Big Jolly Politics

politics in Harris County and Texas

Pasadena ISD and the Harris County Department of Education are going above and beyond

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With all the tension and anxiety associated with the Coronavirus it’s important to recognize the governmental entities that are doing good.  Pasadena ISD and the Harris County Department of Education stand out in this regard.  Since Houston ISD is working with the food bank they are excluded from the analysis.

Pasadena ISD

Most, if not all, school districts are providing free breakfast and lunches for students.  Pasadena ISD is going above and beyond.  They recently expanded their program to include any child under 18 years old in addition to Pasadena ISD students.  Their online statement regarding the meal amiability can be found on their web page under the free breakfast and lunch expandable box approximately 1/3 of the way down.

What follows is their statement regarding the program:

 

Official Statement about Grab-and Go breakfast and lunch meals

Pasadena Independent School District is UPDATING AND EXPANDING the curbside grab-and-go free breakfast and lunch program. We will begin Monday, March 23, 2020 and continue every school day until we are back open. Parents may drive by the below locations to pick up a breakfast and lunch meal for each child who is present in the vehicle. No meals will be available for parents or students walking up to the campus. Meals will be delivered to each vehicle, please do not park.

Please NOTE each student will receive a breakfast and a lunch at the time of pick-up. A parent only needs to go through the line once. Each student will get two meals.

The NEW Times and Locations:

9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.

  • Beverly Hills Intermediate (11111 Beamer Rd., Houston, TX 77089)
  • Queens Intermediate (14521 Queens Rd., Houston, TX 77017)
  • South Houston Intermediate (900 College Ave., South Houston, TX 77587)
  • Kendrick Middle School (3001 Watters Rd., Pasadena, TX 77504)
  • Shaw Middle School (1200 East Houston, Pasadena, TX 77502)

11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

  • Dobie High School (10220 Blackhawk Blvd., Houston, TX 77089)
  • Sam Rayburn High School (2121 Cherrybrook Ln., Pasadena, TX 77502)
  • Pasadena High School (206 South Shaver St., Pasadena, TX 77506)
  • South Houston High School (3820 Shaver St., South Houston, TX 77587)
  • Pasadena Memorial High School (4410 Crenshaw Rd., Pasadena, TX 77504)

There is no cost for these meals, and the program is open to all Pasadena ISD students and any child under the age of 18.

We wish to thank our Child Nutrition Department for planning and offering these meals for our students.

Harris County Department of Education (HCDE)

In addition to Pasadena ISD the Harris County Department of Education is stepping up and filling in the gaps that the school districts aren’t meeting.  On Friday March 20, they had a meeting where they passed a resolution that was above and beyond what they were required to do.  The department is able to spend the monies available in the Unassigned Fund Balance.  According to the 2018-2019 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report the Unassigned Fund Balance is as follows:

  1. Fund Balances and Net Position (continued) Unassigned Fund Balance – the component of the spendable fund balance which may be spent for any legal purpose. This portion of the total fund balance in the general fund is available to finance operating expenditures and totals to $20,930,182 which is 44 percent of the fiscal year 2019 general fund annual budget expenditures and other sources (uses). The Department maintains an unassigned fund balance equal to a minimum of two months of operational costs. This amount is within the adopted board policy CE (Local).

A couple of the important items included in the resolution that passed deal with their employees and feeding those in need.  First, they are continuing to pay employees during the closure, and employees that were required to work during the first week of the closure are being given either time and a half (non-exempt employees) or comp time (exempt employees) for any work performed the first week of the outage.

The second item is they approved providing meals for the Head Start and Early Head Start families they serve.  Not just the students, but the entire family. Providing food for the entire family is important since Head Start and Early Head Start has an income requirement for eligibility.  HCDE is feeding the poor in this time of crisis.

The food distribution is only applicable to the Head Start families served by HCDE, not all Head Start recipients.  The release schedule care package contents they provided are seen in the image below, but they note that they’ve had food delivery issues and are trying to find a new start date secondary to having the food delivered to them.  Also, with the lock down (or whatever you want to call it) in place for the county they are no longer looking for public volunteers to help with food boxing and distributing.

The resolution passed was for four weeks, which will take the program through the current closure, with the food provision estimated cost running $237,199.24, or 1.13 percent of the unassigned fund balance.  The vote was unanimous, but board member Don Sumners voiced concern regarding the duration of the program, so it will be worth watching what happens if the school closures drag on.  When new information regarding the food distribution becomes available this article will be updated.

 

Update:  Harris County Department of Education sent in the following statement about distribution:

First food distribution is tomorrow (Friday March 27) at JD Walker Head Start for families attending that center as well as Baytown and Barrett Station HS Centers as well as John G Jones and Lets Learn Child Care partnership sites.  Families have been contacted by HCDE.  Future distribution dates are TBD as we work with the food suppliers to get more food based on high demand.

Harris County Department of Education chatter

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harris county department of education

Harris County Republicans excel in the fine art known as the “circular firing squad“. For some reason, the entity that seems to bring out their sharpest aim is the small, financially insignificant but efficient Harris County Department of Education (HCDE). The HCDE Board of Trustees has been controlled by Republicans for years and is generally held in high regard by the citizens that it serves. Now that a new crop of self-styled ‘conservative’ Republicans dominate the board, little thought is given to the citizens it serves and much thought is given to how creative the board members can be to serve their own self-interests.

In that vein, Board Trustee Mike Wolfe issues a call to action for tomorrow’s board meeting:

Please Share, Harris County Conservative Friends:

I need your help this coming Tuesday Morning!

At 8:45am on Tuesday February 28th, I need you to come sign up to speak at the HCDE Board Meeting at the Harris County Department of Education at 6300 Irvington, Houston TX 77022.

I have proposed 3 important agenda items that will impact your future and are on HCDE’s agenda.

1.) In order to save you tax dollars, I am proposing that HCDE tell the the Federal Government that we will no longer be operating any Head Start facilities in Harris County and that it’s time for the Feds to contract with one of their other local providers to do this.

2.) I am proposing that the HCDE Board ask the Texas Legislature to pass Sunset Review Legislation pertaining to HCDE so we can finally prove whether or not HCDE should continue to exist and if there are ways to improve HCDE.

3.) Finally, I am proposing that the HCDE Board host and invite U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVoss to Harris County for a Harris County Education Summit. If the Board approves this, I know that it will happen; it happened with Obama’s Secretary of Education just a few years ago.

Thank You, Friends!

Please arrive between 8:30-8:45am to sign in to speak at our 9:00am HCDE Board Meeting.

There is a lot more on the agenda and you can view it here. But since Wolfe wants opinions on those three items, I’ll give it a shot.

Tell the Feds to take a hike!

The idea that anyone is going to save tax dollars by shutting down the HCDE’s participation in Head Start is fantasy. It isn’t going to happen. In fact, there is a high probability that more taxpayer dollars would be spent. The Head Start program isn’t going anywhere. The HCDE administers it very efficiently with federal grants. Sending that grant money to a less efficient operator isn’t the brightest idea in the world. But hey, tell those Feds to shove it!

Sunset the HCDE!

For this one, it is important to keep in mind why Wolfe is proposing this. Remember, 5 of the 7 members of the board are Republicans. And 4 of the 5 Republicans ran specifically on a platform to eliminate the HCDE (Wolfe, Sumners, Dick, Moore). But after they got elected, it appears that some have had a change of heart. Information will do that to you if you have the best interests of your constituents at heart.

What should an elected official do when he can’t convince his fellow elected officials that his way is the right way? Run to Austin and get the state legislature to do it for him. We see more and more that Republicans give lip service to local control but when they can’t convince people that their ideas are right, they run to Austin for help, seeking a centralized government. All the while complaining about Washington, D.C. and forced programs. Since Wolfe can’t make the case to his fellow trustees to shut down the HCDE, he wants to spend thousands of dollars of state taxpayer dollars to do his job for him. I don’t think that is an appropriate use of taxpayer dollars.

Time after time, audit after audit, trustee after trustee, the results have shown that the HCDE is more efficient and more effective than any alternative proposal. Why not focus on continuing and improving the efficiency of the HCDE? Click here to learn more about the Sunset process.

Fly Betsy DeVos in and have a summit!

Obama did it! It must be awesome!

Wait a minute. Didn’t we just spend 8 years fighting everything Obama did? Now we must emulate what he did? Hmm. And don’t conservatives like Wolfe want to eliminate the U.S. Dept. of Education, not promote it? Something sounds fishy. Photo op perhaps?

The question I would ask is this: how would a summit by Sec. DeVos benefit Harris County taxpayers?

So there you have it. Maybe I’ll drive over there in the morning and speak to the board about these and other things, especially that item on the agenda by Wolfe wanting to limit meetings to four hours. Hey, you signed up for the job, git-r-done or get out of the way and let someone else do it. I’d bet if certain members of the board stopped some of their shenanigans and self-promotion, they could get the business of the people done a whole lot quicker. Yeah, maybe I’ll drive on over and talk about that. Just don’t expect me to listen to their droning on and on for 8 hours like the last board meeting.

SB 646 Is Probably a Very Bad Idea

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Eric Dick
Eric Dick

By Eric Dick
HCDE Trustee & Board VP

Senate Bill 646 eliminates Harris County Department of Education’s (HCDE) ability to collect a tax. Personally, I love the idea of lowering property taxes. If you live in Harris County you are more than familiar with your taxes increasing every year. Along with a sluggish economy due to the low oil prices, at some point, many of us feel that we will be taxed out of our homes.

Unfortunately, I’m certain that eliminating HCDE’s ability to tax will result in large increases in taxes from local school districts. Seriously, can you tell me with a straight face that HISD wouldn’t jump at an opportunity to significantly increase our taxes? I didn’t think so.

Many of us hear about HCDE and don’t understand what it does. We think that it is an unnecessary government entity that needs to go. Heck, I’ve been guilty of campaigning to abolish HCDE before I realized that what it does.

For instance, HCDE provides approximately 53{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} of the special education therapy services received by special needs students in Harris County Schools. HCDE even has four schools: Academic & Behavior School East, Academic & Behavior School West, Highpoint School East, and Highpoint School West. 100{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} of the students served at HCDE four campuses are at-risk students. Two of these schools serve students who have serious intellectual and developmental problems. The other two of these schools serve the most troubled and adjudicated youth. All in all, HCDE provides nearly services to nearly 140,000 students.

Now here is the beauty – because HCDE serves 24 out of 25 of the Harris County School Districts, it provides these specialized services at a lower cost than each school district could provide on its own. You know, economics of the scale. It also provides these necessary services at a reduced rate because it is tax subsidized.

I agree we all have been taxed enough already. I also believe that the fault of our high property taxes is due to our very corrupt public education system. If you wonder where our tax dollars go you should look at your tax bill. HISD charges $1.0267 per $100 of taxable value for tax years. Give them a chance. They would love to increase it to an even $1.05. Heck, they increased our taxes last year by $0.01 because they are bad with money.

HCDE charges a tax rate of $0.0052 per $100 of taxable value and has lowered its tax rate every single year since 2013. HCDE is a Republican controlled education entity. That is why it is one of the most efficient government agencies. Are we seriously going to take a gamble at messing up a working system for the illusion of $10 a year in property tax savings? Very foolish.

Many people say HCDE will shut down if you take away its ability to tax. Regardless of whether HCDE exists, you are guaranteeing an increase in the price of these services that Harris County School are required to provide. I can promise with 100{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} certainty that any increase in price will be felt by taxpayers. With HISD’s current Superintendent is saying, “Look at public education as an investment, not an expense,” you know that HISD will increase taxes far more than enough to cover any increase in costs.

Look, I don’t think HCDE is anywhere close to being perfect. I do believe that HCDE is an opportunity for Republicans to show Harris County residents that we do a better job with education. I also think that HCDE is an opportunity for Republicans to show our Christ-like compassion to disabled children.

During my tenure at HCDE, I will diligently push for it to be a part of School Choice to help fill in the gaps resulting from our failed public schools. I will lobby for HISD to be broken down into 5 to 8 smaller school districts. I encourage fellow Republicans to take off the blinders of wanting to abolish a Republican controlled government entity without embracing its consequences and envisioning our opportunity to end the corruption of a Democrat controlled HISD.

Thank you for the opportunity to serve residents of Harris County.

Eric Dick
Conservative Activist
HCDE Trustee & Board Vice President

Harris County Department of Education special meeting

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harris county department of education

The new Board of Trustees for the Harris County Department of Education has called a special meeting to be held Monday, January 9, 2017 at 1:00 pm. They are going to elect officers and do a couple other things, some good, some not.

1. Consider election of President and VicePresident of the Board of Trustees

The easy money is on Don Sumners being elected President and Mike Wolfe Vice-President. I’m not so sure about that. Wolfe has his own ambitions and would love to be President. With the new board being 5 R’s to 2 D’s, it is going to be one or the other. Wolfe was instrumental in getting George Moore and Eric Dick to run, perhaps they swing their allegiance to him. If that is the case, he only needs to persuade Louis Evans to support him. On the other hand, Dick is very independent minded. Will the two D’s decide that Sumners is the lesser of two evils and back him, with Dick being the wild card?

2. Consider appointment of Board delegates to the Public Facilities Corporation

Who cares?

3. Consider terminating the contracts of current political consultants Pat M. Strong and Hill Co.

Good. This should have been done years ago. The idea of elected officials spending taxpayer funds to lobby other elected officials is repulsive. Don’t let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya.

4. Consider rescinding prior authorization for expenditure of funds for the recovery high school previously approved by the Board and consider action directing that no HCDE funds be spent on the recovery high school project, employment or improvements, without subsequent Board approval, until a comprehensive feasibility and development plan is completed and approved by the Board

What a waste of time and money. These studies have already been done, this is the direct result of the changing composition of the board. The HCDE has been in Republican hands for years and is one of the few examples of Republicans actually governing well. Now the new board is determined to screw it up so that they can claim the ‘conservative’ mantel which these days means the inability to govern. Lord have mercy.

5. Consider action directing that no additional HCDE funds be spent on the new ABS West campus without Board approval until a comprehensive feasibility and development plan is completed and approved by the Board

Ditto #4.

6. Consider changing the regular January 2017 Board Meeting from January 19,2017 to January 25, 2017

Most likely so that Mike Wolfe can attend the inauguration in Washington, D.C.

7. Consider changing the regular Board meeting dates to the third Wednesday of the month, including possible revision to Policy BE (Local)

I liked it when the meetings were on Tuesday afternoons. Oh well.

In case you have forgotten what the Harris County Department of Education does, here are a couple of videos.

https://youtu.be/XZ8cAgnOjW0

Harris County Department of Education holds line on taxes

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The Harris County Department of Education Board of Trustees voted to hold the line on taxes at their monthly board meeting yesterday. The tax rate adopted is $0.005999, 5.6{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} lower than last year’s rate of $0.006358. The adopted rate is the calculated Effective Tax Rate. Click here to view the ETR worksheet.

Don Sumners addresses the HCDE board
Don Sumners addresses the HCDE board

Candidate for the HCDE Board Don Sumners spoke to the board during the Open Forum. Mr. Sumners was not happy with the results of the yearly budget, claiming that the department was operating in the red to the tune of $7 million. Jesus Amezcua, CPA, Assistant Superintendent for Business Services of the HCDE disputed Mr. Sumners claims and told the board that the organization was not operating in the red and that what Mr. Sumners was referring to was a timing difference between posting expenditures and revenues. Mr. Amezcua stated that the audited financials to be released in January will correct this.

Mr. Sumners also asked the board not to hire a superintendent until a consulting firm has been hired to evaluate the department from top to bottom and determine which departments are not returning a positive ROI. I talked to him briefly about his thoughts on hiring a consulting firm and he thinks that the department doesn’t have the skills necessary to do this type of evaluation internally. He also complained that when he attends meetings and department directors are asked questions by the board, a typical response is “I don’t know and will have to get back with you.” Sumners says this was prevalent in the budget meetings he attended and he doesn’t think that the directors have the training necessary to complete their own budgets, theorizing that in the past the budgets were pushed down from the previous superintendent.

I was glad to see Mr. Sumners engaged. The election is coming up fast and I don’t see the other candidates engaged at all.

It seems as though every time I write about the Harris County Department of Education, a commenter or three will chime in and say that the department is worthless, a waste of taxpayer money, and simply duplicates services found elsewhere. This is simply not the truth. I would urge you to go to one of these meetings and become familiar with the department and what it does. It certainly changed my view of the department over the past two years. Click here for an infographic which will teach you more about the department. The HCDE board is the opposite of what my friend George Scott writes about in this post on the Katy ISD board. The HCDE board is active, engaged, and informed and they do not allow the staff to walk over them. The staff is professional, taxpayer friendly, and always willing to listen to different ideas. Every governmental entity should be like the HCDE.

Good job by the board in holding the line on taxes.

 

Harris County Department of Education wants your input

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From the InBox:

hcde-header

The Harris County Department of Education (HCDE) Board of Trustees with assistance from the Texas Association of School Boards (TASB) Executive Search Services has begun work to select a new superintendent for HCDE. As a part of that process, the TASB search consultant would like to meet with various groups to begin developing the qualifications and characteristics of the ideal superintendent for Harris County Department of Education.

To provide residents and employees an opportunity to offer their input, a number of meetings are being scheduled. We would appreciate you joining other members of the community at the place and time shown below in order to record the group’s response to a number of questions regarding the ideal superintendent:

Date:  August 7, 2014                

Time: 4:15-5:00 p.m.       

Place: Harris County Department of Education

6300 Irvington

Houston, Texas  77022 (click here for map)

Room 503 (Located on the 5th floor of the Parking Garage)

Visit our website to learn more about HCDE. To see an estimated cost of HCDE services to Harris County School Districts and charter schools for the 2012-2013 school year, then please visit the following link:

http://www.hcde-texas.org/users/0221/docs/HCDE{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986}20Cost{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986}20Analysis.pdf

In the event you are unable to attend this session, please visit the following link to offer your input: https:\texas.executivesearchservices.comapplicantpublicSearchSurvey.aspx?searchid=283

Your attendance and comments are greatly appreciated. The meeting is expected to last approximately one hour. If you have questions, please feel free to contact Celes Harris at 713-696-8280.

Sincerely,

Angie Chesnut,
HCDE Board President

Recall that in the June board meeting, the board accepted Superintendent John Sawyer’s resignation. This meeting is yet another indication of the HCDE Board’s willingness to be completely transparent in their activities. Kudos to each of the board members for this opportunity.