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Elections
November 10, 2008
Support for Austin school district tax rate increase strongest in central city
The strongest support for the Austin school district’s recent tax rate came from Central Austin, as this precinct-by-precinct map of election returns by Statesman graphic artist Bob Calzada shows.
Most of the precincts that strongly opposed the higher tax rate are at the edges of the school district.
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November 3, 2008
U.S. students pick Obama in national poll
More than 125,000 students from grades K-12 voted in the 14th annual Weekly Reader election survey. The results: Barack Obama 54.7 percent, John McCain 42.9 percent. The rest of the votes were for other candidates.
The Weekly Reader folks say that the survey has correctly predicted the winner in 12 of the past 13 presidential elections. (The kids were wrong in 1992.)
This year, Obama won Texas, 32 other states and the District of Columbia, garnering 420 electoral votes. McCain won 17 states and 118 electoral votes. CNN has Texas going to McCain.
An unscientific sampling of reader-reported Austin-area schools’ mock election results could lend credence to the Weekly Reader Results:
Martin Middle School: Obama 583, McCain 29
Zilker Elementary School: Obama 393, McCain 42
Creedmoor Elementary School: Obama 610, McCain 118
Whom do you believe: the kids or CNN?
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October 24, 2008
Austin middle school mock election a landslide for Obama
From the Austin school district:
More than 84 percent of the students at Martin Middle School in East Austin turned out to cast their ballots in the 2008 Presidential Mock Election.
Among those voting was, Mu Mu, a Burmese refugee from Thailand, right, who cast her first “vote” in America.
The election results at the school showed Democratic nominee Barack Obama with 583 votes and Republican John McCain with 29 votes.
As goes Martin Middle School, so goes the nation?
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September 22, 2008
PAC formed for AISD tax election
A new “Support Austin Teachers” Political Action Committee has been formed to support the adoption of a tax rate increase for Austin schools in November. On November 4, voters who live in the Austin school district will decide on a 3.9 cent tax rate increase for a 3 percent teacher pay raise.
The PAC will be chaired by the Austin Chamber of Commerce Chair for Education and Talent and Convio CEO Gene Austin, according to officials at the chamber, which is also supporting the tax increase.
The district’s current operations tax rate is $1.04 per $100 of assessed value, the highest rate that can be set under state law without voter approval. Including debt, the overall school tax, if approved by voters, would be $1.202. The tax bill would be $2,805 for the average home, valued this year at $233,324 after exemptions. That is $343 more than last year, when the average home value was $211,720.
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May 5, 2008
School board candidate now supports bond
Jerry Garcia, a candidate for the Place 3 position on the Austin school board, says he now supports the school district’s bond proposal, which is on the ballot May 10.
The $343.7 million proposal includes projects to relieve crowding at several campuses, replace outdated computers, bring the district in compliance with new state science curriculum mandates and address several maintenance issues deemed critical by district officials.
Garcia clarified his stance in a letter dated after a story about the Place 3 race ran in the Austin American-Statesman last Tuesday. Garcia had said in interviews conducted before the story that he was against the bond. His opponent, Christine Brister, also supports the bond.
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February 26, 2008
May 10 bonds -- The detailed list
Austin trustees voted Monday to call a $343.7 million school bond referendum in May.
If voters approve the bond propositions, the money will pay for technology upgrades, science classroom renovations and campus additions, new schools and a long-awaited districtwide performing arts center. The vote will be May 10.
Trustees added to a $233.4 million package that was recommended last month by the 21-member 2008 Citizens’ Bond Advisory Committee that did not include a solution to crowding at Linder Elementary School, money for a performing arts center or auditorium upgrades at Lanier and McCallum high schools. The increased amount addresses those issues.
The bond package would raise the property tax rate 1.7 cents to $1.18 per $100 of assessed value, resulting in an increase of about $34 annually for the owner of a $200,000 home, the average-priced home in the district, including a $15,000 homestead exemption. Homeowners older than 65 would not see an increase.
What do you think of the May 10 proposal? Is it too ambitious? Does it fall short of the district’s needs? Or is it the right size at the right time?
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February 19, 2008
Austin school bond package increase
Austin school trustees early today approved holding a $343.7 million bond referendum in May that would allow for a districtwide performing arts center, renovations of science classrooms, technology upgrades and an early childhood center near Linder Elementary School.
Trustees approved three propositions for the vote. Two were approved unanimously. The third includes the arts center, renovations at Anderson High School and buying land for a new South Austin high school. It passed on an 8-1 vote. Johna Edwards cast the lone “no” vote.
After a lengthy public hearing, the board also backed renovations to auditoriums at Lanier and McCallum high schools. That vote was unanimous.
Trustees are expected to call the bond election on Monday. A public hearing scheduled for Thursday on the bonds has been canceled.
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