The Austin School Construction Boondoggle

This coming May, the Austin Independent School District (AISD) is going to manufacture a crisis to blackmail voters into approving a billion dollar(*) bond issue that they don't need.  Cahnman's Musings is going to have a lot to say on this topic as the May 11th election approaches.  For now, however, the following two articles are a good start.

Travis County Taxpayers Union -- Another Example of Irresponsible Stewardship:

On the heels of a huge private and public propaganda campaign last fall to mislead Travis County voters into approving a 68% “Central Health District” property tax rate increase, the government round-robin robbery of property taxpayers now moves to AISD in May — just in time for the historically low turnout which maximizes the special interest vote of the government school monopoly.

The political strategy of the school district is very well established, and it’s as simple as ABC....

This strategy has worked for many decades, so why wouldn’t the government school political machine continue to exploit such unethical strategy?  Indeed it will.

Blue-Dot Blues, meanwhile, has the details:

• $140.6 million for health, environment, equipment and technology
• $233.9 million for safety, security and relief from overcrowded schools
• $349.2 million for academic and building infrastructure renovations and repairs
• $168.6 million for academic initiatives, fine arts and athletics

None of this is necessary.  AISD is already $800 million in the hole.  We need to fix education in Texas, but a Billion Dollar debt-financed expansion of the current boondoggle would hurt everyone.

(*) Once interest is factored in.