This is my final feature on the 3 ICISD steles. Veritas is Latin for "truth". Veritas in Roman mythology is the Goddess of Truth. This stele shows an open faced book, perhaps symbolizing that truth can be found in books...an appropriate message to be sending to school children. But which book? The book isn't identified, and that is indeed part of the mystery of an education. Where do children go to find Veritas in a public school? Here is more on Veritas. And, here are my earlier features on the Athena Owl and the Lux steles. All should be preserved for future students to be curious about.
Below is the agenda for this meeting, and underneath that are the agenda analysis and my meeting analysis. New readers, teachers, students and parents: I will review the District's agenda and add my analysis a few days before the meeting date. (By law, the District has to post the agenda 72 hours before the meeting.) My analysis is a running commentary that may change up to the time of the meeting. Then, I attend and record the meeting, and the following several days I will post my meeting analysis. I do my own photography, and it is all local subject matter. I take in no ad or other revenue, don't have a child in school and I am self employed...which is all to say that I am beholden to no one. I write about things related to government that pretty much go unsaid in small town Texas.
Agenda Analysis: a. Closed session and action items from closed session, items 7and 9: Reading this agenda you might not appreciate the significance of these items. The District is self-policed with staff in possession of firearms. I covered the new guardian laws in a previous post here at B 5. Here is a resource page at the School Safety Center. I found in my recent review of the District's check register expenses for ammo and firearm training. Let the reality of those expenses sink in for a few minutes. Also, here is a drafting issue: technically, the Board cannot "approve" the guardians while in closed session, as by law no votes are allowed in closed. Even so, by law they will not have to disclose the identity of those guardians in open session at item 9. Ponder that for a few moments. This is a rare literal instance where the police power of the state is secret, by law. Do you feel more or less safe for yourself and your child knowing this? b. 2024 tax rate, item 2: Judging my attendance at the City of Mertzon and Irion County's meetings where Tax Assessor Collector Joyce Gray presented, gird your loins for a significant tax increase. It may be the best way to approach this is to plan ahead to what positive tax impact the new Matterhorn Pipeline will have once it comes online in 2025. That could be significant revenue based on comments made at the County Commissioner's meeting on August 6. The 2024 school bonds were not passed with any valuation of that pipeline as it was still under construction at the time of the bond election. c. Administrative Reports, item 4: This is the first meeting where the Principal and Athletic Director/Assistant Principal duo of Jessica Parker and John Morrow are on the agenda together. There is no report by the CFO, Robert Helms, as discussed below. d. Consent agenda, items 5 a-i: This one is like trying to take a drink of water from a firehose! All of these items have to be voted upon, and potentially voted upon without discussion. Here's a good page on the meaning and use of consent agendas. BoardSource ends on that page by saying, "Board members need to be vigilant so that debatable issues do not accidentally pass through without appropriate deliberation." I would flip that a bit by saying that also citizens need to be vigilant so that debatable issues do not accidentally or intentionally pass through without appropriate deliberation. Here’s the dilemma: if citizens do not attend board meetings there is no incentive for board members to debate anything, yet if citizens do attend board meetings there is incentive to governmental bodies to "hide" controversial or difficult issues in a consent agenda so as to avoid a public discussion. This is as confounding as trying to get at the juice of a ripe cactus tuna without getting millions of glochids in your fingers! In my opinion, from the perspective of a taxpayer, item c dealing with financials should always be debated by the board and therefor never be on a consent agenda. Were I a student, I might also think that any amendment to the student handbook or code of conduct, item i, should always be debated. Students, or perhaps a student representative from the appropriate student group, should always have a presence at school board meetings. See my page here at Meeting Analysis # 7 for what this amendment to the student handbook/code of conduct may be about. e. What's missing and more: I urge my readers to compare and contrast agendas to learn how to interpret them. You might have to read between the lines and regularly read my posts to see this: it appears the CFO, Mr. Helms, will not be present at the same time as Joyce Gray, the Irion County Tax Assessor Collector, will be presenting her 2024 revenue projections. My best guess is that Mr. Helms is in retirement mode until he leaves at the end of August, but, whatever his status, he or his position is not mentioned on the agenda. The roles of the CFO and the superintendent positions are unique. Consider this fact about the spend down of the 2019 school bonds at ICISD, before the arrival of Superintendent Moore, the current superintendent: The superintendent and school board ran the bond budget into the ground and ended with a six figure deficit bond budget, while at the same time the CFO secured for the District the highest rating possible, superior, from TEA's financial rating system, FIRST. And, if the public doesn't attend the board meetings, then no one will ever be the wiser. Here are the ICISD FIRST scores for the 22-23 school year, under Supt. Ray DeSpain, CFO Robert Helms and Board President Vicente Flores. (By attending the school board meetings and using the Public Information Act, I was able to determine that the District went over budget with its 2019 bond funds in excess of $200,000.00. If you wonder about my interest in the school's spending habits, well that's why! You won’t find any of this in any Moody’s report, and you certainly won’t hear it discussed at a Board meeting.)
2. Meeting analysis
a. Proposed tax rate, item 2 a: The Board approved what is in effect a proposed 10 cent per $100 tax rate increase for the District’s debt fund (interest and sinking), thus clawing back the 10 cent legislative savings given last year. That is, the rate would go from .13 to .23. This raise is consistent with representations made by the District prior to the bond election. So, theoretically, it is all a wash. Or, is it?
First, keep in mind that the compression approved by the legislature last session was for residential property (your home), not real property, as in agricultural land. So, if my evaluation is correct, for some this will not be a wash but an outright .10 increase.
Second, do not underestimate the impact that the new Matterhorn pipeline is going to have on the total appraised value of all property in Irion County. This year, 2024, saw it included for the the first time. Even in its incomplete state it, according to Joyce Gray, made up the lions share of a $211,970,710 increase in new value. That's a 42 inch as pipeline that fully valued with gas flowing through it will significantly increase the total tax base in 2025 and beyond. (And there is room enough to add a second pipeline alongside the current one, in my opinion.) What will happen when that tax base expands? Well, I predict that IC ISD is going to roll in another bond package...and your taxes will be increased above this .23 amount. Be careful what you wish for, folks. Superior school facilities are little more than a mirage of an educated child. In Travis County, even in Eanes ISD, the most prestigious school district in the county, there are families living in mobile homes being forced out because they can't afford the taxes, their lots are bought by developers and turned into McMansions. Those McMansions then increase everyone's property taxes, thereby creating a vicious cycle of tax increases and massive school growth.
Best I can tell, the most significant difference between Travis County and Irion County in this regard is that it is impossible to get a water meter from the City of Mertzon. It's all about water.
b. Closed session, items 7 & 9: The Board at item 9 voted to approve the Guardians recommended by Superintendent Moore in their closed session, but did not disclose their names, as I suggest might occur above. Why should you consider the approval of guardians important and relevant? Because no one, other than myself, is present at these school board meetings. The Board has a long history of governing in private, and it undoubtedly prefers a disengaged community. Democracy dies where there is no light. In this singular vote, the Board effectively approved the members of a state sanctioned local private police force, and no one was watching. Rather than get paranoid about a secret police force in a town of less than 1,000 folks, I find it more helpful to evaluate the form of government that made the decision. Of course, we are neither a monarchy or autocracy; we are a democracy. But, are we a democracy? We aren't a true democracy, which is at best a mere ideal, and this vote underscores that.
Consider whether the Board is a form of anocracy or semi-democracy. That is, it is more of a guided or regulated democracy sanctioned by TEA, the state legislature and the governor. But, this government is in a small town environment where a elite few can make all the important decisions, they can eliminate all competition in such a manner that the electorate can be made apathetic about how they govern, and they can govern in an environment where the system to redress grievances is under developed.
c. Administrative reports, item 4: In the tagline of "How to Read on Open Meeting", consider the situation that we have here where the chief administrator, Supt. Moore, gave a bare bones administrative report. (Her report was essentially limited to the need to hire a new teacher aid, which I gather was later discussed in closed session.) In this meeting, her report, however, effectively came out in part during the consent agenda. All of the consent agenda matters passed in one vote, some with discussion some without. But, all represented her priorities as matters that had to be passed. (The proper tool to entertain real debate on a consent agenda is for the Chair to ask the members if they want to "pull" any matter on the consent agenda so that it can be fully debated. That did not happen here.)
Otherwise, the reports given by Principal Parker and AD/Asst. Principal Morrow were worthwhile and informative. I'll be covering their reports more in future meetings as they mature into their new roles.
d. Consent agenda, item 5 a-i: President Carlile did a good job of managing this part of the agenda, which was a fair portion of the meeting. All matters were approved in a single vote. I think the transportation issues are worth noting. First, the Board approved the consulting contract with Mr. Kramer of Kramer Consulting, so there's a tangible start to that part of the 2024 bonds dealing with buses. I am in the process of obtaining that contract under the PIA, coincidentally. Second, the transportation part of the stipend for drivers and aides equates to about $400 a day or $80,000 a year. There is ongoing discussion about having transfers into the district pay a fee for transportation. As to the remainder of the consent items, I think the Board missed an opportunity it created earlier in the year to engage students in the passage of the dress code, which was part of the student handbook at item 5i. There were no students present during this item, and the matter apparently had been approved behind the scenes. There are precious few opportunities for government to model debate for young citizens, and it is a much needed skill because so many today believe they are being productive on social media when they really aren't. The anonymity found on most social media sites kills true advocacy and leadership.
e. More 2024 bond activity: Throughout the day on the date of this meeting one could see a drilling rig going from marker to marker, pictured below, drilling a short distance. down. After randomly spotting the crew here and there it appeared to me they were taking core or soil samples. There was a huge cloud of limestone dust around the crew at the location of the new bus barn. That cloud told me what I knew from my posthole digging days as a kid on the ranch.
It's rock down there. Solid. Rock. The hard kind of rock that, if you don't know how to release your grip when your crowbar hits it, your hands start to vibrate in pain.
Know this Gallagher, Parkhill and everyone else newly involved with the 2024 bonds: The District spent over $500,000 to excavate the limestone for City Gym. That's a lot of dough, and plenty enough to prove up what we already know is just inches below the surface. Water doesn't permeate it. Water flows over the top of it.
f. Who wasn't at this meeting: Board members Ashley Hill and DJ Rainey, and CFO Robert Helms. g. More? Possibly. Consider the rest pending.
Copyright 2024 G. Noelke