AISD Bond Proposal

Austin Independent School District has a proposal on the May 10 ballot for a $343.7 million bond. It seems like every year, we the taxpayers, are asked to spend more tax money on these long-term loans. I saw a sign this morning that said "Vote yes on the School Bond. For the Children." I urge every voter to vote down the AISD Bond Proposal.

If these school board administrators were really passing these proposals for the children, they we would not be having extraordinarily high drop-out rates. We would not be talking about shutting down at least three schools in Austin (Pearce Middle School, Johnston High School, and an elementary school at St Johns and IH-35).

If these bonds were going to strengthen public schools, why do teachers need to constantly go over the heads of their local school board and appeal to the State Legislature for raises each year? Last time I looked, the State Legislature is not responsible for hiring and firing teachers in local school districts...that is up to the local school districts themselves.

These bond proposals are not for the children. In fact, the debt we as a society are racking up is hurting our next generation. Local government debt has risen 5 times greater than the rate of inflation in the last thirty years in Texas. The City of Austin alone has a greater debt to taxpayers than the entire State of Texas! And they continue to ask for more loans!!

The real loan crisis in this country is not with home mortgages, it is with cities and local school boards continuing to receive taxpayer funded loans that can never be paid back by the current generation!

One of the premises of the State Legislature is to not tie the hands of future Sessions of the Legislature with debts, programs, and taxes that the future Legislature cannot control. In essence, local school districts, cities, and county governments break this premise every year in local elections by saddling future school boards, future County Commissioners, and future City Councils with additional debt and programs that cannot be paid by the current revenue stream.

Our public debt at every level is too high. It is up to you, the taxpayers, to vote down every new bond proposal that comes up on the ballot and to ask the tough question of your elected official, "What are you doing to lower my taxes today?" If the elected official cannot answer that question, it is time for a replacement.

Vote no on the AISD bond proposal on May 10.