big daddy russ
04-15-2003, 11:56 AM
I've always been for a Robin Hood Act, but the law as it stands now sucks. Our school district (Ingleside) has been in the hole due to the Act for the past three or four years and is now having to take drastic measures to keep the district running. As I said, I love helping out other schools, especially those in our own district, but I still think the Act must be restructured so that the richer schools don't suffer. This article appeared in the Corpus Christi Caller-Times today and will explain a lot more.
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Ingleside delays more school cuts
Some sports progrms had faced extinction
By Jaime Powell Caller-Times
April 15, 2003
INGLESIDE - Parents and community members are outraged that their school district may cut or restructure athletic programs, even though their school district is rich by state standards.
Monday night the school board tabled the issue of whether to cut coaches, teachers and sports programs including cross-country, soccer, golf, tennis and power lifting. About 200 people attended the meeting.
"Of course we are going to fight this," said Kathy Belser, the mother of 13-year-old golfer, Katie Belser. "We have always had plenty of money in this district. I do not think they are using their money correctly."
Two school board members were absent from the district's Monday meeting. School board members who attended the meeting said they wanted to put off discussing the issue because of the board members' absences.
The proposed cutbacks follow others in March when the school board had considered cutting 11 positions - band and choir positions, which survived, and those of nine other employees who were not so lucky.
Last year, the district froze salaries, cut six positions through attrition and offered an early retirement plan to employees. Twenty district employees took advantage of the early retirement option and were not replaced. Altogether, those economies saved the district $500,000 last year, Superintendent Ed Lyman has said.
Because of a its large industrial tax base, the Ingleside Independent School District is considered rich. But, since 1994, each year the district has returned nearly 20 percent of its annual budget to the state under the "Robin Hood" law that uses money from wealthier school districts to help poorer school districts. For the past nine years that law has cost the district $3 million to $3.5 million a year. The district has a $17 million budget for the 2002-2003 school year.
Ingleside Mayor Willie Vaden said that loss has played a big part in the school district's financial woes. He said that most of the district's schools were built in the 1930s and 1940s and that the district does not have a weight room or auditorium.
"Stop and think," Vaden said. "If we did not have Robin Hood, we could completely rebuild the schools.
"If you go to school in Aransas Pass, Sinton, Taft, they are poor school districts. Ingleside, Portland and Port Aransas are carrying the burden for the whole area," Vaden said. "You have been through the downtown. Do we look rich? Go to Robstown. Look at the brand new things they have. They got it because they are poor. I am a little angry about that."
Lyman was out of town on Monday. When teaching positions were cut last month, he said that the district's expenses had exceeded revenues for six of the past eight years and that cuts would have to happen somewhere.
Belser said the cuts proposed currently are ridiculous.
"If it is going to Robin Hood, that is wrong," she said. "The way things are we want to pull our kids out and put them where they can get good programs."
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Is there anyone else out there whose district is facing similar problems?
*****
Ingleside delays more school cuts
Some sports progrms had faced extinction
By Jaime Powell Caller-Times
April 15, 2003
INGLESIDE - Parents and community members are outraged that their school district may cut or restructure athletic programs, even though their school district is rich by state standards.
Monday night the school board tabled the issue of whether to cut coaches, teachers and sports programs including cross-country, soccer, golf, tennis and power lifting. About 200 people attended the meeting.
"Of course we are going to fight this," said Kathy Belser, the mother of 13-year-old golfer, Katie Belser. "We have always had plenty of money in this district. I do not think they are using their money correctly."
Two school board members were absent from the district's Monday meeting. School board members who attended the meeting said they wanted to put off discussing the issue because of the board members' absences.
The proposed cutbacks follow others in March when the school board had considered cutting 11 positions - band and choir positions, which survived, and those of nine other employees who were not so lucky.
Last year, the district froze salaries, cut six positions through attrition and offered an early retirement plan to employees. Twenty district employees took advantage of the early retirement option and were not replaced. Altogether, those economies saved the district $500,000 last year, Superintendent Ed Lyman has said.
Because of a its large industrial tax base, the Ingleside Independent School District is considered rich. But, since 1994, each year the district has returned nearly 20 percent of its annual budget to the state under the "Robin Hood" law that uses money from wealthier school districts to help poorer school districts. For the past nine years that law has cost the district $3 million to $3.5 million a year. The district has a $17 million budget for the 2002-2003 school year.
Ingleside Mayor Willie Vaden said that loss has played a big part in the school district's financial woes. He said that most of the district's schools were built in the 1930s and 1940s and that the district does not have a weight room or auditorium.
"Stop and think," Vaden said. "If we did not have Robin Hood, we could completely rebuild the schools.
"If you go to school in Aransas Pass, Sinton, Taft, they are poor school districts. Ingleside, Portland and Port Aransas are carrying the burden for the whole area," Vaden said. "You have been through the downtown. Do we look rich? Go to Robstown. Look at the brand new things they have. They got it because they are poor. I am a little angry about that."
Lyman was out of town on Monday. When teaching positions were cut last month, he said that the district's expenses had exceeded revenues for six of the past eight years and that cuts would have to happen somewhere.
Belser said the cuts proposed currently are ridiculous.
"If it is going to Robin Hood, that is wrong," she said. "The way things are we want to pull our kids out and put them where they can get good programs."
*****
Is there anyone else out there whose district is facing similar problems?