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Trustees,
I received all the information for the Superintendent contract and budget discussion just last evening (June 9, 2021) around 4:30pm. I do not feel this is adequate time to prepare for tonight on such important topics. I personally was not provided enough time to prepare for tonight so I do not believe we should take action on anything tonight. In our policy it states that meeting material will be provided the Friday before the meeting so that is more reasonable. I think all Trustees should be given enough time to prepare and be involved in the process before action is taken. It is almost impossible to listen to follow Trustees or staff while also trying to read through the wealth of material and review everything. I have also heard of past decisions that the board rushed through and voted on only to find out later that things were not as they seemed so I request we pump the breaks and would like to mainly focus on the budget this evening since it has a hard deadline of June 30th and there is no deadline for the Superintendent contract.
I agree Dr Bone. I received the contract at 4 pm yesterday via email. I was at an event all evening last night and today I have work crews at my house and two kids doing virtual learning from home occupying our personal computers. I’m only able to contribute to this post because my daughter is on a break right now. There is no way that I have had the time to properly review, research and vet this 11 page, high dollar contract. I am not a contract or employment lawyer and 24 hours just isn’t enough time for me to do the work this deserves and our community expects.
I emailed Pres Weir and our attorney, Mr Poneck, yesterday asking for this agenda item to be tabled tonight (not removed from the agenda) so that we can devote the entire evening to the important budget work. She said I would have to make a motion in the meeting tonight to table the item (D1), which I plan to do. My ask is that we devote our Monday (14 Jun 2021) meeting to the work and any action on the proposed superintendent contract after we have all had time to deliver our best work and preparation to the community.
I have regrets about the speedy timeline of our superintendent search. I believe that it should have been a little slower process and that I could have done more to advocate for more transparency to the community. I have made a lot of mistakes in my life but I seldom repeat mistakes. I don’t intent to ignore the lessons from the supt search. I intend to apply them to the contract process and the other work that is on the horizon for this board.
I am not an employment lawyer; the contract draft is standard boilerplate text. Mr. Poneck stated clearly the key terms in the email with ~100 words. Special terms, though, may take time to craft.
We all agreed with the search process and timeline beforehand. Any alternative schedule would mean another year of wait. The search firm has been transparent throughout the process and kept us within schedule while accommodating additional community focus groups upon requests from trustees. If anything, there are some lessons to learn how to conduct efficient and effective meetings from them.
I apologize for any possible mischaracterization, but here is my take on the budget workshop.
Trustee Weston: lower the tax now to the bare minimum and raise the tax in the future as needed.
Trustee Vessa: be fiscally prudent so that we can give best education possible
Trustee Bone: pay off our debts early to reduce interest payment
Trustee Feller, Weir and Harrison: see both sides of the arguments for the golden penny and I&S rate reductionWe spent ~3 hours last week and again ~3 hours last night on the budget discussion. From Nov – June, we spent >80% of our board meeting time on construction and budget. Budget issue is very important. But even for a layman (me), the basics of school finance is not that difficult to comprehend. The same arguments have been heard over and over again on the dais. It’s more of philosophical differences: some people buy bitcoins, while others stuff cash under the mattress.
As much as I don’t like it, in the future I will move motions to limit individual’s time for both open and close sessions as needed to respect the audience of the board meetings.
I am risk averse, financially. I can reluctantly agree to a 1 gold penny and 2 I&S pennies swap, but that’s my absolute limit on reduction. I won’t go into a back and forth marathon and my argument is succinct: there is a difference between dieting and starving. We are at an uncertain economic time with inflation hanging and we are spending the least among neighboring school districts on each kid. I trust professional advice.
As for virtual, though I am disappointed, I respect the administration’s advice on where we should spend our energy to help. I will hold the administration accountable for a ‘safe’ plan in July, clearly stating upfront what the schools can or cannot do according to various constraints, whether it’s because of logistics challenges or state/TEA laws.
I was present for last night’s budget meeting and have been present for all budget meetings since I was elected in Nov 2020.
Human capital represents the lion’s share of RRISD’s expenses. Dr Presley has told us repeatedly that he recommends we engage the next superintendent on finding efficiencies in our staffing models as he (Presley) believes meaningful efficiencies exist. That’s why I stated last night that I believe our M&O budget should look very different this time next year. Raising the tax rate at a time when the federal government is infusing our district with $14.5M this year and $14.5 M next year, property valuations are explosive and both the CPI and inflation rates are the highest since the economic meltdown of 2008 and prior to an efficiency audit demonstrates a lack of insight and sensitivity to our taxpayers who fund our schools. I can’t predict the future because I am not an oracle. I can only assume that in two years when the federal money dries up, this district might actually be a position to need access to an easily accessible funding source. We should preserve this source for whoever sits on our seats in two years. I do not support increasing the tax rate by this final golden penny right now. Let’s not forget that failure to preserve the flexibility this golden penny represents will likely result in RRISD having to go to the voters sooner rather than later and asking for approval of a tax increase.
Furthermore, although I would like to see our I&S tax rate reduced another half penny, I am satisfied with the currently proposed rate of twenty-four cents per one hundred dollars in property valuation so long as we do not increase the M&O tax rate by that 5th golden penny. If RRISD had a history of addressing the billion dollars + of debt that we have carried for over a decade, I might feel differently. Instead, I see a history of keeping the I&S tax rate high so as to not have to tell the voters that passing bonds does in fact increase their property tax burden.
I have said multiple times from the dais (and again last night) that HB3 from the 86th legislature represents a major change in what voters will see in ballot language on school bonds including the next RRISD school bond. For the first time, ballot language will explicitly tell voters “This is a property tax increase” whether we raise the I&S rate or not. If bonds are worth passing, they are worth paying for. As I stated above, so long as we do not approve increasing the M&O tax rate with the 5th (and last) golden penny, I am content with the I&S tax rate where Dr Adix has it currently.
Lastly, even with a $17M deficit budget, there is no way we will actually end the FY with a $17M deficit. Dr Adix has explained this many times and I have seen that this is true in all the years I have been attending RRISD budget workshops long before I was an elected trustee. Every RRISD budget I have seen delivers a much smaller deficit (easily addressed with the $100M+ we have in fund balance) that what was predicted when the budget was passed by the board of trustees.
Dear Fellow Trustees,
Trustee Weston makes a valid point in the amount of debt RRISD has. However, the voters of RRISD approved this debt. They felt it necessary to meet the maintenance and facility needs of the district. In terms of our I&S tax rate, our CFO clearly stated his plan. He wants to pay off the debt as quickly as possible to save the taxpayers interest. It is like paying extra on your mortgage each month. I am sure many citizens in Round Rock ISD do that (pay extra on their morgage payment), because they see the benefit long term of paying less in interest.
Trustee Weston is also correct that we often do not realize the entirety of our projected deficit. But may I remind everyone of my cautions. The deficit projected (about $17M if we don’t use the golden penny) is likely understated. If we lose students because we cannot provide a virtual option, that could increase it significantly. Moreover, the 1% raise for staff was not sufficient. If we want to fund the additional $500 stipend originally proposed or a stipend for the 60 hours of training required by the legislature for the Reading Academy, we could be facing a significantly higher deficit – maybe even in the range of $30M or more.
In terms of efficiencies, our district spends less per student than any neighboring district. I looked at the PEIMS data and will email you the charts. So, while there may be limited efficiencies to be found, they are limited. We are already spending the least. How much less can we spend before we impact the quality of education we can provide?
I hope these clarifications inform your vote next week. If you have other questions of me, I am happy to answer.
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