AISD Takes November Vote

AISD Board President Mark Williams: Gets a six month contract extension and saves the district $300,000 (Photo by John Anderson)

So the City of Austin looks lonelier than ever with its May election date. Last night, the Austin Independent School District Board of Trustees voted unanimously to shift their elections to November of even numbered years.

The direct effect of this is that the members of the board whose terms expired in May 2012 – President Mark Williams, Secretary Lori Moya, District 2 Trustee Sam Guzman, District 3 Trustee Christine Brister, and At-Large Position 8 Trustee Annette LoVoi – get a six month extension on their unpaid position. The district will save about $300,000 in shared election costs. Of course, that means the city has to dig deeper into its reserves.

By sticking to the May date, Mayor Lee Leffingwell said today, "That election is going to cost the city $1,821,255." That does not include the planned November bond election, which will cost the city another $400,000. "That $1,821,255 is extra cost," Leffingwell said, "It's cost that would have been avoided if we had gone to a November election. This in a year when we were restricting library hours and pool operating hours during winter months and a multitude of other things to make the budget work."

This new AISD vote also puts new pressure on other ISDs within city limits to shift dates, and the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce (which backs the November ballot date) has already called for Eanes and Del Valle ISDs to follow ACC and AISD.

Staff for Eanes said that the board has had preliminary discussions about making the shift, and will meet later today to discuss adding it to the board's agenda. Initially, Del Valle looked likely to stick with the May date. "As of right now, we're not doing anything," district Director of Communications Celina Bley said this morning. However, by early afternoon that had changed and the district is now contemplating starting that discussion after all. As they are covered by the Help America Vote Act, they must share an election date with another local entity. As the biggest one is the city, so they looked likely to keep playing tag-along on the May date. However, since ACC has made the jump, that opens the door for Del Valle to follow suit.

Del Valle is in an unusual position because it elects three of its nine trustees annually to three year terms, unlike AISD trustees who serve a four year term. To shift to even numbered years would mean completely switching their election schedule, not just switching dates. The cost issue also does not effect them, because they are on a fixed rate with the Travis County elections division due to size.

We'll leave the minutiae of council politics to our own City Hall Hustler. Yet the council vote is undoubtedly sitting in a rougher broader political context, now that two of its biggest local governmental partners have opted for November. There was also a pretty strong take-down of the May date in yesterday's Daily Texan, whose editors noted that it falls slap bang in the middle of Finals. As Leffingwell observed, that means run-offs actually take place during the Summer vacations, so a lot of students would be out of town for any second rounds.

So is it too late for the city to switch the date for 2012? Leffingwell said that Senate Bill 100, which started this entire furore, gives them until Dec. 31st to bring the issue back. "However," he added, "as a practical matter, one of the four people who voted for the May option would have to give some indication that, based on the information received, they would wish to reconsider this. Otherwise, it would be a waste of time."