2009 FBISD Tax Hearing (On YouTube)

CLICK HERE FOR THE 2009 FBISD CONTROVERSIAL TAX HEARING (YES THEY ARE RAISING THEM AGAIN--see petition of over 500 district taxpayers asking for board accountability) --In case anyone missed it they raised the property tax rate again (4th time) in 2010 and more than likely will do so again in 2011 facing another projected 15-20 million dollar budget deficit, according to some media reports. ***NEW*** ..Petition TO STOP THE GSTC (Global Science Museum being planned at the district central office--near $30 million dollar project that superintendent Jenney is pushing): http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/stopthegcst/ (see update below on this apparently ending this project after 2 years)

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

District Consultants Revise Growth Projections (After Last Years RECORD Bond Approval)

See this chronicle piece on how the district is now revising its over-estimated growth projections (made before the record bond vote in 2007):

Slower growth may bring less funding
District in midst of planning for new budget
By ZEN T. C. ZHENG
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

Nervous about a projected much smaller increase in next year's revenues, Fort Bend school officials see a tough task to meet the school district's numerous academic andpersonnel needs.

Mike Seale, the district's chief operations officer, told the school board during a workshop on Monday that 1,250 more students are expected to be added to the district during 2008-09, which would render $6,750 per student from local taxes and state funding.

That would give the district an additional $8.5 million additional in revenue.

"That would be the smallest revenue (increase) this district will have seen in the past 15, 16 years," Seale said.

The projected increase in revenues is in stark contrast with the projection for 2007-08. Dennis Harner, an Austin-based demographer contracted with the district, had predicted that 2,250 more students would have been added to the district, resulting in the district's coffers swolling by $27 million.

However, student enrollment didn't materialize to the level projected, mainly due to a slowdown in high school student population growth, Seale said. As a result, by the end of current school year, the actual increase in revenues would be $20 million, he said.

Harner's inaccurate growth projection led him to adjust his projection of student growth and revenues for 2008-09. . .

Get the full story at: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nb/fortbend/news/5664051.html

In other BOT related news the president of the local school employees federation called for a district investigation into mounting employee complaints...

See related media on the BOT meeting last night:

http://fortbendnow.com/pages/full_story?page_label=home&id=55601&article-Fort-Bend-Employee-Federation-Calls-For-Investigation-Into-FBISD-Bus-Driver-Complaints%20=&widget=push&instance=home_news_bullets&open=&

http://fortbendnow.com/pages/full_story?page_label=home&article-Full-Text-of-Fort-Bend-Employee-Federation-Request-For-Investigation-Into-Transportation-Issues%20=&id=55602&widget=push&instance=home_news_bullets&open=&

http://fortbendnow.com/pages/full_story?article-FBISD-Trustees-Approve-Sale-Of--225-Million-in-Bonds%20=&page_label=home&id=55611&widget=push&instance=home_news_bullets&open=&