Endorsements

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Austin ISD Bond Election

First, a central principle we can all agree on: Austin public schools need our support. The proposed facilities and infrastructure bond package – at $519.5 million – is nothing to sneeze at, and yet the accumulated need is actually larger than that figure. The Citizens' Bond Committee, after reviewing the needs of every school and neighborhood in the district, drafted a $600 million priority list and then pared it to $420 million. Subsequent public forums brought attention to additional needs, hence the current total. (The entire exercise suggests that the AISD board should be considering facility needs at more regular intervals.)

So in general, we support the bond package, and urge citizens to consider all the propositions as serious and thoughtful attempts to address the district needs in a measured and affordable fashion. We welcome the board's late-hour agreement with local unions to address the issue of prevailing wages on all future construction projects, a commitment we will continue to monitor – neither local workers and their families nor the schools should suffer the consequences of inadequate wage scales. We also applaud the board's decision to place six distinct proposals on the ballot, so that voters can set their own priorities and distinguish among them.

As we do here:

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Propositions 2, 3, 4, and 6: YES

Four of the six propositions – totaling about $291 million – address long-recognized district needs, ranging from campus renovations and technology infrastructure to improved athletics facilities (a joint project with the city of Austin). The details range from such things as asbestos abatement to replacement of three grass athletic fields (Burger, Nelson, House Park) with new generation artificial turf (described as both cheaper and safer). Proposition 3 includes both "safety and security" upgrades and low-emission buses. Proposition 6 is the refinancing of contractual debt to allow both savings on interest and moving money to staff salaries.

The Chronicle urges your support of all four of these propositions.

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Proposition 1: YES

Proposition 1 is a more complicated matter, proposing $183.5 million for both the expansion of existing campuses (where overcrowding has placed far too many children in "temporary" portable facilities) as well as the construction of several new schools. The latter project is more mixed – some of the schools (in Northeast, Southeast, and South Central) are undeniably needed, indeed long overdue, and we endorse them wholeheartedly. There is also a sizable allocation for new or future elementary and middle school campuses in Southwest areas that potentially threaten the Edwards Aquifer recharge or contributing zones. While we're not delighted that the district has effectively chosen to ratify residential growth patterns that were ill-advised in the first place, on balance we are persuaded by the board's argument that it must serve the school-age children of all Austin neighborhoods, and will do so in Save Our Springs-compliant campuses. Where the overcrowding need is great, we endorse the new construction, but as the district grows we expect the board to be vigilant against serving speculative developers instead of school children.

The Chronicle recommends a vote in favor of Proposition 1.

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Proposition 5: NO

Proposition 5 includes funds for a new, districtwide performing arts center and a new Southwest middle school. We are convinced by the city's growth patterns and the bond committee's work that most if not all of the construction proposed in Proposition 1 is necessary and sensible. But on Proposition 5, which includes matters added to the bond package by the board over and above the initial recommendations of the citizens committee, we remain unpersuaded. We would support the proposed, and greatly needed, performing arts center – and presume that the board can return to voters quickly on that matter – but we have not been convinced that the district needs another Southwest middle school on the edge of the aquifer's recharge zone, especially when there are already several middle schools nearby and close to the neighborhood that are underenrolled. District officials say they will obey the letter of the Save Our Springs Ordinance. We believe Proposition 5 violates the spirit of SOS because it unnecessarily reinforces, by institutional inertia, developmental growth patterns that endanger the community's best values, its health, and indeed its unique character as a city. Moreover, the default arrangement whereby the land now designated for a school will become apartments should the voters disapprove the bonds, amounts to blackmail-by-developer. Elected officials cannot continue to throw up their hands and say, "There's nothing we can do about sprawl" – when they endorse decisions that make sprawl inevitable.

The Chronicle urges voters to reject Proposition 5.

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EARLY VOTING SITES

Early voting in the AISD bond election starts Wednesday, Aug. 25, and runs through Sept. 7; Election Day is Sept. 11. For more info, see www.austin.isd.tenet.edu/about/initiatives/bond2004/index.phtml.

AISD's Carruth Administration Center: 1111 W. Sixth, at the main foyer info desk, Mon.-Fri., 8am-4pm, Aug. 25-27, Aug. 30-Sept. 3, and Sept. 7.

AISD campuses: All 74 elementary schools and 12 high schools, Mon.-Fri., 7-10am and 3-6pm, Aug. 30-Sept. 3, and Sept. 7.

Retail locations: Mon.-Fri. 7am-6pm, Sat.-Sun. 10am-4pm, Aug. 25-Sept. 5.

Home Depot, 7211 N. I-35

Home Depot, 1200 Home Depot Rd. (Brodie Lane)

Home Depot, 10107 Research

Fiesta Mart, 3909 N. I-35

Randalls, 2025 W. Ben White

Albertsons, Stassney, 5510 S. I-35

Northcross Mall, 2525 W. Anderson