Why is AISD an economic fail? (Dallas, San Antonio: 2014, apartment complex, rental)

[Trainwreck20]

Originally Posted by ScoPro

Aetna was the insurance carrier for TRS-Care. It was running about $250-$300/ month through them last I heard.

As part of a group plan. Try an individual plan

[ScoPro]

That was the rate after I retired and before they required a switch over to Medicare 10 years later, which I did not like.

[earthisle]

Half of AISD revenue is sucked out and sent to rural school districts

[ScoPro]

Well, yes..... that’s the state “recapture “ (Robin Hood) policy that has been the school finance law since Ann Richards signed it in the early 1990s. It was mentioned in post #3 by Austin97 up top. Also see posts 5 & 6.

Supposedly the lege has changed it to cut AISDs recapture amount in half for the next year, but I have not heard any details.

In any case, with the declining enrollment the school staff, faculty, & administration numbers should be cut to reflect that trend...... thereby saving millions in overhead.

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by ScoPro

Well, yes..... that’s the state “recapture “ (Robin Hood) policy that has been the school finance law since Ann Richards signed it in the early 1990s. It was mentioned in post #3 by Austin97 up top. Also see posts 5 & 6.

Supposedly the lege has changed it to cut AISDs recapture amount in half for the next year, but I have not heard any details.

In any case, with the declining enrollment the school staff, faculty, & administration numbers should be cut to reflect that trend...... thereby saving millions in overhead.

Here is an example of social justice. District 1 and 2 are having a huge loss of enrollment. The trustee says that school closures should also affect far west even though those are overenrolled and the best AISD vertical.

The loss of enrollment causes recapture to be even greater. The algorithm for recapture looks at the ratio of total enrollment and total real estate value. Austin is very wealthy and doesn't have many students enrolled so we send a lot of our tax dollars to districts with a worse ratio. We arent going to decrease the value of the property, but we can remove blocks to cheaper family homes so we get families moving in to the east side instead of hipster singles.

The schools need to be pretty good for the people to want to send their kids there. A few magnets would **** off the social justice warriors, but would be very good for allowing the wealthier families that can afford to live there to have a place for their kids.

What we need is huge affordable family oriented development on the east side and AISD needs to focus the education to fit the people. If the parents are uneducated and lower income, then the kids need to focus on drilling the basics to do well on tests. If you can't pass the staar test (which is easy) then you have no business doing "whole child" learning. As the east side gentrifies the schools will start to improve.

"If District 1, District 2 families have to experience closure, consolidation, boundary change, so should southwest Austin and so should far west. They need to experience that too. It shouldn't be students and families in District 1 having the hardships of being moved or being bussed," said LaTisha Anderson, who represents District 1. "To signalize District 1 or District 2 to protect southwest Austin is a slap in the face to the people that we represent. All means all. It doesn't mean District 1, District 2, protect Far West. All means all."

[ScoPro]

Agreed about the gentrification of East Austin. That vibrant, though poor & mistreated, part of town went downhill after old Anderson High School was closed. The Yellowjacket community was a strong one before social justice ripped the heart and soul out of it in the 1970s.
It is sad to see all the old cottages being razed to make way for those huge, ugly, Soviet style apartment blocks & condos that are populated by the hipsters. The East side soul is about gone.... fled to Pflugerville, Manor, & Round Rock. RIP

(Yeah, I’m an old white dude, but had several Eastside friends at St. Edward’s High School in the early ‘60s and on my school faculty later on. We lived on Manor Circle for a few months back in the day, so I do have a little familiarity with some of the area)

[ashbeeigh]

Originally Posted by ScoPro

Agreed about the gentrification of East Austin. That vibrant, though poor & mistreated, part of town went downhill after old Anderson High School was closed. The Yellowjacket community was a strong one before social justice ripped the heart and soul out of it in the 1970s.
It is sad to see all the old cottages being razed to make way for those huge, ugly, Soviet style apartment blocks & condos that are populated by the hipsters. The East side soul is about gone.... fled to Pflugerville, Manor, & Round Rock. RIP

(Yeah, I’m an old white dude, but had several Eastside friends at St. Edward’s High School in the early ‘60s and on my school faculty later on. We lived on Manor Circle for a few months back in the day, so I do have a little familiarity with some of the area)

I just had a friend from San Antonio (worked at USAA and now at facebook, so business/tech minded) who had several rental properties in SA and decided to move to east Austin when she and her husband landed jobs in the area. It makes sense for her to live in east Austin since she works at facebook...but...she just posted that her property value is 16k more then they paid for the property (within the last month). I had to keep my comments to myself. All I wanted to do was scold her for being the reason why Austin is unaffordable these days. (She is living off of 12th from my understanding).

While I see the economic and financial reasons for school closures it's going to turn these eastside neighborhoods even further upside down once they happen in a few years.

[10scoachrick]

Here's a fun question...
When was the last time the boundaries of any Texas ISD changed? Could two ISDs merge? Could a rapidly growing ISD split into two?

Just skimming the history of Texas ISDs is enough to make your head spin

Seems every family got a county and an ISD along with a chicken in every pot

[ashbeeigh]

Originally Posted by anonymou5

Westlake Hills is more expensive than East Austin, and yet they have no problem keeping their schools open and full of students.

The problem is not affordability, the problem is the quality of schools.

This is a millenial couple without kids. They moved to where they saw fit; near food, restaurants, hipster crap. If they had kids they would have moved to Westlake, most likely, because that's what would be a good fit. Those that made the schools and the community in the past (e.g. enrollment numbers) are being pushed out by this type of family.

As much as I love this couple, it just makes me cringe because I know that five years ago a family that had lived in that neighborhood for 60 plus years probably had to sell their property because their property value went up 16k. For my friend that's fabulous, for the previous family is was unaffordable and unattainable and pushed them to move out of east Austin. They want to stay, they can't because rent/property taxes are too high.

There is a website called Mobility Blueprint (anyone has access, I encourage everyone to do a google search for it) that shows the rent of apartments based on school boundaries. I looked at Zavala elementary yesterday and outside of the one HACA apartment complex rents were pushing $1600 for a one bedroom. How are middle class families supposed to afford that? I'll be working in that area and would love to not have a 30 minute commute, but at about 65k a year, $1600 is out of my budget.