What the fuck is wrong with you, Austin?

[PvilleStang 2917]

39 minutes ago, ABSR said:

Time served!

He pulled the trigger in Wilco, not Travis.  Jose Garza can't screw this one up.

[Samson's Wig 3193]

When it comes to these shootings, it seems like "WTF is wrong with you, towns within a 1.5-hour drive from Austin?" may be more appropriate.  Austin is full of Liams, Olivias, Elijahs, Isabellas, Olivers, and Emmas, who just moved to Austin from Brooklyn or San Francisco (or even worse, DFW).  They aren't shooting a damn thing, even if they may be a larger cause for concern than dumbass teenagers with firearms.

[MAUFRAIS 6630]

Liam and me, we gonna fuck you up

[Deej 76858]

1 hour ago, MAUFRAIS said:

Liam and me, we gonna fuck you up

 

[DaggerHorns 3085]

I hope they go after his parents.

How did he get his gun?

[Brisketexan 105175]

3 minutes ago, DaggerHorns said:

I hope they go after his parents.

How did he get his gun?

This is Texas - I presume that he was issued one when he completed 8th grade?

[Deej 76858]

6 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

This is Texas - I presume that he was issued one when he completed 8th grade?

I thought 8th grade boys had to give Dan Patrick a handy before they could get a gun. 

[YGIFS 19452]

No see, what he did was he drove a stolen vehicle during a BLM riot from San Antonio to Chicago and traded the fentanyl inside for the guns.  Got back to Round Rock to shoot up the joint in the name of gang warfare despite being mentally ill.  Or something.  Who gives a shit anymore?  Two families grow up without a Mom now and we'll get up and do nothing about preventing this kinda shit tomorrow.  What the fuck makes Central Texas so goddamn special in all of this.  

[B00M 6430]

4 hours ago, Deej said:

Fucked up by not shooting in Travis County.

Hey man, APD would’ve gotten around to investigating this in 6-8 weeks

[B00M 6430]

1 minute ago, YGIFS said:

No see, what he did was he drove a stolen vehicle during a BLM riot from San Antonio to Chicago and traded the fentanyl inside for the guns.  Got back to Round Rock to shoot up the joint in the name of gang warfare despite being mentally ill.  Or something.  Who gives a shit anymore?  Two families grow up without a Mom now and we'll get up and do nothing about preventing this kinda shit tomorrow.  

What would you suggest? Article says the kid they arrested has no criminal history. 

[Deej 76858]

2 minutes ago, B00M said:

Hey man, APD would’ve gotten around to investigating this in 6-8 weeks

You're optimistic. 

[YGIFS 19452]

3 minutes ago, B00M said:

What would you suggest? Article says the kid they arrested has no criminal history. 

good question.  I've known of DA's in Texas that keep the criminal records of minors sealed from everyoneTh from schools to employers to gun shops.  Some throw it out there robustly.  It not only varies from state to state, but even county to county.  There are gun sales involving known 16yo felons with full dossiers, and the sale 'happens' anyway.  There are 18yo responsible hunters who can't buy a gun in some places because a DA flagged a couplf of drug misdemeanors.  If 2024 has taught us anything, our judicial system is about as consistent as our electrical grid.  

[jimmyjazz 46000]

31 minutes ago, Deej said:

I thought 8th grade boys had to give  finger Dan Patrick a handy before they could get a gun. 

fify

[YGIFS 19452]

You don't even have to handy/finger Dan Patrick to get a gun.  Just tell him his pleated ladies slacks look super smart-casual and promise him you'll drive to Houston to get him those Indigo Girls tickets with Wooderson tomorrow. 

[Armybrat 40855]

10 hours ago, Samson's Wig said:

I’m always amazed how much worse traffic is on the weekends than week days.  Week days it’s really just the rush hours bringing people in.  Saturday and Sunday it’s all damn day.  If it weren’t for you knuckle dragging suburbanites, traffic in Austin would be just fine.

You are slowing me down sonny, get outta my way!

[Armybrat 40855]

5 hours ago, Deej said:

17

Geezus, smh.

[PvilleStang 2917]

YGIFS on the CR streak I see.  Dude's going to be in jail for a while, I wouldn't worry about him getting a gun anytime soon.  Hell, dude might not make it 5 years given what he did.  Pretty sure the gangs on the inside will give him a warm reception when he gets to his long term facility.

[crash_davis 23114]

AISD $41M budget deficit. Anyone see a problem? Time to bitch about Recapture and what the state does with the money. 

 

https://communityimpact.com/austin/south-central-austin/education/2024/06/20/a-potential-tax-increase-41m-deficit-and-no-staff-pay-raises-what-you-need-to-know-about-austin-isds-budget/

A potential tax increase, $41M deficit and no staff pay raises: What you need to know about Austin ISD's budget

Education Austin, the labor union for Austin ISD employees, rallied at the district administrative building April 25 before a board meeting, advocating for issues including pay raises. The Fiscal Year 2024-25 budget does not include funding for higher pay. (Elle Bent/Community Impact)

Austin ISD officials approved a Fiscal Year 2024-25 operating budget of $953.99 million and took on a deficit of $41.25 million June 20—with the assumption that voters will approve a tax rate increase in November.

Breaking it down

The district generated $1.69 in revenue from local tax dollars for the upcoming fiscal year. After the district loses $821.06 million to recapture—when the state takes local property tax dollars from a district to redistribute to other public school districts—AISD is operating at $953.99 million with a deficit of $78.2 million.

However, if vacancy savings and a tax rate increase occur, the deficit is reduced to $41.25 million; without these, the $78 million deficit will be the largest in the district’s history.

The new budget was drafted under the following assumptions that impact funding:

An enrollment of 73,100 students and an average daily attendance of 64,100 students

A property value growth of 6%

A proposed tax rate of $0.9287 per $100 of property value, pending voter approval

Officials made about $29 million in cuts to central office positions, overtime costs and more throughout this spring for FY 2024-25 in order to avoid a deficit as large as $89 million. Additionally, a hiring freeze for vacant central office positions began June 1.

The board also adopted a food service fund at $47.42 million and a debt service fund of $241.25 million June 20.

[YGIFS 19452]

3 minutes ago, PvilleStang said:

YGIFS on the CR streak I see.  Dude's going to be in jail for a while, I wouldn't worry about him getting a gun anytime soon.  Hell, dude might not make it 5 years given what he did.  Pretty sure the gangs on the inside will give him a warm reception when he gets to his long term facility.

I didn't bring up Dan Patric, handjobs, fingering, or guns on this thread.  Others did.  I was merely attempting to tie it altogether into a Subaru/Lane Bryant commercial.  Only time I worry about you is when you quit bitching.

[Samson's Wig 3193]

45 minutes ago, crash_davis said:

AISD $41M budget deficit. Anyone see a problem? Time to bitch about Recapture and what the state does with the money. 

 

https://communityimpact.com/austin/south-central-austin/education/2024/06/20/a-potential-tax-increase-41m-deficit-and-no-staff-pay-raises-what-you-need-to-know-about-austin-isds-budget/

A potential tax increase, $41M deficit and no staff pay raises: What you need to know about Austin ISD's budget

Education Austin, the labor union for Austin ISD employees, rallied at the district administrative building April 25 before a board meeting, advocating for issues including pay raises. The Fiscal Year 2024-25 budget does not include funding for higher pay. (Elle Bent/Community Impact)

Austin ISD officials approved a Fiscal Year 2024-25 operating budget of $953.99 million and took on a deficit of $41.25 million June 20—with the assumption that voters will approve a tax rate increase in November.

Breaking it down

The district generated $1.69 in revenue from local tax dollars for the upcoming fiscal year. After the district loses $821.06 million to recapture—when the state takes local property tax dollars from a district to redistribute to other public school districts—AISD is operating at $953.99 million with a deficit of $78.2 million.

However, if vacancy savings and a tax rate increase occur, the deficit is reduced to $41.25 million; without these, the $78 million deficit will be the largest in the district’s history.

The new budget was drafted under the following assumptions that impact funding:

An enrollment of 73,100 students and an average daily attendance of 64,100 students

A property value growth of 6%

A proposed tax rate of $0.9287 per $100 of property value, pending voter approval

Officials made about $29 million in cuts to central office positions, overtime costs and more throughout this spring for FY 2024-25 in order to avoid a deficit as large as $89 million. Additionally, a hiring freeze for vacant central office positions began June 1.

The board also adopted a food service fund at $47.42 million and a debt service fund of $241.25 million June 20.

AISD is fucked.  It's nothing new, but it makes me sad every time I think about it. Selfishly, it's in part because I don't want to move or pay private school tuition again.  More broadly, it's a disgrace what the party of family values is doing to children in this state. Once TEA backs up their evangelical truck of bullshit to loot what is left of AISD, which is any year now, we'll pull the kids immediately.  Not putting them through what those kids in Houston are dealing with.   Texas should be completely fucking ashamed of itself for recapture, but the good folks in the suburbs don't care because they got theirs. 

Raising taxes again is exactly what the crooks in office want, as it provides them with more plunder. I feel stupid every time I pause and actually think about why we live here. 

[PvilleStang 2917]

17 minutes ago, Samson's Wig said:

AISD is fucked.  It's nothing new, but it makes me sad every time I think about it. Selfishly, it's in part because I don't want to move or pay private school tuition again.  More broadly, it's a disgrace what the party of family values is doing to children in this state. Once TEA backs up their evangelical truck of bullshit to loot what is left of AISD, which is any year now, we'll pull the kids immediately.  Not putting them through what those kids in Houston are dealing with.   Texas should be completely fucking ashamed of itself for recapture, but the good folks in the suburbs don't care because they got theirs. 

Raising taxes again is exactly what the crooks in office want, as it provides them with more plunder. I feel stupid every time I pause and actually think about why we live here. 

Which party enacted Robinhood / recapture?  I'll give you a hint: it was before Texas turned red...

 

I think the bigger thing: it's political suicide to try to undo the current arrangement, as the benefitting ISDs are loving their golden goose and don't want to lose funding to their golf courses and water parks.

 

 

[royiv 9332]

19 minutes ago, PvilleStang said:

Which party enacted Robinhood / recapture?  I'll give you a hint: it was before Texas turned red...

 

I think the bigger thing: it's political suicide to try to undo the current arrangement, as the benefitting ISDs are loving their golden goose and don't want to lose funding to their golf courses and water parks.

 

 

Would diverting funds from those ISDs to fund private schools be political suicide? Because one party is going hard in the paint with that agenda right now.

[YGIFS 19452]

1 hour ago, PvilleStang said:

Which party enacted Robinhood / recapture?  I'll give you a hint: it was before Texas turned red...

 

I think the bigger thing: it's political suicide to try to undo the current arrangement, as the benefitting ISDs are loving their golden goose and don't want to lose funding to their golf courses and water parks.

 

 

That's a good point.  Almost as good as that party promising to reform it for 30 years while controlling both chambers, the Governor's Mansion, and the Supreme Court.  If only we had more time, eh?..................

[Orange&White 5528]

Stop it. Take it to the CR shithole, fuckers.

[YGIFS 19452]

Oh, did I bring up recapture or was it another poster?  You seem literate.  Riddle us, dipshit.  

[Orange&White 5528]

1 minute ago, YGIFS said:

Oh, did I bring up recapture or was it another poster?  You seem literate.  Riddle us, dipshit.  

Maybe you didn't bring it up, fuckface, but you are damn sure perpetuating it. Shut the fuck up.

[YGIFS 19452]

It's a thread about Austin.  AISD's situation is bound to come up, with regard to recapture.  Others brought it up first.  I know maths hurt your brain.  We should fix the system, I think everybody can agree on that.  

[Brisketexan 105175]

3 minutes ago, YGIFS said:

We should fix the system, I think everybody can agree on that.  

No.  They can't.  And THAT is a CR conversation.

Austin will be an urban school district that ultimately fails, by design and by intention of state leadership.  Just start from that fact, and we can talk about how shitty Austin is and will get.

[LCHorn 2624]

I think we can all agree that Austin ISD is screwed in the current arrangement.  What I cannot understand understand is their failure to adapt to it.  It’s like there’s a budget shortfall every year…

Also, given the power that’s been accumulated in the governors office, it would seem to me that an AISD affiliated (but totally separate, wink wink)  PAC should be spending money on influencing the incumbent.  

As we’ve seen from the two assholes in West Texas, it doesn’t appear to cost that much to buy yourself a governor.  

[Brisketexan 105175]

1 minute ago, LCHorn said:

I think we can all agree that Austin ISD is screwed in the current arrangement.  What I cannot understand understand is their failure to adapt to it.  It’s like there’s a budget shortfall every year…

It would require shutting down multiple schools.  Leaving areas without a school to serve them (because you can't shuffle and just build a new school at the midpoint as you rearrange things).  It's the biggest challenge for a large urban district that's getting starved of dollars.

Shutting down schools is the only way to get there.  So, which neighborhoods do you want to tell "you don't get a school anymore, all your kids can ride the bus for an extra 20-30 minutes to go to school?"  It's going to be a really, really shitty conversation, and a lot of angry, fucked over people.

[ChickenSandwich 9843]

$953 million for 73,000 enrolled students, down from 77,000 previously.  Maybe there are other issues to address.

[Samson's Wig 3193]

Gotta love the response of, "Just learn to live with it", to what amounts to direct theft from a school district whose residents pay significantly more than any other district in the state just to allow dipshits in the suburbs to have football palaces and robotic labs that no one uses.  Kind of reminds one of Clayton William's "May as well lay back and enjoy it" line (which was amazingly repurposed by a dipshit candidate in Michigan in 2022).

This all ultimately amounts to taxation without representation, and if the shoe were on the other foot the folks in the burbs would be marching on the capitol with guns.  I don't want to see vouchers pass, but it will be fascinating to watch all the handwringing from the same crowd when their public schools get as shitty as city school districts are now.  We just can't stop electing criminals in this state, and it baffles me when the default setting of most Texans, regardless of their politics, is to be hardworking and honest.  It's been an amazing and scary con to watch play out since the nineties.

[royiv 9332]

7 minutes ago, ChickenSandwich said:

$953 million for 73,000 enrolled students, down from 77,000 previously.  Maybe there are other issues to address.

Fuck them kids.

[Samson's Wig 3193]

NM will repost. 

Edited June 21 by Samson's Wig

[YGIFS 19452]

I think some of y'all are being insensitive to Orange&White's sensitiveness.  

[swraith 347]

17 minutes ago, ChickenSandwich said:

$953 million for 73,000 enrolled students, down from 77,000 previously.  Maybe there are other issues to address.

That is $13k per student enrolled.  That doesn't seem out of line.  

[Brisketexan 105175]

22 minutes ago, ChickenSandwich said:

$953 million for 73,000 enrolled students, down from 77,000 previously.  Maybe there are other issues to address.

Two concerns you raise: dollars per student, and declining enrollment.

On the dollars per student front, AISD is 100% in line with every other large urban district in the state: Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Waco, El Paso.  All have lately been in the $11,000 per student expenditure range (SA is actually a bit higher, at $13k, Austin's declining enrollment has bumped it up to that range, but remember, most costs are fixed -- it costs the same to keep a school open at 450 kids as it does at 500 kids).  Austin is not being fiscally irresponsible.  It costs money to run schools in an urban area.  Some suburban districts spend less, some spend more, their costs are more variable.  And yeah, blah blah blah, we can look at every budget and find shit to trim, shit we think is a waste....and we can also find things that are really important that are way underfunded (e.g., special education), so the idea that it just takes a bidness man or someone to come in, and AISD will be an A-#1 system operating on a $9k per student budget is a fantasy.

Declining enrollment?  Yeah, it's a challenge.  A real challenge, but it's by-and-large not one of AISD's making.  The 4,000 students you point to didn't just hop over to private schools (some did, I'm sure).  Most of them moved out of the city because of affordability.  Bottom line, it's harder for a family with young kids to live in Austin than it used to be.  Which makes the task that much harder, because the families don't just up and move out of a single neighborhood, so we can just shut the school down in that hood.  They dwindle from a variety of places, reducing density and enrollment from slightly to significantly at a number of schools.  Eventually, some schools end up with a low enough enrollment that the economics of keeping that campus open are shit.  BUT, enrollment isn't zero.  So the school that had 500 students now has 250.  The economics don't work....but 250 kids still live there.  So now, we shut down their school, and they all have to find a way to get to a school miles away.

Bottom line, if we didn't have a statewide approach to education that is plainly and openly stated of "starve and kill public schools, especially urban ones," we wouldn't be in near the world of shit we're in.

Edited June 21 by Brisketexan

[Samson's Wig 3193]

27 minutes ago, ChickenSandwich said:

$953 million for 73,000 enrolled students, down from 77,000 previously.  Maybe there are other issues to address.

 

There is waste everywhere, to be sure, but AISD is spending less per kid than most school districts in the state, and in line with other city school district.  Suburban schools spend significantly more (often without paying for it themselves).   This type of simple thinking makes folks in districts with giant football stadiums think they paid for it themselves because there was a bond election for it, while completely disregarding the millions in recapture dollars that were received to pay for everything else.

 

Austin residents paid $1.67 billion in taxes and $940 million in recapture (much of which went into the general fund to be passed out to cronies through contract work). It's robbery.  I love that Spring Branch tried to put their foot down last year, even though they ultimately had to cave.  I would love it if AISD school board told the state to fuck off and come and try to take our money.  It would be symbolic, ultimately, but the know-nothing voters in this state need to be made more aware of what type of pure criminals they keep electing, who don't mind stealing from kids to line their own pockets.  I suppose as long as it's those inner city kids many still won't care, but it's bound to wake some people up.  Our school funding system has been hijacked by low rent criminals, and most Texans don't care.  That's not the type of Texans I recall being brought up with.

Edited June 21 by Samson's Wig

[WBT 20641]

23 minutes ago, ChickenSandwich said:

$953 million for 73,000 enrolled students, down from 77,000 previously.  Maybe there are other issues to address.

Everyone screams about how unfair recapture is.  Is the fact that AISD has the highest assessed property value per student in the state in dispute?  Otherwise, I don't really get it.

 

2 hours ago, PvilleStang said:

Which party enacted Robinhood / recapture?  I'll give you a hint: it was before Texas turned red...

Didn't the courts effectively draw up Robinhood?  Maybe I'm misremembering, I was a kid at the time.

[YGIFS 19452]

3 minutes ago, WBT said:

Everyone screams about how unfair recapture is.  Is the fact that AISD has the highest assessed property value per student in the state in dispute?  Otherwise, I don't really get it.

 

Didn't the courts effectively draw up Robinhood?  Maybe I'm misremembering, I was a kid at the time.

It was around the time Orange&White got his first period.  

[Orange&White 5528]

So instead of fucking this thread up with CR bullshit you are switching to personal attacks? Good work.

[YGIFS 19452]

My goodness, you're adorable.  I am accidentally more powerful in Texas state politics than you could ever achieve in multiple lifetimes.  But you do you, brutha.

[Orange&White 5528]

1 minute ago, YGIFS said:

My goodness, you're adorable.  I am accidentally more powerful in Texas state politics than you could ever achieve in multiple lifetimes.  But you do you, brutha.

And yet, no one cares

[YGIFS 19452]

THECB & TPPF seem to.  Somehow, you didn't show up on our agenda this morning.  Weird. 

[LCHorn 2624]

36 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

It would require shutting down multiple schools.  Leaving areas without a school to serve them (because you can't shuffle and just build a new school at the midpoint as you rearrange things).  It's the biggest challenge for a large urban district that's getting starved of dollars.

Shutting down schools is the only way to get there.  So, which neighborhoods do you want to tell "you don't get a school anymore, all your kids can ride the bus for an extra 20-30 minutes to go to school?"  It's going to be a really, really shitty conversation, and a lot of angry, fucked over people.

Yes, that's exactly it--it will require shutting down schools.  Conceptually I'm confused why making this accommodation is seen as irrational to AISD parents--I grew up in a small town pre-Robin Hood and 30 minute bus rides were the norm and we didn't have additional money for anything.  

And I hope they are angry; they have every right to be.  Maybe they'd like to get off their collective asses before the state takeover. 

 

26 minutes ago, Samson's Wig said:

I would love it if AISD school board told the state to fuck off and come and try to take our money.  It would be symbolic, ultimately, but the know-nothing voters in this state need to be made more aware of what type of pure criminals they keep electing,

I don't think we're going to get ANY sympathy outside of town, but I still agree with you.  Symbolic or not, inaction is just asking for more of the same. 

[B00M 6430]

20 minutes ago, YGIFS said:

THECB & TPPF seem to.  Somehow, you didn't show up on our agenda this morning.  Weird. 

Have you been drinking since that meeting ended? 
 

[YGIFS 19452]

Nope.  It's a thread about Austin.  Some other posters brought up recapture and politics.  I chimed in.  You and your buddies got butt-hurt.  I serve on task forces/committees for THECB, TPPF, RPT, ART, HRT, CoA Bond Commission, Eanes ISD, UT System, and UT-Austin.  I kinda know a few things about education and politics.  You can't have one without the other.  Neg me all you want.  Doesn't change the facts.  You're a Monday Morning QB and that's fine, most of the world is.  Some of us were raised to be the man who leaves things better than he found them.  You must be the other guy.  

[B00M 6430]

Just now, YGIFS said:

Nope.  It's a thread about Austin.  Some other posters brought up recapture and politics.  I chimed in.  You and your buddies got butt-hurt.  I serve on task forces/committees for THECB, TPPF, RPT, ART, HRT, CoA Bond Commission, Eanes ISD, UT System, and UT-Austin.  I kinda know a few things about education and politics.  You can't have one without the other.  Neg me all you want.  Doesn't change the facts.  You're a Monday Morning QB and that's fine, most of the world is.  Some of us were raised to be the man who leaves things better than he found them.  You must be the other guy.  

Seriously, it’s really cool that you bring that expertise. I’m only negging you only on posts where you’re being a no-value-add childish asshole. 

[Eskimohorn 5642]

Which party enacted Robinhood / recapture?  I'll give you a hint: it was before Texas turned red...
 
I think the bigger thing: it's political suicide to try to undo the current arrangement, as the benefitting ISDs are loving their golden goose and don't want to lose funding to their golf courses and water parks.
 
 

Thank God we have recapture (see Arkansas and Louisiana). But formulas need to be recalibrated and the money should all go to public schools.

Dont throw the baby out with the bathwater, we need equity in school funding.

[YGIFS 19452]

Just now, B00M said:

Seriously, it’s really cool that you bring that expertise. I’m only negging you only on posts where you’re being a no-value-add childish asshole. 

But sir, this is a Surly Arby's