Updated 10/05/2007 12:35:40 AM CDT

 

BEAUMONT - A lack of trust due to past school district missteps seems the biggest obstacle to voter support for Beaumont's $388.6 million school bond issue, based on concerns raised at a Thursday meeting organized by opponents.

Cards with seven reasons "why to vote no on the bond election" greeted the few dozen attendees.

The arguments, explained by Tom Neild, centered on past use of taxpayer money, the dollar amount, the tax rate, closing or relocating neighborhood schools, poor planning and spending on athletics.

If voters approve the bond issue Nov. 6, the combined tax rate at its peak is projected to be lower than it was this year. Those 65 and older would see no tax increase because their rates are frozen.

"We're not 100 percent against a bond. We're against
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this bond," Neild said.

Some in the audience questioned what alternatives Neild and other organizers suggested.

"Trust has to be earned," Neild said. "We're not the ones that several years ago abused that."

Trust could be earned back by successfully completing projects in smaller increments, Neild said.

Bond committee co-chair David Teuscher urged the audience to attend one of his presentations to get more accurate information, either at 7 p.m. Sunday at Westgate Baptist Church or 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Wesley United Methodist Church.

Teuscher said district officials had been given no choice but to pay for capital projects with the operations budget.
"We have been starving them," Teuscher said.

Others had more in common with the point of view of organizers.

Robert Thompson said he had concerns about inconsistent numbers related to the bond proposal.

"I was called a naysayer. I think the word is taxpayer," Thompson said.

Two attendees brought up South Park Independent School District being forced to take over a bankrupt Beaumont Independent School District in the 1980s. Miriam Cade Nichol charged that former South Park schools had not been properly maintained since.

Sina Nejad, another organizer, said after seeing a flawed $40,000 study used to develop the proposal, "I'm not going to trust $400 million to those seven folks," referring to the school board.

"Then go get seven new ones," responded bond committee member Bennie Hickman. The board cannot legally turn their oversight responsibility over to another body, Hickman pointed out.

Early voting on the bond issue runs Oct. 22 through Nov. 2. Election Day is Nov. 6.

Even after hearing concerns raised, bond committee member Gwen Ambres said she thinks the proposal has a good chance.
"I think it will pass," Ambres said.