The taxpayers of the PISD are facing a very weighty question in the upcoming board issue. We are told the status of many of our schools is very poor, but whose fault is that? Had previous boards and administrations done their jobs this problem possibly would not have become so unacceptable. But that is in the past, and now we are being asked to bailout that situation with a mammoth bond issue. I have has serious reservations about this matter, especially after I did some research as to just where PISD ranks among the other ISDs within the state of Texas. According to one rating service, out of 965 school districts in Texas, PISD ranks 722, the bottom third. Not something to brag about! Will bricks and mortar solve this problem?
That being said, I had just about decide to vote for at least one of the propositions when low and behold, “the mailman cometh”. It seems that once again the appraisal district has reevaluated at least one third of all properties in this district, and most have seen a noticeable increase in evaluation which means a tax increase for those property owners. And if you didn’t get it this year, you will in the next one or two years as the district reappraises one third each year. On top of that tax increase, we are being asked to vote for an additional tax increase with the bond issue. Add to that, I went to the appraisal district and was told that property owners can expect a 10% increase per year in their property appraisals into perpetuity or until the appraisals are raised up to meet market value whichever comes first.
We know that businesses which are looking to relocate give heavy priority to the school systems they are considering. They also look at hose those districts are managed and how the tax dollars are managed. This bond issue will allow the taxpayers to express their opinion as to past and present management. Yes, there is a tremendous challenge ahead of Pampa in solving the numerous problems facing our school district, but this proposed bond issue needs some fine-tuning before I can bring myself to vote for it. A proposal we can tolerate can be developed while at the same time demonstrating to anyone looking at this community that we have wise money managers working for us and place the highest priority on “Quality Education”, not social engineering or the vial “equity” and not adhering to the philosophy that yellow buses can solve all our problems.
One last personal observation; Mr. Piatt, the superintendent, inherited a mess of terrific proportions and then was asked to be the front man in trying to sell an onerous proposal to the local taxpayers. In my opinion, he has done an exemplary job with a bad situation and whatever the outcome of the election, he will continue to be an asset to this school district and do the job we expect of a superintendent. Thank you, Mr. Piatt
John L. Tripplehorn
