Over the vociferous objections of several prominent African-American and
Hispanic community leaders, on Monday the AISD Board of Trustees adopted a
budget for the 1995-96 school year that is about $1.3 million short on funds
for schools with high percentages of low-income children.
The total budget is $383 million – $3 million less than the 1994-95 budget.
That figure could be amended when the State of Texas provides money in 1995-96
for a new state-mandated, minimum salary schedule. Librarians will remain
full-time on all campuses. But controversy over an eight-year-old program for
low-income children remained the flashpoint of the meeting.
Jeff Travillion, president of the Austin chapter of the NAACP, reminded the
board that AISD is essentially ending its 16-campus Priority Schools program
without “a comprehensive assessment” of the quality of each school’s
instruction or the qualifications of its teachers and administrators. “We
cannot support moving Priority Schools funding without this type of analytical
data,” he said.
But the non-emotional and non-personal rhetoric ended there. Dorothy Turner,
president of the Black Citizens Task Force, criticized superintendent Jim Fox
for being “the coldest-looking superintendent we’ve had in a long time.” She
also questioned whether white school board members were correctly representing
the interests of minority children, who are dispersed throughout all seven
trustee districts. Turner promised to put up a fight when the district’s bond
issue comes up for a vote.
Paul Hernandez, a long-time community activist, demanded that funding for
Priority Schools be totally restored. He accused the board of hiring Fox as a
hatchet man for the programs that benefit minorities. “Your racist arrogance
keeps you ignorant,” he said to Fox.
Gavino Fernandez, a member of El Concilio, an East Austin activist group, said
that AISD should be sued for falsification of a document every time it issues a
high school diploma to a student who cannot read beyond the 10th grade level.
He added that he was sorry he didn’t accept the advice he’d been given a long
time ago: not to trust the white man.
Vice President Jerry Carlson moved to adopt the budget, and was seconded by
President Kathy Rider. Trustee Diana Caste�eda offered a substitute
motion – to increase the proposed tax rate by 2cents, to $1.30 per $100
property valuation, thereby restoring full funding to the Priority Schools, as
well as providing a 3.9% pay raise for classified employees, instead of the
mere 2% increase that was proposed. (Fox had informed the board that the Texas
Legislature will send another $1.6 million for teacher pay increases, boosting
their raise from 3.37% to 4.2%.) Caste�eda’s motion was seconded by
Loretta Edelen.
Nearly every member contributed to the debate on the dais, but it was trustee
Geoff Rips who offered the most cogent defense of the district’s plan. Rips
said that former superintendent Terry Bishop had led him to believe that no
local money whatsoever was going to be available in 1995-96 for Priority
Schools – nor for pay raises, nor for elementary art, music, and P.E.
instruction. Under the present leadership, that extremely grim scenario was
avoided. He pointed out that $12.2 million will still go to low-income schools,
and that 16,000 more students will be served. Much has changed in the
socioeconomic landscape since the inception of Priority Schools. “We can’t
continue paying tribute to old solutions,” Rips said. In response, an audience
member exploded, “You’re a racist idiot!”
Sadly, the vote on Caste�eda’s motion and the vote on the recommended
budget both broke down along racial lines, 7-2. Caste�eda and Edelen
voted to raise taxes and voted against the budget. The remaining members –
Rider, Carlson, Rips, Tom Agnor, Liz Hartman, Ted Whatley, and Melissa Knippa,
voted for the budget and the increased taxes.
The tax rolls in Travis County will not be certified until the end
of July. AISD’s budget is expected to be funded at a zero-effective tax rate of
$1.28 per $100 property valuation; the tax rate will not be adopted until
September.
As for the future: Fox informed the board that the district is looking at
another loss of
$14 million in state aid for 1996-97. In addition to that
loss, AISD will have to spend $4.9 million of local money to fund a new
state-mandated minimum salary schedule. Reductions in programs won’t make up
the losses, he said. A big tax increase will. n
This article appears in June 16 • 1995 and June 16 • 1995 (Cover).