CyFair Citizen Don

Exactly how do all those uses and functions contribute to the quality of education in CyFair? The only thing on your list even remotely connected to education is its use as a graduation center. Seems to me at 130 thousand dollars a year, CFISD could continue renting other facilities for graduations for the next 30 years and still not spend as much as they spent to build the Barker-Cypress Obscenity.

Exactly my point.

I hate to see kids suffer like that.

I think things were evened out when CyFair got to host the swearing in ceremony for new US citizens a couple of months ago in the Berry Center.

[quote name='FilioScotia' date='Wednesday, July 4th, 2007 @ 11:15am' post='182459'

You can't deny the need for more school facilities, and I know CFISD is building new schools as fast it can. My complaint is the way the board uses the millions it's spending.

CyFair did need at least one more football stadium, but for god's sakes did it have to be an 81 million dollar monstrosity like the Berry Center? Doesn't someone on that board have any common sense?

Here's a chance to fix that: I believe that there are two board positions that can be voted on in November. Hopefully more people will vote since elections are being held in November. Last board elections were held in May last year, and I think only 400+ people voted.

Again...it's not just a football stadium...

* It's also a graduation center, to save CFISD $130,000 in rental expenses and the parent $6 to park (although I believe it costs more than $130,000 to operate on a yearly basis)

* It's a stadium where a professional football team plays (though not very well)

* It's a concert hall where you can see top name bands perform (competes with other venues such as Toyota Center)

* It's a place where all the teachers can meet once or twice a year for a Dr. Anthony pep rally

* It's a $31 million high school football team with fancy press boxes and VIP rooms. This alone makes it an expensive football stadium.

It's multi-purpose like we were promised, but I'm not sure if it's really "for the kids" or not. If the idea is to have some type of facility that the community can use, then I don't think it should have been built by the school district. This should have been built by private enterprise and the school district needs to get out of the business of generating revenue so they can focus on education.

I would agree that we need additional schools. If inflation is a factor in causing high schools to cost almost $100 million, then maybe it's time to look at other ways to reduce the cost. It's not like the district is accumulating equity in current buildings that they can turn around and leverage in future ones (like a home owner would do) Every time we build a new school with a new feature (practice swimming pool, music hall) then we are put into the position of having to retrofit existing schools to make them comparable.

As far as the hospital district, I think an argument can be made about the hundreds of millions spent caring for illegal aliens. I'd much rather that money be available to care for legal residents. I'd rather not have public dollars going to educate their children that should not be here.

If you want to get into the particulars we can find all kinds of injustices with regards to taxation.

What about the Federal Income Tax system? Ever read the The Creature from Jeckyll Island?

Those are probably valid points and we should be holding ALL taxing entities accountable, but my point is that the school districts (in this case, CyFair with their $807 million dollar bond proposal) should understand that their funding comes from the same source - the tax payer. Any argument that bonds don't pay for teacher salaries and operational expenses is ignoring the fact that the tax payer is paying for them both.

The bonds pay for capital projects, not district operations.

The point that I was trying to make was it doesn't matter whether the taxes are for operations (M&O) or capital projects (I&S), they are both funded by the tax payer. The tax payer writes one check at the end of the year to the school district.

And the school district is competing with other entities that need to operate and build things. The county needs to build roads so that we can get to those schools, the MUD district needs to upgrade its infrastructure so that we have clean drinking water, and the hospital district needs new equipment to save lives.

I think the calls for more teacher & classroom funding are moot with regards to bond elections as those types of things are funded by an entirely different source.

I think both sources that you speak of are commonly referred to as "the tax payer"

All bonds pass overwhelmingly and always have as far as I remember.

When elections were held in May and December, that was probably true since only 4500 people voted. Now that we are having a bond election in November, chances are that more people who are not affiliated with the school district or who are doing business with the school district will be voting.

I have a couple of comments to add to this topic.

1. First, regarding the funding issues, teachers are paid with different funds than construction of new school funds. Certain bond elections funds can only be used for construction of new buildings for the district. So, the Berry Center funds couldn't even have been used for paying any of the teachers/ paraprofessionals/ crossing guards employed by a district.

2. The reason Cyfair and probably every other district in the state of Texas had to cut so many funds was not because of overspending, it is because the state legislators only think education is important during an election year and do not give school districts enough money. The amount the state pays school districts has gone down year after year and local school districts are now footing the cost of most bills.

3. Most teachers do not have to pay for every day classroom supplies. While we do buy incentive items, books, and other items like this, we get staples and pens and paper.....

4. Schools do not endorse any students going door to door for any fundraiser. Children are asked to only go to neighbors they know, family and any other poor fool who can be conned into parting with their money.

msteacher,

The state reduces funding based on a formula of how much local taxes the school district takes in. More local taxes results in less state funding. As you are probably aware, CFISD increased its 2007-08 budget 13% over the 2006-07 budget; that is 7% more than the student population growth + inflation rate.

I also would like to point out that though different funds are used to pay for operational costs and construction, those funds come from the same source.

Well I guess Cy Fair residents will think twice when the next Bond Election takes place. I guess the residents of Cy Fair have no one really to blame but themselves. They passed the bonds, and they elected the school board members.

It sounds like, "I want to live in Cy Fair where the schools are great and the educational facilities are the best, but I really don't want to pay for these things." Cry me a freakin river.

4500 voters out of 200,000 registered voters is not a mandate - it's either a lack of interest or lack of information. I think more people are starting to take interest and there is more information out than there has been in the past. The turnout that was present at the tax rate meeting is a sign of things to come.

And I don't think it's fair to say that the average person in CyFair wants great education and not have to pay for it. How about great education and facilities at a reasonable cost? Did we need a "multi-purpose facility and football stadium?" Perhaps, but I don't think we needed one on such a grand scale. The multi-purpose building is not educating anyone, and I don't see how much more football spirit you can gain by spending 30 million instead of 10 million, unless you are a fan of the Katy Texas Copperheads.

Don

Co-Founder "CyFair Citizens"