School Board Election May 10

UPDATED 2 May 10:18 pm with an endorsement for Mr. Stanley.

UPDATED 29 April 10:14 pm with Dr. Castañeda's and Mr. Stanley's answers.

I endorse Mr. Stephen Stanley. See the post below for more information.

Early voting is now open for the School Board election where election day will be May 10. The closest polling location is the GISD Student Service Center at 720 Stadium Drive. See here for early voting dates and times, along with other locations.

Election Day Voting will be held at Hickman Elementary School at 3114 Pinewood on May 10, 7 am to 7 pm.

Here's an article in the Dallas Morning News with mini-profiles. Here's one from the Sachse News.

We are only voting in one contested race, for Place 4 on the GISD board. The three candidates are:

1. Dr. Cindy Castañeda, an academic dean at Richland College, cindyforschools@gmail.com
   
2. Jeff Johnson, President of J & A Manufacturing, http://www.jeffjohnsonforgisd.com/contact.html
3. Stephen Stanley, owner of RE/MAX Infinity in Sachse, http://www.electstephenstanley.com/, stan.real@verizon.net

I have sent the following questions to each candidate:

1. What is GISD doing right that needs to be enhanced and made even better?
2. How is GISD on track where they need to be?
3. What about GISD needs improvement?
4. With the housing crisis nationwide, it is expected that property values will drop. How do you see the district's tax rates and policies changing due to the changes in appraisal values? Do you see this affecting the district's budget priorities, and if so, how?
5. Is there anything that GISD is doing now that should be reduced and shut down?

I'll keep this post at the top of the page until the election is over, and I'll update it with my endorsement when I decide on one.

Here are the answers from Dr. Castañeda:

What is GISD doing right that needs to be enhanced and made even better?
Ruth Roach Elementary School does a fabulous job and has received national recognition. In 2006, this school was selected as a Blue Ribbon School by the US Department of Education in part for achieving tremendous gains and success in TAKS while having a population in which 61% of students are from low income families, 57% are Hispanic, 18% are African American and 25% are White. Forty-five percent of Roach students are classified as Limited English Proficient. Using a highly structured curriculum all student receive outstanding, learner centered instruction that results in high student achievement. Academic achievement for low-income students identical to the overall population is outstanding and defies any expectation of an "achievement gap." Roach is doing great, it would be terrific if we could replicate the success of Roach students on other campuses as well.

Is GISD on track where they need to be?
Our country's economic future and our local economy depend on having a capable, educated work force that can communicate and calculate effectively, and learn new skills throughout their lives. Yet, only 35% of GISD graduates in 2006 were college ready in both mathematics and English/language arts. The graduation rate for the GISD is at 74.7%, using the graduation rate calculation proposed by Secretary of Education Spellings. We must do better. The future of our children, our cities and our country depend upon it.

What about GISD needs improvement?
I do not believe a 74.7% graduation rate is good enough for our residents of Garland, Rowlett and Sachse. We need to improve student success and preparation for life after high school whether students choose to enter work, military, technical school, community college or university. To do so we must first have a good understanding of any trends that may occur among that population of students that are leaving. We must first ask and answer questions such as "Do students that drop out belong to a particular demographic? Are students leaving school from all high schools or are they concentrated in one or more schools? What have we done to either retain or readmit these students? Are there already programs that have been proven to work with this at-risk population? Once we have asked and answered the questions we can then more to create programs to improve student outcomes.

With the housing crisis nationwide, it is expected that property values will drop. How do you see the district's tax rates and policies changing due to the changes in appraisal values? Do you see this affecting the district's budget priorities, and if so, how?
One certainty is that our future, economic and otherwise, hangs on a careful balance. Too much taxation limits individuals and families' expendable incomes. Too few resources and our common resources (schools, roads, services for seniors, utilities,etc.) will be negatively impacted. One thing I would work diligently to address in conjunction with other school boards, local and state representatives is to address public school finance again. HB-1 did not solve the public school finance problem - it provided a temporary, stop-gap solution that must now be fixed to a more permanent and acceptable solution.

Practically speaking the impact on the GISD is that we receive approximately $1,000 less per student in state funding than some of our neighboring school districts. This means that Garland ISD has to rise to the challenge of having more efficient physical and administrative operations, be more effective in teaching our students, and have even more beneficial staff development than some of our neighboring school districts. This drastic inequity in funding is something that Garland ISD and some other ISDs across Texas must address when the legislature convenes again later this year.

Is there anything that GISD is doing now that should be reduced and shut down?
Due to a flattening enrollment trend, the GISD has already shelved plans for building another high school and has implemented a hiring freeze. Current positions such as replacements for teachers that retire or leave will be replaced, but no new positions will be added. The Board has shown good leadership in their stewardship of public funds. While I have examined the proposed GISD budget for 2008-2009, the materials I have had access do not detail to the program level, so I am not prepared to make a statement about any programs that need to be reduced or shut down.

Closing statement
A school board sets the policy direction for the district. These policies affect the teachers, students, parents and taxpayers in our district. Improvement in the educational outcomes of our students is needed. For this reason, having the perspective of an experienced and proven leader in education is essential. There are no educators on the board. The skill set, experience and educational background I would bring to the board would be an asset for our board and our community.

Here are Mr. Stanley's responses:

What is GISD doing right that needs to be enhanced and made even better?
One thing the District is doing right is reaching out to all the patrons of the District. With recent advancements in technology and their incorporation into the District at numerous levels, communication between the teachers and the parents is becoming a lot easier and more convenient for today’s busy households. As far as making it even better the answer will only come with time. Not everyone has a computer at home and/or they are restricted from personal use of a computer at their jobs. Another is to better educate the parents that this is available to them at there public libraries in the event they don’t have a personal computer at home.

How is GISD on track where they need to be?
With the great diversity of the District the district has made great strides in their future projections as to what the district will need into the short and long term future. By building the two “Early Childhood Centers” the District has earnestly tried to get ahead of the curve with its ESL program. By trying to get to get to these students early in their education where they are proficient in the English language from the beginning, the district can better assure that all students are receiving the best education possible. While I do concede that it would be great if every graduate in the GISD had the ability and the desire to go to college after graduation but in reality as reflected in Steve Blow’s article on Sunday only about 30% of students will actually go to college. I want the District to make sure that every student graduates where they have at least the basics to join in the work force right out of High School as well as a firm foundation if they want to attend a technical or vocational school where they can learn a valuable skill or trade.

What about GISD needs improvement?
The retention policies of the district to better attract and maintain our high quality and experienced teaching staff. With an approximate 20% turnover every year, it is obvious that it is not just about pay. The largest complaint or concern I have heard from all employees has been about the high cost of there health insurance. We need to make the insurance package more affordable to new and existing staff and not have the price break begin after 20 years of service.

With the housing crisis nationwide, it is expected that property values will drop. How do you see the district's tax rates and policies changing due to the changes in appraisal values? Do you see this affecting the district's budget priorities, and if so, how?
Our district is fortunate as well as North Texas as a whole not to have been hit as hard as the rest of the State or the Country. The way HB1 is structured the only impact in declining property values should be to the State’s portion of funding for O & M. At current ratios there is an approximately 40% coming into the General fund and 72% of debt service from local property taxes and the remainder coming from both the State and Federal level. I believe where it will have an impact is for future O & M as well as future debt service. With millions of Bonds still to be issued for new construction and remodeling for existing facilities the district will have to watch property value trends and issue voter approved bonds only if they have little or no impact on the current tax rates.

Is there anything that GISD is doing now that should be reduced and shut down?
I would like to see the continual addition of portable buildings at a large percentage of our campuses through out the district to stop. I would like to see what if any cost savings there are in setting up these facilities versus constructing the new and needed campuses today.