Official Endorsement: AGAINST AISD Bond Propositions 1 - 4

"The rich rules over the poor,
And the borrower is servant to the lender."
Proverbs 22:7

You probably did not know that, for the next two weeks, there is an election in Austin Independent School District.  AISD is trying to pass a BILLION dollar bond issue in a low turnout early May election.  The fact that you are (probably) first reading about this election on this blog is reason enough to slow this process down and vote AGAINST Propositions 1 to 4.

A low turnout May election maximizes the special interest vote.  Election day is May 11th.  That's the Saturday before Mother's Day.  Why would you hold an election on Mother's Day weekend if you wanted to maximize citizen participation?!?  Let's slow this process down.

AISD is currently sitting on (page 150) $230 Million in 'authorized but not issued' bonds from previous elections.  Why is AISD asking for a second line of credit before they exhaust their first?!?  Will politically connected contractors benefit at the expense of the public?!?  Let's slow this process down and answer these questions.

It isn't a secret that Cahnman's Musings has questioned AISD's financial stewardship for awhile.  AISD has a record number of administrators earning six-figure salaries, but they can't seem to find the money to pay teachers.  Pouring another Billion dollars into a broken, top-down, system won't fix anything.  Personally, Cahnman's Musings believes this bond issue is an expensive Band Aid on a system that needs radical surgery.  Let's slow this process down.

Debt is bad; interest drives out teachers.  In the next economic downturn, these bonds will still have to be paid off.  When the district is inevitably forced to choose between repaying bonds or paying teachers, teachers will lose.  If it goes through, this bond issue will lead to teacher layoffs in the next 3 to 7 years.  Let's slow this process down.

Senator Ted Cruz has said that when you want to pass something bad in Washington, you do it fast.  That's just as true with our local school board as it is with the federal government.  We can't do anything about the federal government at the moment, but (if we show up) we can control our local school board.    Let's slow this process down.

A low turnout May election, that maximizes the special interest vote, stinks.  Unfortunately, AISD has already called this election.  We're stuck with it, but we can still control its outcome.  Voting only takes two minutes, and if people show up to vote, we can shift this discussion to a more appropriate time and place.  In order to slow this process down, and for taxpayers to have time for due diligence, Cahnman's Musings urges all readers to VOTE AGAINST AISD BOND PROPOSITIONS 1 to 4!!!

Update: Early voting begins today and runs through May 7th; you can find early voting locations here.

Update II: Yet another reason to slow this process down -- AISD's facilities director (the person in charge of bond monies) resigned out of nowhere last week.