can say with 100% certainty that the people in admin want what's best for the kids. EVERY meeting started with "let's do what's best for our students" and i believed that it was on their hearts.

It seems 121 will get widened, making the excuse about access to the Shanklin Rd property weak. Oh and the county is going to widen Shanklin to 4 lanes with the intentions of an outer loop to 1670.

If you're not growing, your dying and the south side is growing.

mazzag said:

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The biggest drain of money and facilities is the early education school. The state says you have to provide it if a certain amount of early education kids in a district quality for free lunch. Then after a certain amount, the ISD has to provide a separate facility for them. BISD has 420 early education kids. The school has a capacity for 650. BISD had to spend $500k to get the early education school ready (lower toilets, sinks, etc) and the state doesn't provide funds to remodel buildings. So BISD lost a functional elementary school because the state says you have to provide early education but only to a portion of the population.

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I taught at Tyler and BECS. Tyler was a fantastic. The teachers and admin were top notch. Demographics killed us in testing though we did show a lot of growth. I opened BECS and will tell you that the concept is incredible when implemented effectively. They didn't have to do it. Nothing says that you have to provide a separate facility, however it is impossible to provide everything we did at a typical elementary campus. Having a science facility, trike park, motor lab, and block lab were absolutely incredible. The growth I saw was pretty amazing. Teachers there are some of the best I've ever worked with. The brain research behind high quality early education is all there. What's tanking that campus is the admin. The WORST I've ever worked with. Hostile work environment doesn't even come close to describing it. There are a number of grievances to substantiate it. They lost all three of their PPCD teachers in the span of 2 years. (Myself being one). By the end of that year I was happy to say goodbye to BISD. Glad I don't have a dog in this fight.

Yes. They need another hs but their spending is out of control.

Also MH is such a fantastic school I'd hate to see it shut down. The people they have are truly great.

I hear great things about MH & SW. But the district is on record saying aging facilities aren't worth investing in so upgrades to SW were axed in the 2012 bond. And the super doesn't like portables because the state doesn't help pay for them. Yet these schools have portables with attached walk ways for capacity. Parents of kids at MH & SW see all these new schools and their kids go to aging ones. Kids see them too.
I'll have to disagree with you about the early ed requirements but I've crammed so much info in the last few weeks, I don't know where to find the link. So many people PM me with frustrations and concerns. This district is out of control with spending but 64% of our funding comes from the state and Feds (their share is 7% of the 64) , the rest local dollars. That's abnormally high for what people perceive us to be. We're not Midway, Round Rock or pflugerville. We're not even TISD that relies on 20% les state funding than us. I hope this bond fails. Then we'll see what happens.

Close New Tech

Use part of that savings on upgrading those elementary schools

Let me know if you find it. I've worked in districts with a much higher percentage of low income students and we are still housed on regular elementary campuses. There aren't many programs like BECS in the state.

I eagerly await results with popkern

I know plenty of noers. A healthy amount of west Temple peeps.


Stands a chance.

I was pleasantly surprised by the number of west temple people against this. One voter messaged me unsure of what to do. Her neighbors were for it but she did not look forward to another school behind her neighborhood, one of the Lakewood ones. I think she voted no. She's been active on the Facebook page.

And turnout is low.

Bond passes. Leigh and Taggart on the board.

I hope so too. I hope they stay engaged. A board of 7 people make serious decisions for 58,000 people.

Thank goodness the bond passed!! Belton needed a 2nd high school and now they'll have one.

Now let's get new admin!

FWIW it's not for the children.

mazzag said:

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FWIW it's not for the children.

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AMEN!!

Captain Pablo said:

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Close New Tech

Use part of that savings on upgrading those elementary schools

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Well the new tech principal is going to BHS as co principal next year so things are falling in place for you to get your wish.

mazzag said:

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Captain Pablo said:

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Close New Tech

Use part of that savings on upgrading those elementary schools

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Well the new tech principal is going to BHS as co principal next year so things are falling in place for you to get your wish.

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It's not that I hate new tech all that much, I just think it is unnecessary, and it has evolved into more of a social clique than anything, where the kids are isolated from the main campus and from UIL activities, of which they are supposed to be a part of at BHS. And the ones that do participate can't really do it right because they are always running late to class, rehearsal, or whatever.

In my opinion, although it was not specifically stated, the purpose of it was a pressure relief valve from a growing Belton high school. Now that A new high school is going up, it will no longer be needed.

My 8th grader said what's the point of NT, you only take 4 classes on that campus and then you're bused to BHS for the rest. I'm assuming CTE and UIL. The ISD spends an abnormal percentage amount on transportation. That could be for frivolous reasons (which I suspect it is) or just too much unnecessary busing of kids(probably not because KISD busses a lot and BISD still spends 1.5% more than them).
Point is the ISD wastes money and transportation is one of the TEA codes where it goes. New tech isn't a waste necessarily, but it's grant money has run out and it's on the district 100%. With a new school HS it's not needed and YAY! When it closes the south can magically have another elementary school for it's overcrowding. What a sham.

mazzag said:

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My 8th grader said what's the point of NT, you only take 4 classes on that campus and then you're bused to BHS for the rest. I'm assuming CTE and UIL. The ISD spends an abnormal percentage amount on transportation. That could be for frivolous reasons (which I suspect it is) or just too much unnecessary busing of kids(probably not because KISD busses a lot and BISD still spends 1.5% more than them).
Point is the ISD wastes money and transportation is one of the TEA codes where it goes. New tech isn't a waste necessarily, but it's grant money has run out and it's on the district 100%. With a new school HS it's not needed and YAY! When it closes the south can magically have another elementary school for it's overcrowding. What a sham.

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I'm not referring so much to academic classes, but rather things like fine arts -- band, choir, jazz, drama, harmony, madrigal --- those are throughout the day, and the new tech kids that do try to participate are always rolling in late or missing altogether

I guess we just have to disagree -- i think it's unnecessary and costly... but if you're gonna do it, do it completely --- give the kids access to whatever uil and extracurricular activities on their own campus... they tried to have it both ways --- have their own social clique but also use of BHS activities... BUT, only if it's truly necessary and affordable, which IMO it isn't

I dunno if it was part of that "everything Tiger Red and White" provincialism of Belton, or just ill conceived

Anyway, I'm glad it's ending, if that's what is happening...

As for a new or refurbished elementary school being needed in the south, I'll take your word for it... you don't have to pay all that close attention to see the shameful disparity in resources allocated between the north and south

I understand that they have to build facilities in the north because that's where the growth is

But you still have kids in the south and their facilities are falling apart

Fix them

Sorry city of temple peeps that don't live in BISD but suffer because of us anyway.

http://www.tdtnews.com/news/article_71053036-62af-11e7-9611-c30710b0ada6.html

Quote:

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Among the budget's priority items are improvements to Poison Oak Road in West Temple. The narrow country lane is planned to be improved under an accelerated timeframe since the Belton Independent School District plans to build a new elementary school at Poison Oak and Carriage House Road. The school is expected to open in fall 2019.

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