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Posted on 04/14/2003 2:34:18 PM PDT by anymouse
LEAGUE CITY — With early voting beginning Wednesday and Election Day less than a month away, misunderstandings and misconceptions still surround the Clear Creek Independent School District’s $337 million bond referendum.
To help voters make an educated decision, The Daily News collected some of the questions most frequently asked at public hearings and forums.
School trustees, administrators and members of the Facilities Needs Committee answered questions at such meetings.
The Daily News then went back to the district to double-check the information with George Rodgers, associate superintendent of business and support services.
Below are the answers to those questions:
Q. Why doesn’t the bond election include money for teachers’ salaries?
A. By state law, bond money cannot be used to pay salaries.
The district pays salaries – which account for 86 percent of its budget – from a fund called Maintenance and Operations, also known as M&O.
The M&O fund also covers the day-to-day operations of the district, including insurance, utilities, routine maintenance and school bus expenses.
Bond money goes into another fund named Interest and Sinking or I&S.
By state law, I&S money must be used to build schools and other facilities, take care of major maintenance projects, buy land either for current or future use, acquire equipment, purchase school buses and pay debt.
Q. If the bond election passes, will some of the funds sooner or later end up leaving the district?
A. Bond money will stay in the district. The money in the Interest and Sinking fund is not subject to recapture under the state’s so-called Robin Hood plan.
Q. Why does the school district say the bonds are needed when more people are moving in and property values keep going up? Isn’t the district collecting more money?
A. State funding is based on “wealth per student,” which is calculated by dividing total property value in the district by average daily attendance. State funding decreases when “wealth per student” increases.
“As property values go up, state funding goes down,” school board President Paula Tomasi said. “If we were just having a reduction in state funding, with the property values (in the district) going up, it would not be that difficult, but the difficulty comes with the growing of the district (about 1,000 students per year).”
Q. Why doesn’t the district shift money from its fund balance to address urgent maintenance needs instead of calling a bond referendum?
A. The Texas Education Agency recommends school districts have two to three months of operating expenses in their fund balance.
Monthly operating expenses in Clear Creek amount to about $15 million.
The district’s fund balance is $18 million, according to the administration.
Q. Why don’t school trustees take a pay cut instead of asking voters to support the bond election?
A. Trustees are volunteers. By state law, they are not entitled to a salary or to any form of compensation.
Q. Bond proponents have said older people, who usually have no children in the school district, would not have their taxes raised, even if the bonds passed. Is that really true?
A. The Galveston Central Appraisal District offers a homestead exemption for residents 65 or older who apply to receive this benefit.
Once homeowners receive the exemption, their school taxes are frozen for that home. They can decrease, but they can’t go up.
If the homeowner who filed for the exemption dies, the surviving spouse is allowed to apply to have it transferred. The surviving spouse must be 55 or older and also own the home.
Residents need to keep in mind that taxes may increase if they move to a new house or if they add major improvements to the property. For more information, call (409) 935-1980.
“These bonds will not cost you a penny, but will help you protect your home values and those of your grandchildren,” said Bob Forde about homeowners benefiting from the over-65 homestead exemption.
Forde was the chairman of the Facilities Needs Committee that assessed the district’s needs and made recommendations to the school district.
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