Against Bland ISD bond election

April 21, 2008 12:41 am

— To the editor:
The residents of Bland ISD need to mark their calendars for May 10, 2008. This is the day the bond election will be held for building a new school in Merit. The current elementary school in Floyd and the middle school in Merit will be closed, and all the students from those two schools moved to new facilities in Merit, if the bond passes.
I have a hard time understanding why we need new schools at this time; and if we do, why they need to be built in Merit? I agree the two schools are old; I went to school at both of them, so I know they are getting old. At the same time you have to look at the student census; the student population has not increased in the last couple of years; in fact, it is less than it was three or four years ago.
Anyone who looks at the projected growth in Hunt County will see that the area in Bland ISD that is expected to have the greatest growth is the southern part of the school district. With US 380 widening to four lanes, and land speculators buying up large sections of land in the southern part of the district, it is obvious that developments are coming soon.
The school board must have vision and do what is best for the school now and for years to come. The board has already bought the land in Merit; now they expect the taxpayers to rubber stamp their plans and approve the bonds to build the schools. I asked one school board member why not build a new school in the Floyd area? The gist of the conversation was that they could not find any land in Floyd, FM 903 or 36 area that was for sale, or at a price they could afford.
The school board member also said if in the future a school was needed in the southern part of the district, they would look at building one there. This just does not make a lot of sense to me. If you cannot afford the land in the southern part of the district now at current prices, do you think you are going to be able to afford it five or 10 years down the road? You build the schools where they are needed now and will be needed in the future.
Yes, interest rates are low, and yes, the Bland ISD tax rate is low, but both should be. Just because you can buy a new car at 0 percent interest rates, or buy a home at all-time low interest rates does not mean everyone is rushing out to buy either. The economy is bad; residents can barely pay their utility bills and put food on the table with the price of everything we do going up daily, so we cannot afford any more financial burdens. With all the new homes being built and land taken out of agriculture, property taxes should have greatly increased, and student population has not increased, so the tax rate should be low.
Please vote “No” on May 10, 2008 on the Bland ISD bond.
Larry L. Bryant
Caddo Mills