Speaker 1: 0:00

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Speaker 1: 0:57

Martha from the Bubble Lounge sent you. Welcome to the Bubble Lounge. I'm Martha Jackson, and today we are diving into one of the most important topics facing our community right now the upcoming HPISD school bond election on November 5th. After months of collaboration and planning, the HPISD school board has unanimously approved a single proposition maintenance and efficiency bond that could have a major impact on every campus in our district. In this episode, I invited members from Scots for Scots, who are advocating for this bond. We're going to break down the bond proposal and what it means for our schools, from addressing immediate maintenance and safety needs to enhancing campus improvements and supporting teacher salaries. We'll also explore why this bond won't raise the tax rate, even though it appears as a property tax increase on the ballot, and why 100% of the funds will stay local. Whether you're a parent, teacher or community member, you won't want to miss this conversation about the future of our district and how this bond could shape the next chapter for HPISD.

Speaker 1: 2:06

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Speaker 3: 3:06

Absolutely, michael Denton.

Speaker 2: 3:09

My name is Nick Peters. I'm a parent of three in the school district. I've got a sophomore daughter. I've got a seventh grade boy and a fifth grade daughter as well.

Speaker 4: 3:18

This is Jane Wallingford. I'm a parent of two. My children attend Armstrong Elementary. They are second and fourth graders.

Speaker 5: 3:26

Hi, this is Kristen Dauphiné, and I have two kids. The oldest is a junior at the high school.

Speaker 1: 3:31

Well, thank you all for taking the time to be here today. Well, before we get started, can you tell me what exactly is the school bond and why do we need $137.3 million?

Speaker 5: 3:43

Well, I'll jump off and kick things off Quite candidly. Our schools are falling apart. We've literally got water coming through the ceiling. We've got instruments that are being held together with tape and glue. We've got kids breaking elbows and breaking legs on turf and play fields. We've got the original plumbing in some of our oldest buildings. The AC doesn't work. We've got security issues to protect our students and staff. We are losing great teachers and we do not have the ability to attract the best talent due to salary. We have kids that we need to get into parking spaces and off our community streets. We have kids that we need to get into parking spaces and off our community streets, and we are spending over a million dollars a year just on charter buses.

Speaker 1: 4:30

Wow, well, that is a lot.

Speaker 5: 4:33

And that's not even the whole list. You're just scratching the surface, aren't you? I'm just scratching the tip of the iceberg.

Speaker 1: 4:38

Well, that brings me back to I want to talk about ReCAPTCHA, also known as Robin Hood, and just what that looks like for our district and where our tax dollars are going.

Speaker 2: 4:48

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 4:48

Well, the simple issue is that we have all these problems but we don't have the money to fix them.

Speaker 2: 4:53

I don't think people realize how much money goes out of our district, how much tax dollar money goes out of our district to other districts in the state. Money goes out of our district to other districts in the state. The state of Texas has what we call the law of recapture, where certain school districts basically pay a big portion of their tax revenues over to the state, which gets redistributed or recaptured by the state and distributed to other school districts in the state. And so I don't think people realize that about 60 percent or 60 cents of every tax dollar raised in the park cities goes to the state and to other districts in the state, not the park cities. So to put that into reference, since 1995, almost $2 billion of Holland Park tax dollars have gone to the state and out of the district. So again, the question is we've got these issues. How are we going to pay for them? Well, we just don't have money right now, and that's why we need the bond.

Speaker 1: 5:47

Right, well, why is the bond so important to HPISD?

Speaker 2: 5:50

Well, the bond's critical because with the tax dollars that stay in the district, 85% of those tax dollars go toward teacher salaries. Those pay our teachers. Right, it's critical that we pay our teachers. So that leaves us with about 15% of our budget left over to handle critical maintenance needs, just general operational needs like insurance stuff like that, and then also goes to utility payments. So we've got a very limited budget again at 15% going to critical infrastructure needs and we just don't have the money to fix problems if they come up and if they're material.

Speaker 1: 6:30

So I keep hearing that our tax rate is not going to go up yet the ballot has to say that it is going to go up. Can you talk to me about that?

Speaker 3: 6:39

You bet. So the state of Texas legislature, in their great wisdom, has decided that any bond that a school district puts out the 1,100 school districts in the state of Texas, there's a big giant bold on the ballot that said this is a tax increase, regardless of the tax rate increase or not. And this bond, our tax rate does not increase. Period, it's 17 cents whether this bond passes or not. But the legislature requires that. In the 2015 bond there wasn't that requirement and you had school districts like Allen and some others that built some very large facilities and put it all in one big bucket and the legislature said, hey, we really want to break that out and give the voter an opinion on different subject matters. So again, the legislature directs and mandates that verbiage, but our tax rate for this bond does not change. It stays at the 17 cent rate.

Speaker 1: 7:37

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Speaker 1: 8:15

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Speaker 4: 8:48

You know we have some of the best teachers in Dallas and the whole state here in Highland Park, but the problem is we can't keep them. Everything we are doing, we are working so hard to increase their salaries. The school district has seen has increased the salaries by 13% in the past three years and yet we remain near the bottom or at the very bottom of Dallas County and Northern Texas schools in teacher pay. We have to be able to move the needle and this is what this bond is going to help us do. Our goal, the school district's goal, is to get our teachers paid in the top quartile of comparison districts, and every two and a half million dollars we can save through this bond is a four percent raise for our teachers. Right, right.

Speaker 2: 9:39

And so what's important is that bond dollars cannot actually be spent to pay teachers. So a critical aspect of this bond is using bond dollars to reduce our M&O budget, our maintenance and operational budget. Right? So, like I said earlier, 15% of our budget is dedicated toward maintenance and operational needs. So what we're going to do is we're going to take bond dollars and, like Jane said, we're going to use a significant portion of the bond dollars to decrease our M&O budget by $2.5 million annually. Said, that annual reduction in budget will free up dollars that we can then use to pay teachers, which would equate to roughly, you know, based on today's numbers, a 4% raise across the board for teachers.

Speaker 5: 10:27

Nick, and I think it's important to point out you mentioned this earlier.

Speaker 5: 10:29

You know, when we are looking at the 85% and the 15% in terms of the bond money or the tax money that we keep, that doesn't get us to even.

Speaker 5: 10:38

So we still require, in order to break even as a district, that we are getting money from La Fiesta, that we are getting money from Dad's Clubs and PTAs and all the other fundraising. So I really think it's important for our listeners to understand that the tax money still puts the district at a deficit and all the fundraising that everybody does at each of the campuses and throughout, and MAD for Platte and what have you, is all trying to essentially put the finger in the dam to get the district even. This bond is so critical because it's going to take pressure off maintenance operations. It's going to give us the funds we need to do kind of the heavy lifting projects, and then all the money that we're fundraising, all the money that we bring in through pennies and what have you, can go to the operations of the schools and the teachers and the salaries, and that is so critical to getting us from a defensive position to an offensive position and putting us in a very competitive position, which, as Scots, is where we want to be Absolutely.

Speaker 1: 11:36

Well, so I've seen the report and all the line items of the proposed projects. Let's talk about some of the projects at all the different schools.

Speaker 4: 11:44

I think there is a lot to be excited about in this bond. A lot of parents, a lot of students have been waiting for some of these updates to our campuses. I've not even my kids are not even in high school yet, but I have heard the nightmares about the parking. And I've not even my kids are not even in high school yet, but I have heard the nightmares about the parking and I've heard the the troubles that they have getting the kids to the cafeteria. The bond is going to take care of that. We're going to get more parking at the high school, um, so kids aren't parking on the street and driving around the block looking for a parking spot. We are going to um update the cafeteria at MIS and HPMS. We are going to regrade and turf the field and that is going to eliminate the safety concerns, the drainage problems that we have there and make it playable year round At the elementary schools, one that's near and dear to my heart, as my children are at Armstrong.

Speaker 4: 12:36

It is an original building. It is quaint, it is cute, but boy does it have problems. The piping, the plumbing underneath the building is original to the building. It has to be replaced. It's not, I wouldn't say that changes there are quite as exciting, but it's going to look. It's going to be a better place for our kids to be in school. And then the other schools. The elementary schools are beautiful buildings. They kids to be in school. And then the other schools the elementary schools are beautiful buildings. They're you know, they're still, they're new, they feel new, but as a house, we all live in houses. A 10-year-old house is going to have some ongoing maintenance concerns and this is going to give this district a little bit of breathing room and budget to make the repairs as they come up.

Speaker 3: 13:15

And Jane, as we think about our new elementaries, it's hard to believe that Boone Elementary is nearing 10 years. It seems like yesterday that that school you just think about it well gosh, that's brand new. It's almost 10 years.

Speaker 1: 13:28

Well, one of the main things that I keep hearing about is the HVAC system at the middle school. I've seen pictures. It is constantly breaking the pipes. Look awful. It's ruined the theater stage at least once, right. So tell us a little bit more about that, because it sounds pretty intense.

Speaker 4: 13:45

Yes, well, the HVAC system unfortunately was put in during a time that the Texas law required the school district to choose the lowest bid.

Speaker 4: 13:56

And so you can imagine what kind of work was put into there. And so the pipes and the valves have not met the expected life cycle, and so here we are stuck with a very expensive problem that the school board had decided we have to fix this now, before the kids went back to school this fall. We've been lucky that the kids have been able to stay in school and not miss any school days with the damage that has been done. But that part of the bond is going to pay for the massive repairs that are being done there.

Speaker 3: 14:28

Well, that estimated cost right now is $8 to $12 million, and so we have an ability with the bond to retroactively pay the district back for that expense. So a successful passing of the bond, a yes vote for the bond, allows those dollars to repatriate into the district go right back in our coffers. That's extremely and extremely important. We don't have those dollars to spend, but the alternative is that if it didn't get fixed, or if that water problem continued during school, we would be moving our kids from MIS, hpms into our elementary schools.

Speaker 1: 15:00

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Speaker 3: 15:41

Well, if it doesn't pass, the district is in a critical position that it is going to go right back out for a bond referendum again. We'll be right back in front of you having this conversation. A few months later, it's coming right back Okay.

Speaker 5: 15:55

There's no avoiding it, and I think one of the key things to think about in the state of Texas is that this is the one avenue that we have as a district to raise the funds that we need to support maintenance and operations. We are not the only district. There are many other districts in the state of Texas. Eans ISD outside of Austin is kind of the gold standard. They offer bonds every three to five years for these purposes and these types of projects that we're proposing here, and so it really is getting Highland Park ISD into kind of that best in class in terms of utilizing the financial tools available to us to meet the needs that we have both for the present day but also be planning for the future and again putting ourselves in a very competitive district.

Speaker 3: 16:36

And Martha. I don't want us to go cross-eyed with the following statement on bond structure, but in the state of Texas, school districts have an ability to go out for bonds and a lot of those bonds are 30 and 40 year term bonds. Hbisd is extremely tax efficient and we look at one year, five year, ten year and 40 year term bonds. Hbisd is extremely tax efficient and we look at one year, five year, 10 year and 20 year bonds. So if you have a short term, need you do short term debt, not 30 and 40 year debt. So our district, its leadership and our trustees have been very intentional and great stewards of how we structure, we raise dollars and we get rid of our debt extremely quickly.

Speaker 1: 17:08

So you all have shared so much information today, but just let me know, why do you care so much about this bond?

Speaker 5: 17:16

Well, I'm a very proud band mom and I have a kid who has found his home in fine arts. And when I, you know, we've been in the district for 10 years and until I had a fundraising for the band last year, I didn't realize how dire the situation was. And when you start to look at band and orchestra and choir and theater and the facilities and just the whole environment around fine arts arts is one of our four pillars of pride and it doesn't get a lot of support and it doesn't get a lot of the dollars and there's so much fundraising that needs to go into just supporting these guys that for me, I want we need diverse homes for these kids. And when you have instruments that don't work, when you have kids working 40 hours a week, you know, in marching band, when you have uniforms with mold on them, you know you, you know we have students that are kind of by hook and by crook, keeping up the tradition of the bagpipes, and we've got bagpipes that are laying in parts on the back of a, of a of a storage room, Like it's.

Speaker 5: 18:22

It's a bad situation For me. You know I'm so passionate about supporting these kids that put their heart and soul into Friday night lights and then Saturday competitions and showing up in the drum line and making sure they have, you know, sending off all the kids when they go to state and show up in convocations. They need dollars behind them to make sure that those instruments and those uniforms and those buses and those trucks can get them where they need to go. And that is above and beyond what a booster can raise.

Speaker 4: 18:53

My husband and I moved here eight years ago from out of state and we chose Highland Park as our home. We looked around, we could have moved anywhere in the Dallas area but we chose Highland Park because of the schools and I tiptoed into volunteering and then kind of dove in headfirst and as I got to know the school system, the teachers, the administrators and the parents, I realized that we are building upon a legacy of wonderful people and volunteers who have given so much time and their resources to the school and I believe it is our responsibility to continue that and build upon this legacy of excellence.

Speaker 2: 19:36

Yeah, for me, I mean. I grew up here, I went to Armstrong and then McCullough and graduated in 98 from the high school. So my wife and I were very fortunate to be able to move back into the school district and we love this community and it's a world-class community that's why we're here, and world-class communities need world-class facilities and world-class teachers and this bond helps us get there. More specifically, on the teachers, my mom was a teacher here for about 18 years. She was a librarian at hire and she was an awesome librarian and I could tell you that the job didn't start at 7 or end at 3.30 when the bell rung, and it didn't end over the summer either.

Speaker 2: 20:15

We've got amazing teachers and I think everybody at this table has had some sort of overwhelmingly positive experience with a teacher in the school district hopefully more than one teacher. And so if there is anything we can do whether it's through donating to Mad for Plaid, donating to our PTAs, ptos, dad's Clubs, donating to the Lead for Tomorrow campaign if there's anything we can do to put more money in the teachers' pockets, we should do it, and the fact that we're able to free up about $2.5 million annually to then go back in our teachers' pockets. I mean that for me, is the most critical aspect of this deal.

Speaker 3: 20:55

Martha, thanks for the question. I, like Nick, grew up in this community. I went to UP, my kids all went to Bradfield. I'm fortunate, actually blessed, that I've gotten to serve in Dad's Club and the Education Foundation, the Community Advisory Committee and a whole bunch of other things, and you know we're all busy.

Speaker 3: 21:13

Time is the most valuable thing that we have, but our greatest assets that we have are our children, and our children deserve to be, as Nick said, to be taught by the best educators available in the best facilities available. We as a community don't accept anything but that we're all type A plus, maybe an A minus here and there, but we're all that community that pours into excellence. We believe in excellence. It's something that we demand. Our kids do it, Our community does it. This is legacy.

Speaker 3: 21:44

We hear Scots find a way. We do find a way. This community is worth fighting for. This independent school district is worth fighting for and we need this. And when we need something not just want something, but when we need something we as a community rally together and we go get it done. And so the teachers that are teaching our young people are the ones that are shaping their lives and helping them be the type of community that we want to see in the future. We see what's on the news, we see what's going on. This is an amazing place to be and, again, like I said, it's something to protect. We're very proud of it and we're very passionate.

Speaker 1: 22:23

Well, you all have done such an excellent job of just going through all the details and really helping us understand what's going on and what the reasons are for it. I know that there's a lot of information posted online and I will include all those links so you guys can find them easily. But what do we do next? How can we help?

Speaker 4: 22:40

We want everyone to go vote yes on Proposition A, the HPISD Bond 2024. Early voting starts October 21st, goes through November 1st and the election date is November 5th. There's a couple other big things on the ballot. And then visit us at scottsforscottscom, sign up for a yard sign and help us spread the word.

Speaker 5: 23:04

We want your 18-year-olds, we want your 19-year-olds, we want the grandparents in the neighborhood that may not be as involved in the schools. Talk to your neighbors, talk to your friends. Really get the word out. Not everybody understands why we need the bonds. They may not be getting all the information through the school system like so many of us are. Please communicate how important this is for the legacy of our community.

Speaker 2: 23:27

And just a word of caution again, to remind everybody when you get in the voting booth, you're going to stand at that box, you're going to vote for everything and then, when this initiative comes up, it's going to say this will raise your taxes. This will not raise your taxes. Your tax rate will be the same the day before Election Day as it is after Election Day, regardless of how you vote. So vote yes.

Speaker 3: 23:50

If we summed it up in three things our district needs this, we have things that we need to fix. We have teachers that we need to keep, teachers that we need to hire. Our children deserve the best facilities, the best education. Go vote, go vote. Yes, go tell your neighbors to vote. Yes, go vote early. Spread the word, scots, find a way.

Speaker 1: 24:11

Go Scots. Thank you all so much for being here today. That's been another episode of the Bubble Lounge. I'm Martha Jackson. I'll see you next time.