Fundraising for the HISD bond

I’ve been waiting for a story about the pro-bond campaign, and here one is.

For Roland Garcia, voting in favor of Houston ISD’s proposed $4.4 billion bond is a no-brainer.

Garcia, a grandparent of two students at Houston ISD’s Harvard Elementary, said he is “appalled” at the state of the infrastructure at their school. With nearly 12 years since HISD’s past bond, he said he’ll be voting “Yes” for Propositions A and B because the investment is long overdue and would create a healthier learning environment for children.

“This is personal to me,” Garcia said. “It’s important to me, and so I’m doing everything I can to promote the bonds because I think it’s undisputed that the schools need repairs. It’s now at a critical level, and so I’m happy to support the bond referendum.”

However, as public opposition to the bond grows, Garcia said he is concerned the measure may fail and is doing everything he can to convince his friends to donate to Houstonians for Safe and Healthy Schools, a political action committee aiming to convince voters to pass the bond during the upcoming November election.

As of Sept 26, the committee has raised more than $755,000 to advocate for the bond. The group has paid at least $39,300 of those funds to Putnam Partners, a D.C.-based communications firm, on advertising as of late September, according to its campaign finance report.

Veronica Garcia, the executive director of Houstonians for Great Public Schools, said she, along with Doug Foshee and Ramon Manning, founded the committee in early August — the same month that the appointed Houston ISD Board of Managers voted unanimously to place the measure on voter’s ballots.

“When school districts place a bond on the ballot, the district itself cannot campaign for the bond, and so it’s pretty standard that an organization is created to support the passage of the bond,” she said. “That’s why we started Houstonians for Safe and Healthy Schools: for the sole purpose of working to ensure that kids get their needs met through the bonds.”

The committee has shared campaign mailers, TV advertisements and other digital promotion efforts with the phrases like “Vote for Props A and B,” “Healthy Schools Now,” and “Our Kids Can’t Wait” with Houston residents. It also has volunteers, including HISD parents, block walking and texting potential Houston voters to encourage them to vote “Yes” on the bond, she said.

[…]

Despite the opposition, leaders of several prominent Houston organizations, including Children at Risk, the Houston Food Bank, Good Reason Houston, the Greater Houston Partnership and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Houston, have come out in support of the measure, stating that they believe it would improve student well-being and success if passed.

“I was not in favor of a takeover, but if I really care about these kids and the future of HISD, do I just shut everything down?” said Manning, an HISD parent and committee secretary. “I’ve just been amazed at the level of vitriol towards Mike Miles on this particular issue, because for me, this ain’t about Mike Miles. … This is really about kids and trying to move this district forward.”

The committee has seen increased scrutiny after a flier promoting a private fundraiser Wednesday — with contribution levels ranging from $250 to $100,000 — circulated publicly. The host committee for the fundraiser included about 40 individuals and groups, including architecture firm HKS, engineering firm Stantec, Collaborate Architects and Satterfield & Pontikes Construction.

Melissa Yarborough, an HISD parent and former teacher, said she was enraged to see that construction and architecture firms were part of the group hosting a fundraiser for a committee supporting the bond. She organized a small group of community members to protest across from the fundraiser, where they held yard signs and a large knitted banner advocating against the bond.

“I have to imagine that these people are either naive and thinking that they’re really supporting schools … or they’re acting against the majority’s will and using their financial power to push what they want, and I think that that is sad either way,” Yarborough said. “Whichever one is true, they are raising money to go against the community’s wishes.”

Roland Garcia, who co-hosted the fundraiser, said he’s held several similar fundraising campaigns for other institutions that help maintain a high quality of life in Houston, like Houston Community College. He said he believes people attended Wednesday’s event not necessarily because of their jobs, but because they believe in funding a better education for Houston residents.

Just to note up front, I’ve known Roland Garcia for a long time – he was a big supporter of Annise Parker’s Mayoral campaign – and I’m acquainted with Houstonians for Great Public Schools, which has been around since at least 2017. Every HISD bond referendum has come with a well-financed campaign to help pass it. The main difference this year is that a lot of normal supporters of these bond issuances are opponents this time, because of Mike Miles. That’s one reason why the support from the construction industry stands out, because the usual stalwarts like Democratic politicians and associated groups, and organized labor, are not there. I don’t think it’s more complicated than that.

For what it’s worth, other than a few yard signs, which in my neighborhood are greatly outnumbered by anti-bond and anti-Mike Miles signs, I’ve not seen any evidence yet of the pro-bond campaign. I’ve not received any mail, I’ve not seen any ads on TV or the Internet, I’ve not seen any canvassers. I’m sure that’s all out there, but you know, tick tock tick tock. To Melissa Yarborough’s point, it’s too soon to say that what the bond campaign’s fundraisers are doing is against the community’s wishes. Let’s see how the vote goes first.

UPDATE: I wrote this on Saturday before the mail was delivered. When it arrived, it contained a pro-bond mailer, so now I can say that this campaign is visible to me. How about you?

Related Posts:

• Endorsement watch: The Chron gets on the “no trust, no bond” train
• HISD cornucopia
• The cost of the HISD bond