Early Voting Has Already Begun for the Fort Bend ISD Bond Issue

Wow. It came up on us so fast.

The off-off year November 6 2007 general election is looming on the horizon and early voting has already began. You have until Friday November 2nd to cast your vote during early voting. Click here for the Early Vote schedule and polling places.

The election will include 16 proposition issues, constitutional amendments that will be placed before the voters for approval. There are lots of places to learn about the propositions. I particularly like this place because it appears to be fair and balanced.

It will also include a $428 billion bond issue for residents who live within the district boundaries of Fort Bend ISD.

The bond issue is being heavily promoted by the school board, which has set before the voters the largest bond election in FBISD history. Heaven knows what the outcome will be.

Last time residents turned down a bond issue, and approved the one that followed after the board reduced the proposed amount. This time the board is saying that voters can't afford to turn down this bond issue because a demographer that they hired says that the district will rise from its present-day student enrollment of 69,000 to a whopping 88,000 in 2015. That's a 27.5% rise in student population in 8 short years.

Among other things, projects in this bond issue will finance the construction of 4 new elementary schools, 2 new middle schools, and one new high school. The high school by itself is estimated to cost over $70 million. The other big projects are upgrade and renovation projects district wide. Everything from renovating restrooms to resurfacing tennis courts.

I have heard local buzz about opposition to the bond issue, and you know it's got to be there. We are in Fort Bend County afterall, home to some real nutjobs who want the best education possible for their children, but are unwilling to pay for it through an increase in their property taxes. These people are curiously teamed with a group of people who want to see a more even distribution of funding, and not the usual lopsided distribution of funds to new and recently developed areas. They have a point, I just wonder if their point is best served by enhancing the already overcrowded conditions on some district campuses.

It's truly amazing to see how these two groups, of vastly differing politics, have come together on this issue.

On their website, Fort Bend ISD claims that this bond issue will cost taxpayers an extra 11 cents per $100 assessed value which comes out to $180 per year for 3 years (actually it comes out to $198 per year but who's quibbling?).

This, they claim is more than offset by the 42 cents per 100 dollars assessed value tax cut enacted by the board over the past 2 years. This was a reduction in their assessment for Maintenance and Operations. One wonders, though, whether had they not had those reductions, would we not now have to have those upgrades and repairs at existing facilities?

Just sayin' . . .

At any rate, whatever way you vote on this, go vote. Off-off year elections are pitifully attended and your vote counts for so much more in a low turnout election. It is possible, for instance, for a small minority of organized voters to flood the polls with their votes and foist upon everyone else their own ideas, so don't let that happen.

Go vote and make a difference.