Accountability

 

Financial impact
Study completed December 2002
Two months before the Consolidation election Feb. 2003

New information not included in the flyer

LovejoyISD / AISD Financial Task Force Handout

  • Building secondary schools, we are more at risk of going over the $2 tax rate than if we consolidate with Allen. (source: Robert Puster 12/12/02 meeting)

  • Both Dan Roseveare at First Southwest Company, Lovejoy's financial consultant and their architect, Bryan Thruston at STB Architects/Planners, both said no contractor would accept a bid or begin the project on the Lovejoy high school until all the money for the project was issued and in the bank. Earlier issuance would raise taxes sooner.

  • Lovejoy lacks a commercial tax base (2.8%) and a smaller residential tax base to spread risk and costs. All of the newly zoned commercial property in Lucas is in AllenISD, not LovejoyISD. Kevin Kerr of the Allen school board voted against consolidation citing our lack of commercial property. (Allen American 12/19/02, Texas Education Agency website, Lucas land use plat)

  • A commercial tax base helps pay back bonds for buildings. If the dollars paid for debt repayment each year is $1,000,000, with consolidation, we as AISD homeowners will pay $702,000 and commercial properties pick up the tab on the remaining $298,000. In LovejoyISD, we will foot almost the entire bill at $972,000. That is a difference of $270,000 each year, with fewer homes to spread that across.

  • Allen's commercial tax base is growing. There is very little commercial zoned land in LovejoyISD district.

  • Property assessed value growth rate is highly speculative and has already been changed from Lovejoy's original projections as of August, 2002. These projections are guestimates affected by economic conditions.

  • There are two ways to meet the property assessed value growth. Through increase in individual home valuations (meaning a higher tax bill) or through new homes being built. Our bonds and their repayment are issued on these projections. Failure to meet these projections will force a tax increase that could go above $2 rate.

  • We believe if Lovejoy builds their own secondary schools, there will be higher school taxes after 2004 for a longer period of time. The $61 Million-Bond package is just the first. It only covers a high school, middle school, elementary school. This does not cover a bus/service barn, or administration building. Lovejoy projects one more middle school and 2 more elementary schools, not included in the bond.

  • School finances will be very tight. (Source: Robert Puster Committee of 100 meeting). When cuts need to be made, where will they be made?

  • LovejoyISD could fail fiscally. If LovejoyISD goes bankrupt, taxpayers must still pay for the bonds once they are issued. School bonds are secured by a pledge of UNLIMITED ad valorem taxes and MUST BE PAID BACK by the taxpayers. State would decide which district our children and properties go to. It would be anyone's guess where the state would put us, but one scenario could be Fairview might be redistricted into McKinney, and Lucas into Princeton or Wylie.

  • LovejoyISD has no secondary budget. When asked for a budget, Dec. 12, 2002, Robert Puster stated that there is no Lovejoy secondary school budget available. The administration and Board are basing their decisions on a SangerISD budget. (Source: Robert Puster 12/12/02 meeting)

  • SangerISD in no way resembles Lovejoy. It is a recognized district, with 25% of its students that are economically disadvantaged. Lovejoy is an exemplary district with 1% of its students economically disadvantaged. Teacher starting salary average at $29,000 as compared to Lovejoy at $37,000. (75% of the M&O (operating) budget goes to salaries. Source:Robert Puster 12/12/02) Interstate 35 runs through the Sanger district bringing commercial property which makes up 20% of their revenues in contrast to Lovejoy's 2.8% commercial. SangerISD land area covers 107 square miles while Lovejoy only covers 17 square miles.

  • The negative effect of "Robin Hood" on wealthy districts is substantial. SangerISD is not a "Robin Hood" district as Lovejoy is. Highland ParkISD, which is referenced often by school board members, is a "Robin Hood" district. "To get through the budget this year, we cut over 30 teaching and administrative positions, and we're still counting on private dollars to help us pay for a teacher raise," said John W. Carpenter III, Highland Park school board president. "We have a plan to make it through next year, but the following year, 2004-05, we're showing about a $3 million shortfall, and I don't think we'll be able to cut out a new group of teaching or administrative positions without significantly affecting programs." (Dallas Morning News) Highland Park cafeteria is entirely run by volunteers due to lack of funds.

    New information not included in flyer....

  • Lovejoy ISD Handout- Schoolhouse Meeting - February 15th, 2000 AISD/LISD Task Force Meeting concerning consolidation with Allen

  • Conversation with an official from Region 11 Education Center:

    ***********

    The cost of operations is the biggest concern when contemplating building a new campus. The expectation of the community will change the actions of the administrators. It depends upon what the community expects in the way of programs that you translate into staff and equipment.

    It normally takes the same number of support staff as
    teachers. If you have 100 teachers, it normally takes 100 support staff. That means janitorial, cafeteria, maintenance, tech support, administrative, so on.

    Utilities cost an average of $1.00 per square foot per year.

    It is okay to use Sanger as a model if they are comparable size and offering comparable programs. Sanger however offers considerably less in programs than in Allen.(Lovejoy will either not be able to offer an equal education as Allen, or Sanger should not be used for comparison.)

    The level of extracurricular programs will determine the number of related staff (meaning maintenance people to care for fields etc.)

    You must have tax base growth and student growth. If either one plateaus, you are in trouble and will have to increase the tax rate just to stay even and account for inflation. If it plateaus or goes down, you have to cut programs and people due to the $1.50 cap.

    If someone had not written down a projection of costs as part of the consideration of this project, that would be of great concern.

    ***********

  • There is NO Lovejoy secondary pro forma budet. Our board voted for separation without a projection of costs. This is of great concern to our communities.

  • Schools do go bankrupt. Westminister ISD in Collin County went bankrupt several years ago. The town still exists, it is off Highway 121 between McKinney and Trenton. Westminister had no industry and their school district was actually larger than Lovejoy. The bonds were turned down, they lost their accreditation and the state took them over. They were divided between Anna ISD and Melissa ISD.

  • The deputy commissioner at TEA has a CTD (Circling The Drain) list. There are 200 schools on that list presently, and they expect there to be 400 by the end of this year.

  • Rich Hickman has stated that our community would accept nothing less than a "top-notch" high school facility. Lovejoy administration and school board have stated that they will build a high school at $120/square foot. The high school is 225,000 square feet and the projected costs is $23 million. This means the high school will cost $102/square foot not $120 as stated. The high school would cost $27 million at $120/square foot. (AllenISD proposed cost for a second facility is $140/ square foot).

  • There are/will be water rate increases for at least the next three years. These increases are due to North Texas Municipal Water District raising their rates to Lucas. The City is passing along the increases without raising our own water rates. The increases are as follows:

    10-01-02 - 9%

    10-01-03 - 6%

    10-01-04 - 6%

    Have these cost increases been considered by the administration or board? There is no Lovejoy secondary budget to determine if these cost increases have been accounted for.

  • Administrative costs in Lovejoy with only an elementary school run at 7% versus 4% across the state.

  • How much will insurance/liability for a secondary school cost without police or paid fire department?

  • How much did the aerial photo of Lovejoy kids used in school presentations cost? At approx. a dollar a color copy how much of taxpayer's money was used to pay for copies? Were the children of people who oppose separation used in that picture?

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