Joshua Voters - Take Heed
Congratulations Joshua Voters. You stood up against having a $35.75 million school bond crammed down your throat. Your 27 vote defeat of the bond (1,218 against, 1,191 for) was a victory, but you are in for a REAL battle now. I will summarize what happened in Cleburne in the hope that it will help you prepare for the battle ahead.
A year and a half ago, Cleburne ISD called for a $36 million bond election. The bond was defeated by 60 votes. Six days after the defeat, the CISD board called another election on the same bond for three new elementary schools. One school, at the most, was all that was needed. The second vote passed the bond by 35 votes. Since then the law was changed so elections can only be held in November and May. You have until May to prepare for the bag of dirty tricks they will use to force the bond on you.
CISD hired, at taxpayer expense, a population growth study. After letting the company conducting the study know what they "expected", the study showed a growth rate to "justify" new construction. The study projected a growth of about twice normal. Actual growth, after the first year, was less than normal. They panicked many people into voting yes with this faulty projection of a growth boom.
CISD printed and mailed, again at taxpayer expense, a pro-bond brochure which they called an "information sheet."
CISD set up a phone bank at one school and called voters to solicit their vote for the bond. This is strictly against the rules.
Supporters set up a Political Action Committee which raised over $10,000 to spend on promoting the bond. The majority of the donations to the PAC were made by the contractors, architects, and suppliers who were to build the new schools. The chances of you being able to outspend this group are slim. You will have to work harder and smarter than they.
One way of working smarter would be by using Open Records Requests to uncover wasteful and inappropriate spending by the school district. This problem is so widespread throughout Texas that you are virtually assured of finding problem areas. With these problem areas uncovered, you can legitimately question if a bond is really needed or whether all that is needed is wiser use of existing funds.
Rest assured that the school district and the pro-bond forces will get out their voters at the next election. Your biggest problem will be voter apathy. To counter this apathy, you must start a voter education campaign as soon as possible. You could pick up some ideas on the process by attending a monthly meeting of our Cleburne group, Access Cleburne. Beginning January 16, we meet on the third Tuesday at 7 p.m. at 603 N. Main (CPU Computers) in Cleburne. To receive an email notice of our meetings and other important events in our ongoing investigation, send a request with your email address to Alden Nellis, cpupro@sbcglobal.net or Teresa Blackwell at jb1961@academicplanet.com
Alden Nellis
603 S. Walnut
Cleburne, Texas 76033
817-641-9646 (M-F, 10-6)