One School District Says No to Higher Property Taxes
After public resistance from Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and Empower Texans, an Austin-based conservative activist group, voters in a suburban Fort Worth school district turned down a 13-cent local tax hike over the weekend.
In May, Keller ISD school board members proposed a property tax increase that school officials said would raise about $16 million in revenue to cover revenue being cut by the state. On Saturday, it failed, 56 percent to 44 percent, with more than 14,000 residents casting votes, according to the Fort Worth Star Telegram.
Within the community, opposition centered on the district's 9 percent ...
Comments (23)
Rudy Gonzales
I'll bet more voters are going to turn down higher property taxes in the future and the children of Texas are going to be the real losers in the end. The blood of the next generation of school children is on the hands of Rick Perry and the liberal Legislature in Austin!
Taylor Kilroy
Rudy - you spelled "conservative" wrong.
You're my favorite kind of troll - the kind who warns about the "liberal Legislature in Austin" when there's a Republican supermajority.
Earl Wills
Getting really tired of this issue. The problems are not the teachers...it is the administrators. Find a way to cut overhead costs and the teachers will be just fine. Blaming the legislature for this is a losing exercise...blame your local ISD. Go to your school board meetings. Question the budgets used by the Supt and his/her staffs. bet you find enough there to pay for the "losses" that will result due to fiscal austerity.
Earl Wills
Getting really tired of this issue. The problems are not the teachers...it is the administrators. Find a way to cut overhead costs and the teachers will be just fine. Blaming the legislature for this is a losing exercise...blame your local ISD. Go to your school board meetings. Question the budgets used by the Supt and his/her staffs. Bet you find enough there to pay for the "losses" that will result due to fiscal austerity.
Jose B. Gonzalez via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Most districts need to make due with what they have... Make the tough choices!!! If there isn't enough money - start cutting non-essential positions, activities and programs, cut, cut, cut - until you balance your budget, then make it work. If you can't make it work step aside and let someone else take the helm.
Tim Covington via Texas Tribune on Facebook
I consider myself a true fiscal conservative. That means we must pay for what we want. If we want our children to receive a good education, we must pay for it. And, for those who think schools can make huge cuts to their budgets without cutting teachers, I want you to make suggestions that will balance their budgets without cutting teachers.
Mac Mcclure via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Tim, FWISD has 16 staff psychologist with an average salary of 48,000 per year, wonder how many they could cut to save classroom teachers jobs.
Chris Thornton via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Good for them! It's about time the local, state, and federal government learns that WE THE PEOPLE are Taxed Enough Already!
tthomas48
I'm getting even more tired of this issue. The problem isn't either teachers or educators. It's uniformed voters willing to slash funding to education regardless of how the money is spent. I don't want the legislature pulling random numbers out of their heads and saying "Here educated our kids for $X". I want them to be making decisions based upon how much money it takes to educate our kids. And based on our state rankings, we obviously are not educating well enough to be making cuts.
I want my tax dollars to be spent efficiently and to great effect. I want Republicans to stop saying "we'll do it for $X regardless of actual cost" and then wasting my money when it can't be done for that cost. I want a government that works and I'm willing to pay for it.
Stephen J Wright via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Anyone who knows anything about public ed knows that districts are already lean and understaffed. Feel free to call for cuts-but don't bitch afterwards about some bogus "decline of education" in Texas.
Tim Thomas via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Mac. Why should they have to? What are you basing the fact that FWISD doesn't need staff psychologists on? Your ignorance or your lack of education?
Chris - obviously you're uneducated, but you might be interested to know that it's us liberal in Austin paying for educating kids in Thorton, TX through the Robin Hood plan. You'd probably need your taxes hiked a couple thousand times to pay for the handout you're taking from us liberal city dwellers.
Leesa Monroe via Texas Tribune on Facebook
I can tell you from 25 years of experience As a teacher and assistAnt principal that there is little fat in our schools. I would say we are understaffed in areas such as special Ed. Counselors and school psychologist. We need more than good teachers. Many teachers need support especially in the area of classroom management. Teaching school is extremely hard and there are fewer middle class students. I grew up in a community that supported local schools and the people who worked with us. Im discouraged by the number of people who do not support us. I heard someone say the other day they are tired of paying taxes since they don't have children in the system. That is the most selfish and ignorant statement I have ever heard. These are children, not prisoners. You cannot always just cut. This is not a for profit business.we are all citizens of Texas and as a taxpayer I feel responsible for every kid out there. Read the Texas constitution.
Chris Thornton via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Oh, yes. I'm against tax increases therefore I must be uneducated. At least I know how to spell THORNTON. I guess they don't teach liberals how to read in Austin.
Tim Thomas via Texas Tribune on Facebook
I'm just assuming you're uneducated in the way our tax system works Chris. The majority of rural Texans pay next to nothing in taxes and receive a massive amount of benefits. I'm assuming you have roads, schools, and health care in Thornton. Surely you don't believe that the 500 residents of your town could be paying even the tiniest proportion of those costs? Why in the world would you want to lower taxes for urban Texans and shoulder even more of the tax burden yourselves at the local level?
Kimberly Burkett via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Are any of you that are cheering "cut, cut, cut" even remotely familiar with the KISD situation? Perhaps a littl e information before you launch into spouting tea party rhetoric. How about this...Keller was #9 in Moneys best cities to live in for 2009 following a decade of inordinate growth. 21 schools were built in 10 years. If you take off your tea-colored glasses, could you perhaps see where that contributes just a little to their situation? I live 1/4 mile from a KISD high school, although I am in Nortwest ISD. Do you know my child is worth $6,800 in state funding because he is NWISD and my KISD neighbors are only worth $5,200? And i live down the street. Does that make sense? Say hello to the incoherent funding formulas used in Texas (maybe check out what your kid is worth - it might shock you). So maybe learn a little about the problem before droning on. And perhaps demand a more equitable funding system that keeps up with growth from your lawmakers...but that wouldn't be as much fun, would it?
Leesa Monroe via Texas Tribune on Facebook
The thing that bothers me the most about the Keller isd election was the fact that outsiders got involved in this local election. I have attended meetings with legislators that have specifically told school districts to raise their tax rate because it's too low. So Keller did what austin said and dewhurst sent a letter against the rise in taxes. Their target revenue is too low and their numbers are growing. They a re paying for all that growth with bonds. You cannot compare Keller to birdville heb or Arlington because Keller is a fast growth district. People need to learn the true facts. People live in suburbs for schools primarily. support your local schools. It's the best gift you can give back to your community.
Bambi Clark via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Those "outsiders" you speak of are what scares me. They post and push their propaganda backed by big money and most TEA-xans never question. They just believe and become their pawns. To the voters booth they go having been used for the score.
Bambi Clark via Texas Tribune on Facebook
If you think one of those outsiders Michael Quinn Sullivan was not working for the Koch brothers check out the attendance rosters here <http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Koch_Event_2010-06_Attendees>
Tim Hurst via Texas Tribune on Facebook
new football and baseball fields, coaches as principals but no teachers or computers. Welcome to the new republican texas...as if it was not horrible before.
Leesa Monroe via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Parents and supporters of public education need to join the Texas political action committee. Back in 2006 we were able to remove Kent crisscross from office due to his disdain for public education. We replaced him with a moderate republican who supports public education. I've do my part by voting in republican primaries and vote for the moderate candidate. That's what happened with Kent. We powerless democrats voted in that primary election and got the moderate elected.
Mike Openshaw via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Folks, it was THEIR CHOICE. Agree with it or not, the voters have spoken. Did we not hear enough of 'elections have consequences' when the free spenders won in 2006 and 2008?
David Spratt
Just as I have always thought. No people on the steps of the Capital with signs chanting " PAY MORE TAX PAY MORE TAX PAY MORE TAX." Everyone wants more money but , " Not from My Pocket." DISD is " replacing coolant " in their AC units. This is like changing the air in your tires. I know this because I know someone who is involved in the process. NO FAT! Give me a break. How about all the Thousands DISD spent renting space for meetings in Upscale Dallas Hotels, when they have millions of sq ft of space to use? This is probably pennies compared to the total budget, but I would guess all those pennies add up to Hundreds of thousands of $. How about hiring some Illegal Immigrants as teachers? I am sure they would work for half of what most teachers do now. They are certainly good enough to displace quite a few of the rest of us from our jobs , and besides , they speak the predominate language of the school system , as over 50% of students are now Hispanic. Would certainly save a lot of money and would do away with ESL classes.
GS Crispus
I liked xenophobia more when I only had to read it in the captions under the pictures of men dressed in pointy masks in my high school history book.