LTISD Info

The November 19, 2009 Letters to the Editor section of the Lake Travis View contains a response by Patrick Watson to comments made by the LTISD Superintendent Rocky Kirk¹ and the LTISD Board of Trustees President Susan Tolles² in the November 5, 2009 issue of the Lake Travis View (“Voters nix 2 cent tax increase for LTISD”).

LTISD official wrong to blame voters

To the editor:

Following the crushing defeat of the LTISD attempt to raise taxes, board chair Susan ToIles said “As a result, our district is now faced with a budget deficit of more than $1.7 million.”

This is not correct. LTISD faces a budget deficit because the board approved a budget that was $1.7 million too high. The trustees knew full well that they were spending more money than they had available. That’s why we had an election. They assumed voters would’ rubber-stamp a tax increase to cover the shortfall — a bad assumption, obviously.

Maybe instead of blaming voters, Ms. Tolles and the other trustees should try listening to them. The message is clear: You don’t have a blank check. Stop whining about Robin Hood and stop spending money you don’t have. Will this mean tough .decisions? Of course, but you all asked for the job. If you don’t want to do it, you should resign.

Patrick W. Watson
Hamilton Pool Road

-Letters to the Editor, Lake Travis View, November 19, 2009

Patrick hits the nail on the head when he says:

“You don’t have a blank check. Stop whining about Robin Hood and stop spending money you don’t have.”

We are all sick and tired of hearing the whining of overpaid Superintendents such as Rocky Kirk telling us that we are tossing our money into into another black hole rather than into the local abyss, the local abyss that keeps on giving Rocky Kirk pay raises with little to show for it.

Rocky Kirk should spend more time telling us more about when we will start seeing some results from his boasts  of making “the LTISD the most exemplary school district in Texas.” I don’t think that’s working out to well for Rocky.

Of course, Patrick’s insight must be challenged and who better than Lisa Lawrence to counter with her Letter to the Editor on November 26, 2009:

Tolles comment on LTISD election taken out of context

To the editor:

In his letter to the Lake Travis View on Nov. 19, Mr. [Patrick] Watson made some assumptions that were incorrect.

Mrs. [Susan] Tolles never blamed the voters. Her words were that she was disappointed. Her statement was factual, and not for the reason he claims.

How can he claim that the board was spending more money than they had available? Did he look at last year’s budget figures? Did he note that administrative costs were practically flat in this year’s budget (the overall budget for expenditures rose just .33 percent over the 2008-09 budget)? Is he aware the district is making do with a fixed income allotted by the state that doesn’t take inflation, rising fuel and insurance costs, etc., into account? Is he aware that over 80 percent of the budget is for staffing?

Parents and prospective parents move to and remain in this district because of our schools, our teachers, our programs, our student-to-teacher ratios, our special programs, etc. People in our district expect a quality education and high performance for our kids.

The 2 cent referendum, had it passed, would have been used for maintenance and operation. Does Mr. Watson even know what that stands for? That money would NOT have been subject to recapture. It means 85 percent of it would have been used for teacher compensation, teacher raises, rising teacher insurance benefits, maintaining small class ratios… Seriously, Mr. Watson? You’ve heard the trustees whine? I’ve heard matter of fact information regarding Robin Hood presented, but never in a whining tone.

If the 2 cent referendum had passed, it would have helped us in maintaining our A++, bond rating at AA+, which depends on many things, including the state of our fund balances. This A++ rating enables LTISD to issue bonds on much more favorable terms, which — reduces the district’s costs!

“Blank check?”

It is mind numbing to try to comprehend how hard the board and Mr. [Bob] Hart worked to help us earn this superior rating that the District is now working to maintain.

It is disappointing that more people in our district didn’t take the time to educate themselves, read the information provided, attend the meetings that were held, and then get out and vote. And it is sad that so many do not understand the negative impact that not passing the 2 cents has upon our schools.

Lisa Lawrence
Lakeway

-Letters to the Editor, Lake Travis View, November 26, 2009

Lisa Lawrence urges Patrick Watson and the rest of the district’s tax payers to become better educated. Interesting to hear this from someone who is ignorant of the facts regarding the school district’s spending and revenue. I doubt that Lisa Lawrence posses anything more than anecdotal evidence based on quotes from the district’s administration and the Board.

First off, Lisa claims:

“Parents and prospective parents move to and remain in this district because of our schools, our teachers, our programs, our student-to-teacher ratios, our special programs, etc. People in our district expect a quality education and high performance for our kids.”

Then why was the LTISD rated “Academically Acceptable” by the TEA, again? The LTISD has been rated “Academically Acceptable” 3 of the last 4 years, far from the “most exemplary school district in the state of Texas!”

Secondly, Lisa also claims:

“It is disappointing that more people in our district didn’t take the time to educate themselves, read the information provided, attend the meetings that were held, and then get out and vote.”

Lisa should “take the time to educate” herself about the facts regarding the election turnout on November 2009:

Does Lisa know that 3,253 votes were cast in the recent Rollback Election?

Does Lisa know that this was a turnout of about 15% of the registered voters in the district?

Does Lisa know that this was one of the highest voter turnouts for an election in the LTISD?

Does Lisa know that the state wide turnout was only about 8% for the November 2009 election?

So, once the facts are sought out and not based on anecdotal quips from the likes of  Susan Tolles² who said: “we are disappointed with the overall lack of voter turnout in this important local election” we find that the voters actually did “take the time to educate themselves” and they did turn out to vote. Lisa Lawrence and Susan Tolles just don’t get it.

Perhaps Lisa’s arguments would be better served by providing references to the “facts” that she uses so that we can verify them?   I would suggest that Lisa start by looking at the great wealth of data available on line from the Texas Education Agency (TEA).

I have found some interesting data that anyone else can review and (here’s the important part) then VERIFY against published sources.

I will be updating some of my already published data, but readers can review just some of the interesting facts that I have extracted from published sources with references:

1. Did you realize the difference in the salary and pay increases between the LTISD Superintendent and teachers in the district?

2. Did you know that instructional spending has not kept pace with inflation?

3. Did you know that Rocky Kirk’s salary is now $252,799.00/year?

4. Did you know about “LTISD hopes to get 2 cents worth?”

5. Did you know how the “academically acceptable” LTISD spends tax payers money, per student, compared to “recognized” districts?

6. Did you wonder just how the LTISD compares to a “high growth” school district?

Finally, on December 3, 2009, Patrick Watson responds to Lisa Lawrence’s question: “Does Mr. Watson even know what that stands for?” Mr. Watson wrote:

Standing ground on LTISD

To the editor:

Regarding the response by Lisa Lawrence to my criticism of the LTISD board on this page: I stand by everything

I said. The full Nov. 3 quote by Susan Tolles was printed in that week’s Lake Travis View. People can read in context for themselves and decide whether she was blaming voters for the district’s financial woes. When she says the deficit came “as a result” of the election, I find it hard to reach any other conclusion.

I repeat: it was the school board, not the voters, who decided to spend more money than current tax rates would cover. If Ms. Tolles would like to dispute my interpretation or clarify her remarks, I’m sure the View will be glad to give her an opportunity.

The same issue of the View that carried the letter from Ms. Lawrence also reported that the trustees have now reduced the budget by $1.5 million. Apparently it wasn’t so hard after all. Why didn’t they cut this spending in the first place? That would have saved the expense of an election and we would be no worse off than we are now.

On the other points Ms. Lawrence raised:

1. The LTISD bond rating is relevant only to the extent the district needs to issue more bonds. Since the 2004 and 2006 bond proposals supposedly covered all necessary capital projects for the foreseeable future, there should be no such need.

2. Yes, the board should consider inflation when making its budget, but we are currently in a deflationary economy with the price of most goods and services going down rather than up. Inflation (as measured by the Consumer Price Index) fell -0.2% in the twelve months ending October 2009. This is why Social Security recipients won’t get a cost-of-living adjustment in January. If our senior citizens can get by on the same income or less, so can LTISD.

3. I am not at all surprised if the LTISD administrative budget rose only fractionally from the prior year, given that we already have some of the best-paid administrators in the state. There was no need to spend even more. Kudos to the board members if they have finally realized this. Your next step should be to spend less money on lawyers and lobbyists.

4. My definition of “whining” is “complaining about things that are not going to change.” I don’t like the Robin Hood situation either, but it is a fact of life. The legislature is obviously paralyzed on this issue. Anything they do might not survive court challenges anyway, so hoping for legislative relief is not a wise strategy. Far better to adapt to the new reality.

The voters obviously want the school district to balance its budget without raising taxes. This is not an unreasonable request. More than a few businesses in our area (bankruptcy lawyers being the main exception) are coping with sharply lower revenues. There is no reason LTISD can’t do likewise.

Patrick Watson
Hamilton Pool Road

-Letters to the Editor, Lake Travis View, December 3, 2009

You can verify the inflation rate information used by Patrick Watson from the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Indexes.

1Rocky Kirk is paid $252,799/year for an “Academically Acceptable” school district of 6,536 students. The LTISD has been rated “Academically Acceptable” 3 of the last 4 years.

²Susan Tolles is also identified by Rocky Kirk as the individual for the district’s failure to “ensure the protection of confidentiality of any personally identifiable data, information, and records collected or maintained by the LEA in accordance with required procedures.”