State Sen. Mario Gallegos sent out the following email on Monday:
Sen. Mario Gallegos
“The 2012 Bond Referendum will modernize outdated high school buildings and build new schools to meet students’ needs across the city. This proposal is a good investment that will create much needed new classrooms and improve safety and technology at campuses city-wide. Houston cannot expect to attract the best teachers or graduate top-notch, college-bound students if it has crumbling infrastructure in need of some major work–some of the schools are at least 40 years old. Therefore, I urge all voters to support this bond election,” said Senator Mario Gallegos.
Parents want the best for their children, and this bond plan is a step in the right direction. Senator Gallegos supports this investment in our children and our future in order to meet the growing demand for a skilled workforce. “Putting money into public education and our schools is never a wrong choice, and I look forward to seeing these improvements in Senate District 6,” said Senator Gallegos.
The plan replaces 20 high school buildings, partially replaces four and renovates four others. In addition, five elementary schools would be replaced with K-8 schools, three new elementary schools would be built and two middle schools would be rebuilt. Also, the proposed measure would include funds that would improve conditions for students in all HISD schools. Those proposals include: district-wide technology improvements, replacement of regional field houses and improvement of athletic facilities, and renovation of middle school restrooms.
(Details are available on the HISD bond website at http://blogs.houstonisd.org/2012bond.)
Sen. Gallegos has been one of the biggest critics of HISD Superintendent Terry Grier, going all the way back to Grier’s hiring. I figured that once State Rep. Sylvester Turner, the biggest critic of the 2007 referendum, endorsed this referendum, if anyone on the Democratic side was going to come out against it, it would have been Sen. Gallegos. Having him on board means that the bond advocates have as united a front as they could reasonably want. It’s good to see.