County Examiner believes that these school districts have just provided taxpayers with the most compelling reason to never, ever soak the taxpaying public for one more dime of hard-earned money for the construction of new school campuses ever again.
They can move classes on-line and learn to live with their means like the rest of us.
Take the Fort Bend (Texas) Independent School District--on April 14, 2020 the school superintendent announced classes will continue on-line through the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year.
I'm posting the notification here in its entirety in case FBISD removes the notice from their website.
FORT BEND ISD (April 14, 2020) - Fort Bend ISD will continue online classes through the remainder of the 2019-20 school year, Fort Bend ISD Superintendent Dr. Charles Dupre shared Tuesday.
In a message to the FBISD community taxpayers, Dupre announced that the District will not return to face-to-face classroom instruction this year, and commencement exercises for the Class of 2020 will be postponed until July.
Read full message from Dr. Charles Dupre, FBISD Superintendent of Schools:
To our FBISD community, I am writing to share plans for the remainder of the 2019-20 school year. Following much consideration and discussions with our Board of Trustees, and due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the current state-wide school closure in effect through at least May 4, Fort Bend ISD will not return to face-to-face classroom instruction this year. It has become clear that it will be in the best interest of our students and staff that Fort Bend ISD continue online classes through the remainder of the 2019-20 school year.
There are several factors we took into consideration, with safety and security being our top priority – we know that, even if Governor Abbott allows schools to reopen as of May 4, many families and staff members will be reluctant to return to school and work to avoid potential exposure to the virus. Additionally, because there are only three weeks remaining of instruction after May 4, we believe it will be even more disruptive to our students, staff and teachers to ask them to pivot back into our buildings and the traditional classroom environment.
We have built systems and structures to deliver learning online for the time being, and while we recognize this system is not perfect, we believe it will allow us to successfully complete the year while we focus on our planning for the reopening of school in August and re-strategizing to make up for any lost learning in the current year.
We have also announced that commencement exercises for the Class of 2020 will be postponed to July. We are in the process of scheduling dates at the Smart Financial Center, which will be announced in the very near future. High school campus principals will be sharing information about end of year events for seniors, including information about refunds for cancelled events.
You can expect more information in a video update soon, but in the meantime, I wanted to keep you informed about the latest developments. We are continuing our work together to support students, staff and families in the short- and long-term, and we will keep you updated as there is more information to share.According to the Texas Bond Review Board Local Government Debt Database, Fort Bend ISD taxpayers are on the hook for repaying over $1.65 billion dollars in bond indebtedness (including principal and interest).
With over 761,000 Texans filing for unemployment in the four weeks leading up to their April 9 article, KSAT.com reported Cisco Gamez, a spokesperson for the Texas Workforce Commission explained that number equated to everyone who filed in all of 2019.
“In all of 2019, we helped about 700,000 people,” Gamez said. “We have actually met that number and gone beyond. We’ve done a year’s worth of work in just a couple weeks’ time.”
When the time comes again--and it surely will in FBISD and school districts across the state--the taxpayers can say "Take your proposed new bond debt and shove it"---you don't need more classrooms or new campuses--move classes on-line.
