Based on these Live Oaks and the ones nearby, I suspect that the District in the 40's and 50's took out the Live Oaks that were on what is now the play field behind these trees. Thus, we are likely nearing a century long practice by the District of altering the natural environment by reducing green space and creating impervious structures - on a limestone hill top.
February 16, 2024 update: At it's February 14 meeting the Board approved a bond call for a total of $55 million for a May 2024 vote. It will be broken down as follows: $53 million for new construction and renovations, $1 million for technology and $1 million for teacher housing.
Last week and the week before I attended the two community committee meetings sponsored by ICISD on whether to call a 2024 school bond and, if so, for how much. My take away is that a bond proposal of just north of $50 million will be proposed to the school board at its February meeting.
If you'll take the time to understand this photo below of a slide authored by the prospective bond seller, Live Oak, you will be halfway to understanding why another bond is being proposed so closely on the heels of the 2019 bonds:
Put simply, the 2023 Texas Legislature passed laws that were signed by Governor Gregg Abbott and those laws make a school bond more affordable. Another way of saying it is that some of the savings from those legislative changes will be clawed back to a point that taxpayers still won't see an increase from last year's rate.
The other half of this equation is that school taxes dedicated to paying for those bonds, I&S or Interest and Sinking, are funds that stay in the District and are not recaptured by the State of Texas. More on this later.
For the moment, I am going to keep my powder dry on whether this bond is going to be a continuation of the 2019 school bond debacle that gave rise to Government in the Sun.
One astute teacher at the meetings observed that I was the only person in the room that didn't have a direct connection to the school. (Meaning, correctly, that I was not dependent on the school.) He cautioned all present to not fall prey to their own echo chamber. See also the concept of confirmation bias. Smart thinking. The District and all those who stand to profit from these probable 2024 bonds can hopefully see now, more so than in 2019, to be careful for what you wish for. Capital improvements necessarily should bring public scrutiny concerning whether the essential purposes of the school - to create opportunity and community - are being accomplished.
Copyright 2024 G Noelke