Sara Moore, co-chair of Odessans for a Bright Future, the political action committee for the Ector County ISD bond, feels there are parallels between President Kennedy’s 1961 inaugural speech and the situation faced by the community and school district today.
Election Day is Nov. 7. The deadline to register to vote is Oct. 10 and early voting runs from Oct. 23 through Nov. 3.
The bond will not affect the ECISD tax rate of $1.014 per $100 valuation. Last year’s total tax rate was $1.17 per $100 valuation.
People 65 and older will see zero tax impact. The only things that would change that is if you have added to or renovated your home or there is a change in state law, which hasn’t happened.
The bond is divided into three propositions and people can vote for all of them, one of them or two of them.
The Kennedy speech mentions passing the torch to a new generation of Americans born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by hard and bitter peace and proud of our heritage. Although it was spoken 62 years ago in a different environment and time, it’s still very applicable to today, she said.
This is a call to the future — to do what’s needed to prepare the next generation.
Moore said all 33,500 ECISD students were born in this century and while they may have not experienced a war, they did have a pandemic.
“We might not have had bread lines, but we had lines of people for school lunches. We had lines of people for vaccinations, so this generation has already lived through their own version of world events,” she said.
She added that we have had to learn some new disciplines like wearing masks and not being able to attend school, social distancing, discontinuation of extracurricular activities and many other precautions.
“We’re all proud of our ancient heritage … Even though the torch was being passed to young, breath-of-fresh-air type administration, they were still proud of where they came from and proud of the history of the nation. I think we can say the same thing. This school bond, in a way, is going to put a new face in some ways on the school district. But yet we’re still proud of where we came from. We’re proud of what’s been established here,” Moore said.
“The question is how much do we really want to prepare our next generation? This is just one of several ways we can do that. Everybody wants their children to have the best. Our students deserve the best; our staff … Teachers deserve every tool they can have at their disposal to teach and get students ready for this new age,” she added.
Moore added that as we age, we are depending on the future workforce. She said they want to build the community so people want to come back after they go to college.
“If we’re not able to get this bond passed, the alternatives are not pretty. At some point, these buildings are not going to be habitable anymore. You won’t be able to put a population of students in them, and not only that, but if you have to take money from the main budget of the school district, then something’s gotta give on the other end. That other something is probably salaries,” Moore said. “There’s going to be an inability to hire and (you) may have to look at layoffs, or salary cuts or something like that. The alternatives are dark. It’s not a good option. I feel like we’re at a really a precipice, so to speak, because we’ve either got to jump, or fall backward,” Moore said.
The Transition Learning Center, which is on the bond issue, serves special education students up to age 22 teaching them life skills and training them to go into the workforce in Odessa. Moore said the program is terrific and the students are well taught.
“But the facility they’re in has been repurposed and renovated and remodeled so many times. They have air conditioning issues, and it’s because the duct system no longer actually fits the configuration of the rooms because walls have been moved,” Moore said.
As a result, a corner of a room may be too hot.
The hallways also are too small, so if you have wheelchair students it’s hard for them to get around. Moore said the program is growing.
“There are challenges that they have to meet on a daily basis that the rest of us don’t have to deal with. Because of that, they deserve the best that we can offer them, I believe, the best we can offer them in education; the best facility; most comfortable facility that we can offer them. We provide our athletic teams with all of the safety equipment that they need. We provide our fine arts students with the best music and access to instruments that we can provide. Our special needs students deserve that as well. I think it’s vital that we serve that need,” Moore said.
The three proposition, $436,109,000 bond includes:
Proposition A – $424,263,000
- New Career & Technical Education Center to be located in south Odessa/Ector County
- New middle school to be located in west Ector County
- Districtwide maintenance and repairs
- Transportation Department: bus purchases and a new Transportation Facility
- Technology Department: replacement of district phone system, PA/Bell/Clock/Fire Alarm system replacements; security camera refresh; classroom interactive flat panels; large group instruction area audio/visual equipment
- Fine Arts Department: complete renovation of the Permian High School Auditorium; replace outdated instruments; performance risers for all middle school choirs; classroom instruments for elementary campuses; uniforms for middle school bands and mariachi; JROTC facility needs
- Transition Learning Center: complete replacement of facility for students with special needs learning to transition from school to the workforce
- Agriculture Farm: complete replacement of classroom buildings and barns
- Athletics: LED lighting at the Odessa High School baseball and tennis stadiums; LED lighting at the Permian High School baseball stadium; resurfacing of tennis stadiums at all middle schools; replacement of indoor bleachers in main gyms of all middle schools
- Land purchase for new CTE Center and new middle school
Proposition B – $8,096,000
- Ratliff Stadium: concrete overlay of bleachers; update restrooms; LED lighting for stadium parking lot; LED lighting at track/field event venue; air conditioning/heating for south building locker rooms; replace one grass field with artificial turf (also includes any major maintenance needs at the stadium complex identified in Facilities Assessment report).
Proposition C – $3,750,000
- New indoor practice facility for Odessa High School; new artificial turf for existing indoor practice facility at Permian High School (according to the law, these indoor practice facilities must be separate bond proposals for voters to consider.)
Next steps for the school district include meeting with community members to inform Ector County residents about the three proposals and answer any questions they may have.
“We will be very active in getting information to our community,” said Dr. Muri. “The last bond election, held in May 2022, saw very low voter turnout, less than ten-percent of Ector County voters. We want to see a much larger turnout this fall.”
TAX RATE IMPACT
Since 2020, ECISD has made early payments of about $37.3 million dollars on existing bonds, and by prepayments and refinancing, saved taxpayers $26.9 million in future interest payments. Based upon the district’s existing tax base, the district will not need to increase the total tax rate of $1.014 to pay the $436,109,000 of bond projects.
