HISD still struggling with the bond referendum

I know HISD has said repeatedly that it will not remove the bond referendum from the ballot this November. And though they've picked up some support recently, the overall news continues to be bad for them.

The Houston Independent School District should stop pushing its $805 million bond proposal and take time to address a laundry list of concerns from residents, dozens of community leaders said Monday.

Among the concerns of the roughly 100 who attended a town hall meeting at the Greater Zion Baptist Church were what they saw as HISD's inadequate efforts to solicit community input and the underfunding of repairs at schools in predominantly black neighborhoods in the Third and Fifth wards.

"You cannot blackball us or push us to the side," said 24-year-old Vincent Mass, a Texas Southern University student and 2001 Furr High School graduate. "This is really a civil rights issue. It's still separate, but unequal."

[...]

Endorsements for the Nov. 6 election have been issued by state Rep. Borris Miles, D-Houston, state Sen. Mario Gallegos, D-Houston, and the Houston Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Political Caucus.

But the stream of opposition has continued, despite a series of concessions Saavedra made last week. The superintendent admitted he should have solicited more community input and announced that HISD can finance the bond without increasing taxes.

[...]

The groundswell of concerns prompted the Greater Houston Partnership, the city's largest business-led organization, to decide again Monday to remain neutral on the measure. The group was an avid supporter of HISD's last two bonds.

"The business community does get behind the economics of the bond proposal, but not at the cost of such social divisiveness that we've seen so far," said John Hofmeister, president of Shell Oil Co. and chairman of the partnership's board. "There is frankly too much social divisiveness separating the goodness of the bond proposal from the unintended consequences of those in the community who feel left out."

If HISD can prove it's willing to listen to the community -- possibly by taking school consolidations off the table for now -- the partnership may reconsider its position, he said.

The partnership is among those feeling left out, Hofmeister said, adding that he considers HISD's drive to rush this election a mystery.

"We felt very compressed in a time schedule that's also unprecedented," he said.

That does seem to be the big question. It's not like no one saw the need for this coming, but why roll out the referendum proposal so close to the election? You could make the argument that if you pass the bond now, the specifics can be addressed later. In fact, in yesterday's story, HISD more or less made that argument:

[School district spokesman Terry] Abbott said changes to the referendum were already made last week as a result of talks with the community. Future changes are possible since the language on the ballot is a general proposal and does not list specific projects, he said.

"It would be entirely wrong to say that the proposal can't be tweaked or improved," Abbott said.

The main problem with this line of reasoning, of course, is that it requires a level of trust in HISD that's clearly lacking. If HISD had the trust it's asking for here, the bond would be sailing on its way to passage. At this point, you have to ask: What would be the bigger setback for HISD, to pull the referendum off the ballot until 2008, or to forge onward and see it go down to defeat? I think the answer to that is obvious, but HISD either hasn't reached that conclusion, or isn't ready to admit that it has.

There are still opportunities to speak up about this. Click on for a message from State Rep. Garnet Coleman about a meeting at Ryan Middle School.

Ryan Middle School Community Discussion

A community discussion on the future of Ryan Middle School and the Jack Yates feeder pattern

S.H.A.P.E. Community Center
3903 Almeda Rd (click here for a map)
September 25, 2007
5:30pm

For more information or to RSVP,
please call the office of
Representative Garnet F. Coleman at
713-520-5355

Posted by Charles Kuffner on September 25, 2007 to Election 2007