The Clear Creek Independent School District will hold two Town Hall Meetings to get further feedback from the community regarding the Citizens Finance Advisory Committee budget recommendations on:
Monday, June 6, 2011 ~ 6 p.m.
Clear Lake High School (Commons)
Tuesday, June 7, 2011 ~ 6 p.m.
Clear Springs High School (Cafeteria)
If you are unable to attend a Town Hall Meeting, you may send comments on the Citizen Finance Advisory Committee recommendations to
information@ccisd.net.
View the Citizens Finance Advisory Committee Budget Recommendations
The Board of Trustees is expected to take action on the recommendations during the June 27, 2011 General Board Meeting.
For more information, contact the Clear Creek Independent School District at 281-284-0020.
12 comments:
Thanks for posting this. If anyone wants to see a back-of-envelope financial calculation involving one of the CCISD finance committee's recommendations, you can access that here:
http://centerpointeleaguecity.blogspot.com/2011/06/ccisd-budget-issues-non-mandatory.html
I have read Centerpointe Moderator's letter and examined the spreadsheet. This idea is simply brilliant.
The intermittent expansion of my political world from League City to CCISD has happened again. See my quote in the Galveston County Daily News http://galvestondailynews.com/story/237206 . (Also, Anita is my neighbor -- what is it with those high maintenance Brittany Bay citizens?) My understanding is that the elimination of homestead for school property taxes does NOT require a public vote, but an across the board (residential, commercial, lots) tax hike DOES. Here comes a back door tax increase with my name on it. Just another body blow for Galveston County homeowners.
@Chuck - I don't see how elimination of the homestead would qualify as an expansion, or if it DOES, that assertion should be balanced with an acknowledgment of the corresponding contractions. The CCISD tax rate went from 1.77 in 2005 to 1.36 in 2010. Our de facto ISD taxes have gone DOWN by about 23% recently. For this reason, a compensatory elimination of the homestead isn't stimulating outrage in a lot of folks who have done the math. As usual, it's a pity we can't get holistic reporting from the mainstream press on stuff like this. On every frickin' issue, mostly we get some version of the same old sensationalized boilerplate. Drives me nuts, which is why I go to the personal trouble to publish ACTUAL MATH such as the spreadsheet that Morgan enjoyed so much (thanks, by the way!).
CP -- So what about the CCISD tax rate in 2005. It was way too high then. It went from exorbitant to huge, which didn't make me or my checking account feel much better. Now it's creeping back up, like slowly boiling a frog in a pot. Most frogs don't realize what's happening until it's too late. Couple the potential increase in CCISD taxes with the recent increase in Galveston County taxes, and LC tax rate stuck because of high debt service, and soon we northern county homeowners will be paying record property taxes again.
CP - and if you want the math, here goes:
A $200,000 house in 2005 would have had a CCISD exemption of 5% + 15K = 25k. So, the taxable valuation (for school taxes) would have been $200k - $25k = $175k. The CCISD tax rate then was 1.775%, so the school property tax on that house was $175k * 1.775% = $3106.25, in 2005.
Assume that the same house had the same value in 2011, which is reasonable considering the housing market. 2011 property taxes will be payable late 2011/early 2012. If the CCISD homestead exemption is eliminated, the taxable valuation will be $200k. Also assuming that the CCISD property tax rate stays the same as 2010 at 1.36%, the school property tax on that house will be $200k * 1.36% = $2720, in 2011.
So, because of the Texas school funding reformulation of 2006-07, and increases since then, the baseline $200k house would have a net decrease of CCISD taxes of $3106.25 - $2720 = $386.25 from 2005 to 2011, if the homestead exemption is eliminated. So the 23% reduction in taxes will become 12% -- but wait. The "Business Franchise Tax" was imposed around 2006 in the name of reducing property taxes. However, this new tax increased costs borne by retailers, who then passed on the cost to consumers. How much that tax increase costs homeowners is hard to determine exactly (that was the intent), but now the 12% CCISD property tax reduction is closer to zero. The result is no net savings.
I can live with that necessarily-back-of-envelope math. My original observation was that, in the big picture, I didn't perceive a "back door tax increase with [your] name on it". Your subsequent use of the phrase "no net savings" (which is the flip side of "no net costs") seems pretty much consistent with that, within uncertainty.
Comments on Citizen Finance Advisory Committee recommendations, by number:
1. First, divide all taxed properties within CCISD into two categories, homestead and non-homestead.
Transfer the measly 5% homestead exemption to only non-homestead properties, and institute an automatic and irrevocable 5% increase in the exemption each successive tax year until such properties are relieved from tax burden hardship.
Next, increase homestead exemption to 50% and institute an automatic and irrevocable 10% in the exemption each successive tax year until such properties are relieved from tax burden hardship.
In both categories, institute an irrevocable 100% exemption to properties where senior, disabled or other special needs persons identified by the committee reside, regardless of exceptions.
Exceptions to exemption of taxation on properties in both categories can be made for properties where students enrolled in a CCISD school currently reside, unless such students receive vouchers or are enrolled in private, parochial or other alternative school.
2. Do not attempt to expand the scope or jurisdiction of CCISD boundaries by inviting unqualified students, to wit, any living outside the district.
3. No comment.
4. Consider the committee recommendation as stated.
5. Consider the core scope, intent, purpose and limitations CCISD, recognize that "early college" does not qualify, is discriminatory against students who are "late college," and act upon the committee recommendation as stated.
6. Do not consider fees that are not supported by justification, amount, term, phase-out or other limitation thereupon.
7. Consider the committee recommendation as stated.
8. Consider that district participation in special interest perks amounts to discrimination against others who do not utilize them, and act upon the committee recommendation as stated.
9. Do not consider a fee that is not supported by justification, term, phase-out or other limitation thereupon. Consider that it is presumptuous to think such a fee will be justified in the next or ensuing years.
10 Consider application of terms and restraints in the Budget Surd Hardship Injunction Treat to any and all CCISD taxes and fees.
Ok, enough about property taxes for now. My take on CCISD budgetary action items:
(1) Either close down Clear Horizons High School, or change its charter NOW to charge extra tuition (maybe $1k or $2k per year), with no exceptions. And I mean no exceptions. This school is optional, folks, for CCISD, for parents, for kids, and for taxpayers.
(2) Don't allow non-CCISD kids in CCISD unless CCISD makes a profit on each and every outside student.
(3) Charge moderate fees (again no exceptions) for extra-curricular programs and related transport. The $20 per kid for transportation is reasonable.
(4) Keep the dental insurance. Come on, you really want a bunch of teachers with bad teeth?
(5) No teacher furloughs. They don't make that much to start with. They are the front line customer service. I don't want grumpy teachers with bad teeth.
(6) Stop offering courses with chronically low enrollment. Don't play stupid HISD tricks; reassign teachers intelligently. There's no reason why a Latin teacher can't teach English. Teachers should be reassigned within the district to handle shifting enrollment trends. There's no reason why a teacher in Clear X High School can't go across the water to teach at Clear Y High School.
(7) Here's the big one. Expand the teacher/student ratio. If done intelligently, I don't see the need for teacher layoffs. CCISD population is still growing, and teacher turnover is high (also see #6). Also, screw whatever state mandates that exist for fixed ratios. The Texas state legislature is intent on violating its own funding formula laws. Hit back.
Any second rate manager can say "There's always an option." It takes intelligence and aptitude to choose wisely from a set of bad options.
Extra-curricular activities at the high school level should come with a significant participation fee and here's why: students who participate in extra-curricular activities in high school have been groomed for years to be able to participate in those activities. Their parents have justified spending hundreds if not thousands of dollars per year for their child to participate in amateur sports, private music instruction or dance/cheer classes, with anticipation that in high school, their child will be first string, first chair or first squad.
The argument can be made that these activities have nothing to do with the education process and that they actually contribute to negative social activity with the schools.
The importance that is placed on extra-curricular activities is part of what is wrong with our thinking and spending on public education because these programs are not open to everyone who wants to participate. The parents of those elite few need to be prepared to monetarily support the extra-curricular-programs they have spent years grooming their children for because the truth is, only the elite few receive any real benefit, i.e. college scholarships.
I agree, Morgan. Chuck, you're taking a state (public) agency into dangerous territory, talking about (2) "profit" as if it is a private business. The last thing we need is to set-up incentive to grow the state.
I've worked with a lot of people with (4) bad teeth, and my own aren't that great either, come to think of it. Most of us never had dental coverage where we worked, and never judged our teachers on the basis of their teeth. Well, there was that snaggle-toothed spinster in third grade... But that's not the point. Dental coverage is a frill, and part of the reason why it's not "enough" talk about our most outrageous tax bill of them all.
A lot of good feedback and ideas above... did you guys see that Mary Alys published some preliminary results of the CCISD survey yesterday? You might not enjoy some of those numbers! Here's the article...
http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/bay_area/news/article_433e03bc-98f6-56ec-b125-6f6e1861f372.html
...and my follow-up post:
http://centerpointeleaguecity.blogspot.com/2011/06/ccisd-budget-issues-vote-is-partially.html
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