Circle C Neighbors

On Saturday, September 11th, AISD will hold a special election to vote for 6 bond packages totally $519 Million.

It took their bond committee a year to study the $800+ Million dollars of requests from the school district and then hold many hearings in local communties. Circle C board members attended most of those meetings, and later the AISD board meetings, to make a strong case for including a new middle school for SW Austin.

That group got the package we needed, but it's being challenged, now. There is a movement to break up the package and support parts of it. You can read about it in today's paper.

The issue seems to be about an unrelate concern about wages for janitors and maintenance workers at AISD. It's a valid concern, but it has nothing to do with the bond package. But, some groups are going to oppose two of the items, both of which happen to include the SW Middle school (one part buys the property, the other pays for the school).


Please start the dialog TODAY. We need everyone to commit to voting for this bond package - all 6 parts of it!

But, since the election is right at the start of the school year, a lot of parents are going to have other things on their minds and forget to vote !!

There are two things you can do:

(1) Vote absentee - this time, voting booths will be set-up in most of the elementry schools - HOW EASY CAN THAT BE to vote early.

PLEASE GET REGISTERED TODAY !!

(2) Support SWAN.
These folks have formed the Southwest Austin Neighborhood PAC (SWAN), specifically for this effort. The SWAN website is :
http://www.austinkidsareworthit.org/

(see the August Circle C Newsletter)

Parents, YOU have to carry the vote ! This is YOUR issue, it affects YOUR kids.

Don't let anyone take away your kids' school. Resist any attempt to break up the bond package - vote FOR all 6 items.

Call other parents and make sure the go to vote, to.

Groups aligning to oppose bonds

Jeff Jacks, a neighborhood activist, former President of the Austin Neighborhood Council, and the current President of the South Austin Democrats (SAD), recently took an extreme posistion on the bond issues (similar to the negative position he took in the 1996 bond elections, after he failed to get appointed to the AISD bond committee)..... call him a sour grapes kind of guy.

Well, now he is leading a charge to oppose two of the 6 bond issues. He has singled out Item #1 and #5.

Without these two bonds, there will be no Performing Arts Center option (it requires 50% matching private funds - not just public money), no purchase of the SW Middle school property (which will almost guarrantee that it gets developed as multi-family (apartments), and many other issue of equity in other Austin schools.


The position is loosely based on environmental concerns, a no-growth attitude, and frankly, a lot of concern over the future wages that will be offered(along with thousands of new local jobs for skilled and un-skilled labor).

The labor issue isn't part of the bond issue, but Jeff Jacks has personally drawn it out to MAKE an issue to oppose the AISD bonds.

What can you do ?

Well, now it's more urgent than ever that YOU committ 10 minutes of your time to VOTE FOR the bond package.

And now, it's even more important that you take two people with you!

It's now or never. Fail to vote in large numbers, and we will suffer more over crowding, a decline in the quality of the teaching of YOUR kids, and more temporary buildings stacked on top of other temporary buildings and parking lots (which will push more teachers and employees to park in the neighborhood streets). We'll also have much more bussing and some of your kids are going to have to be bussed up north, over the river.


Please seek out other parents. Make sure they are registered to vote and promise to get out an vote.

Early voting will be in the elememtery schools - how easy could that be ?

Blue Books

I have a few copies of the AISD bond details to share. It's a rather large blue book with more details about how the bonds will be used.

Each of the schools now has a list of the things that will be fixed or upgraded, too. So ask.

NOTE: AISD and all of it's employees and teachers are not allowed to promote the bond package on school time or property. However, many of them are getting involved after school to get people motivated to get out and go VOTE ! That's the only way to assure success.

The early voting starts next week in most of the local elemetry schools. So, parents, park the SUV, get out and walk inside, take 10 minutes to vote on your kid's future.

If you have PRE-SCHOOL age kids or an infant, it's even more important for you. IF we get the bonds passed, that new Middle school won't be built for 5-7 years from now - possibly longer, depending on the ecconomic conditions!

If you are hearing about environmental or eccological concerns about the new Middle School out here - it's a dead-horse argument left over from 1996. It turns out the concequences for NOT building the new school is a LOT more busing, and that's much worse all the way around (more buses, more traffic, more congestion, longer commutes, much more private vehicle transportation and interception trips....).

This is the smart thing to do and remember, they only posted bonds for $519 Million out of over $800 Million in spending needs. This is about 60% of what we really needed to get our school up to speed. Austin is WAY behind other large school districts.

The Performing Arts Center is a $7 M items, however, it will only go out if we can match that amount with private funds !!! Raising $7 M will be a long, long, long process. But, when it's done (and I think it will pass), the district will have it's first full sized theater, which automatically becames a major community aceset - this isn't just for kids - it's for the adults in the city who use school facilities, parks, and meeting rooms all the time. ANC, too!