It is 2013, right? So while we have the SD06 special election and the new legislative session to worry about, it’s not too early to start talking about the 2013 elections. Let’s start with a peek at the campaign finance reports from last July of the Houston officeholders who will be on the ballot this [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Harvin Moore’
Early extension for Grier
This was a surprise. The Houston school board gave Superintendent Terry Grier a big but not unanimous vote of confidence Thursday, extending his contract through 2016 and awarding him $115,000 in bonuses for the last year. The board voted 6-2 to approve the surprise two-year extension, and the lone absent trustee said later that she [...]
Please place the blame where it belongs
Stories like this concern me. Public opinion of the Houston Independent School District plummeted this year amid severe state budget cuts, while support of the superintendent also dropped, according to a new survey. Among parents surveyed this spring, 54 percent said HISD was headed in the right direction, down from 79 percent two years ago. [...]
No more cuts for HISD, for now
As we know, the HISD Board of Trustees had originally set its budget based on the initial House appropriations, which cut almost $8 billion from public schools. The budget that’s in the works now would “only” cut $4 billion, so HISD has a little more money than it planned for. But don’t expect them to [...]
HISD contemplates a tax increase
They’re not saying it explicitly yet, but the inference is clear. Houston ISD board president Paula Harris said today that raising property taxes, dipping into the district’s savings account and suing the state over school finance inequities are all possibilities. Harris noted twice that HISD has the lowest tax rate of all school districts in [...]
HISD’s budget and magnet meeting
A whole lot happened on Thursday evening with HISD. Houston ISD Superintendent Terry Grier proposed a major shake-up Thursday night to the district’s popular magnet program, calling for 25 schools to lose the special status and for funding increases or reductions in others. “This stands to change the landscape of the entire Houston Independent School [...]
HISD’s opening thoughts on dealing with budget cuts
It’s not going to be pretty, no matter how you slice it. Fewer police officers would patrol school hallways, property taxes would rise, several campuses would close and about 300 central office jobs would be cut next year under HISD Superintendent Terry Grier’s initial cost-cutting proposals. Grier asked the Houston school board on Thursday to [...]
HISD may raise tax rate
The state of Texas may not be considering any revenue enhancements to deal with its budget shortage, but that doesn’t mean that other taxing entities, such as school districts, won’t consider them. Melinda Garrett, HISD’s chief financial officer, said the administration is considering various options for balancing the budget, including those that involve increasing the [...]
Still more on magnet schools
So what do we know about HISD’s magnet schools and that consultant’s report that recommended some hefty changes to them? Well, other than the consultants themselves, no one likes the report very much. The message was clear at Lamar High School [Tuesday] night: remove the magnet designation from high performing schools in the district and [...]
No vote from HISD on several school upgrades
Last week, I noted that a parents group and some HISD trustees were complaining about there not being a vote on three school construction projects that were promised as part of the 2007 bond referendum. Even though we now have a new Superintendent in tow, which was supposedly the holdup on these items, they’re still [...]
Parents call on HISD to keep promises Saavedra made
With the revelation that HISD may have chosen its new superintendent, this Chron story from yesterday about how parent groups who were promised certain specific actions from outgoing Superintendent Abe Saavedra relating to the bond referendum, and the Board of Trustees’ apparent reluctance to act on them until they have a new super in place, [...]
The HISD Trustee races
Most of the electoral action this fall will be for City of Houston races, but there are also five HISD Trustee seats on the ballot, one of which will be open. School Zone reports on the two races that will be the highest profile. District I: Natasha Kamrani, who is wrapping up her first term, [...]
HISD to broadcast some meetings
This is a good first step. Saying they want to be more transparent, Houston Independent School District trustees agreed Thursday to broadcast their once-monthly general meetings on the district’s cable access station, which runs 24 hours a day. Trustees, though, are refusing for now to broadcast their less formal public meetings, where much of the [...]