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Larry T. Spider

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Everything posted by Larry T. Spider

  1. As I said before, reducing the amount of recapture that AISD pays is the biggest concern. Under the new plan, we will go from paying over 700 million to a little under 600 million. While this is a lot of money, it still puts Austin at a significant disadvantage. Other nearby districts such as round rock will pay 0 into recapture. https://house.texas.gov/_media/pdf/committees/FY20-HB-3-CCR-District-Runs.pdf?link_id=4&can_id=9c3810ea26bfc0c3b78a20f8bdbd4c6b&source=email-your-weekly-briefing-special-report-on-school-finance-and-pay-raises&email_referrer=email_554086&email_subject=your-weekly-briefing-special-report-on-school-finance-and-pay-raises
  2. In fairness to the saudis, I would like the US better if most people on social media were beheaded.
  3. Gambling would pay a lot of bills just by keeping Texas dollars in the state. Pot would allow the money already being spent to be taxed. If we are ever going to get serious about property tax relief and not have and income tax then we need more revenue streams.
  4. They will be out at the pool. Rats = rude ass tiddies
  5. From Texas Tribune. Huge if true. The compromise bill, Bonnen said, would reduce recapture payments that wealthier districts pay to shore up poorer districts by $3.6 billion, about 47%. But he also said the state could not afford to completely eliminate recapture, also known as “Robin Hood,” because it would cost too much to completely reimburse school districts from state coffers alone.
  6. The final version of the bill is $11.5 billion over the next two-year fiscal period -- increasing classroom spending by $4.5 billion, lowering property taxes by $5 billion and increasing teacher salaries by $2 billion. Snip The raises are tied to the state's increase to the basic allotment -- the minimum per-student amount the state funds schools. The basic allotment will increase from $5,180 per student to $6,160. Thirty percent of the increase that school districts receive from the basic allotment hike will be dedicated to raises -- most of which must go to teachers, nurses, counselors and librarians. School districts are being told to weight the raises toward teachers who have at least six years of experience. A quarter of the money designated for salary increases can be used for any full-time employee, which gives school districts flexibility to give even steeper teacher raises, or to other staff members like bus drivers, teachers' aides and cafeteria workers. Snip The bill also spends an estimated $452 million over the next two years on an outcomes-based funding program -- rewarding schools with bonus money for every student who graduates and enrolls in college or the military. It does not include a less-popular version of outcomes-based funding that gives bonuses based on third-grade reading scores -- a proposal that the Senate had wanted. https://www.dallasnews.com/news/texas-legislature/2019/05/23/texas-house-senate-strike-deal-bill-fund-schools-teacher-pay-raises-tax-relief No word yet on how/if this impacts recapture. More money per student is great but it doesn’t mean much for AISD if we are still sending 700 million a year to other districts.
  7. Hopeful but nervous on the education side of things. Big opportunity for AISD to get out from behind the eight ball. Addressing recapture is issue number 1. Overall school spending is 2.
  8. Does he have autism or similar tendencies? I don’t mean that in a derogatory way, just that the level of rigidity on this stuff isn’t typical....at all.
  9. Well no shit, I have the cash app and it looks like I can buy bitcoin in about 3 seconds. Now should I....
  10. He’s just starting a conversation that’s worth having. If we aren’t going to fund things that we have to through property taxes then where the fuck is the money going to come from? Everybody hates their property taxes but shits all over all the other options. We can’t even bring up the i word without heads exploding.
  11. I’ll be staying in dt Denver. Thanks for the recs. Breweries are my thing. Especially ones that are not too ipa focused (tough find these days).
  12. What dt or nearby area restaurants and breweries would you recommend? Fun neighborhoods to explore?
  13. I’ll be there for a few nights in June. I’m going to watch the cubs but looking for other stuff to do as well.
  14. 2017: 319k 2018: 322k 2019: 340k The wife went in to protest and got it down to 323k today. Never protested before because it always seemed like a fair valuation until this year. Took about 20 minutes.
  15. Here is the problem with the 5,000 teacher raise and why it is the wrong way to tackle this problem. First, it is only for the next two years. The legislature has done this twice in the past (10 and 20 years ago) where they funded a raise then put it on districts to fund it after those two years. Many districts (aisd) would be in no financial position to carry it forward after that. There could be enough pressure to keep funding it, but I don’t trust legislators or Texas voters enough to bet on it. The other problem is that it doesn’t address the other major funding issues in education. We have many employees that make less than a living wage and this will do nothing for them. It also makes weird dynamics such as more than half of my teachers would make more than me (AP) even though I work more days, have more certifications, etc. I don’t really care, they deserve the money, but it will be hard to get people to take on extra days responsibilities, and pressure and they get a pay cut for their trouble. The same problem would exist for counselors, diagnosticians, etc. I understand the concerns that districts will become top heavy with the money and not really pass it along to teachers. They just need to give the districts the money and make them set aside a certain portion that must go to teachers.
  16. My brother is a supertaster to the extreme. Diet consists mostly of breads and cheese. No meat so I would say he’s a vegetarian but he doesn’t like vegetables either. Not quite sure how he is still alive.
  17. How hard is the language barrier?
  18. These people aren’t receptive to new information and will never change their mind. All you can do it beat them at the ballot box enough to minimize their influence. It’s already happening in the Texas House.
  19. The per student allotment should go up either way, which will help. The senate bill funds schools based on achievement with low income students weighted more. There are some unintended consequences with this but I think it would work out significantly better for AISD. Basically anything but the current system would be an improvement.
  20. Property taxes. There will be a specific increase for voters to approve.
  21. Those were paid for with bonds for that specific purpose that were voted on by the taxpayers. The water park was paid for with general education funds....aka Austin’s recapture money.
  22. This year AISD was forced to reduce custodians per campus and did away with lunch monitors all together. Teacher salaries have stagnated for years and are far behind the other metro areas. 10 years and a masters degree will not crack 50k/yr. La Joys ISD on the border just built a water park. The current system is such trash that it should be scrapped altogether. My goal for this cycle is just for funding to increase enough that some of my teachers can give up their second job.
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