An Open Letter Assessing The 2018 PG Bond Election

December 22, 2017 is a day that will forever be celebrated within the confines of PG. Under the bright lights of AT&T Stadium, the Hawks completed their historic run through the state football playoffs and walked away as champions by defeating West Orange-Stark. No doubt, these accomplishments are still etched in our memories and everyone reading this article will recall the shared excitement of the culmination of an undefeated season. Fewer recall, however, another significant occurrence that resonated throughout the Texas public school system which traces its roots to the very same West Orange school system. In November of 2005, in that same West Orange school system, the Texas Supreme Court ruled that our then-current school funding system created an unconstitutional state property tax. I worked in school business during this precarious time and admit our school funding system was perilously close to implosion. Thankfully, our elected officials created a stop-gap to address the legal challenges and kept funding alive until a more permanent solution could be achieved in the next legislative cycle. This intermediate measure basically “froze” a school district’s revenue per student and used each ISD’s property-wealth-per-student (PWPS) as the mechanism to determine how much revenue must be generated by the local property tax versus state allocations. This new system, though legally viable, left districts with limited options to allocate resources. Fast-forward 13 years and our schools are still running on the same legal framework which was intended to serve as a temporary solution. As a former CFO of a district in the DFW Metroplex, I admit the technical details of public finance border on outright boring; however, as I listen to the arguments of the vocal minority opposed to this bond, I’m reminded how relevant these seemingly mundane topics become. The majority of the feedback I’ve heard thus far has been supportive. The handful of complaints, however, all seem to share the same nexus, namely the current debt-per-student (DPS) ratio. When this argument is asserted it’s usually followed by comparisons to neighboring communities. Upon closer inspection, the intent of this DPS concern is to formulate a proxy argument against any increase in the total tax rate. There are too many variables that impact a district’s tax rate to cover in a letter such as this, but due to the legal construct of our funding formula created back in 2005, it’s futile to gauge a district’s financial health by reviewing a single ratio such as DPS or comparing school systems with vastly different PWPS values to one another. It’s disingenuous to do so and yields incomplete results. As a taxpayer I want to ensure our local school system is being a good steward of its resources. I understand the impact of waste and abuse of taxpayer dollars; hence, I fully engaged in the process of analyzing PG’s current financial health and volunteered to serve on the Community Committee responsible for a thorough evaluation of the bond program. My experience in public finance proved helpful as we went through months of analysis. After reviewing the reports created by PG’s CPA firm as well as audits conducted by the Texas Education Agency (TEA), I was proud to learn PG has earned the highest possible honors related to a school district’s fiscal health. The local accountants at Wilf & Henderson, P.C. rendered a clean opinion and found no deficiencies in form or substance. Further, TEA’s financial rating system issued PG its highest possible rating of Superior in each of its last two reporting cycles, and PG’s Fund Balance is perfectly situated within recommended guidelines proving it has the ideal liquidity reserves. A sub-group within our committee even studied the impact of construction inflation and changing interest rates. We quickly learned there is a real cost to prolonging construction efforts, approximately 4% per year (roughly $1MM per annual cycle). Each time the calendar turns over, the cost to our community rises. I’ll conclude by simply stating what should, by all accounts, be obvious: it is time to continue our pursuit of excellence as a community and build a new elementary school, improve our technology, and enhance security. Look to the recent exploits of our football team as a metaphor and vote Yes to conclude a perfect season here in PG.