Burleson Star (Burleson, Tex.), Vol. 24, No. 46, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 16, 1989 Page: 3 of 28
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Editorials, Opinions
Burleson Star, Thursday, March 16, 1989—3A
People need to work at problems that
are dividing community into factions
Mr. Moody, after reading your
editorial I moved directly to write
this short note before I forgot
and later wished I had followed
through. From reading all the let-
ters printed in your paper, I
assume that no one wants in-
ferior education for our students
and eveiyone wants lower taxes. If
both sides agree with that, then
what is the argument left un-
settled?
Some people—not all people or
most people—but some people
seem to judge another person’s
opinion by the amount of time
they have lived here instead of
what they have done for the sake
of the community since they have
been residents in the area. Thank
you for being fair Mr. Moody,
and I liked your article published
in Monday’s paper dated March
13, 1989. I too, have been unwill-
ing to speak up when I have been is legal to have a rollback let’s do
asked because I did not want it and let the public decide. If it is
someone to be angry with me for
family and business sake.
You and I are friends but have
not always agreed with each
other through conversation or
newspaper articles. Well, this
time you hit the nail on the head.
This thing is dividing our com-
munity and it needs to stop. If it
it and let the public decide. If it is
not legal, well then leave it alone.
We happen to live in the greatest
country in the world where we
can agree to disagree. Whether
you like or dislike what is hap-
pening, take it to the polls and
vote. Voting will usually cure
what ails you.
CLIFF LOPEZ
Split opinions downright pathetic
I have kept informed of the
split opinions since December
‘88. There has been so much talk
of dividing community over this
tax rollback petition, that it’s
downright pathetic.
As tar as I can see, the voices of
Burleson are telling our officials
that they have the right to be
heard, and an election. Yet our of-
ficials have taken every step
towards anything but the elec-
tion, including use of school
dollars to fight against us. When
these officials and board mem-
bers took it upon themselves to
throw out more than 1,600 of our
signatures under the pretense
that they are invalid or not our
legal signatures, it just put the
icing on the cake. Our officials
claim they want community in-
volvement, but when they receive
it, they take drastic measures to
discredit us as citizens and in-
dividuals that don’t know their
own names.
I’m interested and concerned
in our community and its educa-
tion process for all our children.
We have a lot of talented people
in our district and positive steps
toward community involvement
should be taken (not negative
ones). We all want the most
education for our money and
proper management, by means to
which our tax dollars are
spent.
My children attend BISD, so I
have as much at stake as anyone
else. I believe that no matter what
job description you have, at some
point in our lives for whatever
reason our budgets need trim-
ming or revising. You learn to
Teacher salary can’t
be based on spouse's
I am a candidate for the
Burleson ISD School Board. I
have been attending meetings
throughout the community-
some which are pro-tax rollback
and some which are anti-tax
rollback. First of all, let me state
that I am personally opposed to a
rollback in taxes at this time. I
have based this assertion on lis-
tening, asking appropriate ques-
tions, being objective, and 14
years experience dealing with
large budgets and program
development. This is not to say I
am in favor of high taxes,
because I’m not. Nor do I con-
done government waste, because
I don’t.
I know that some people in the
community have reviewed the
budget for the next school year
and have already decided where
cuts could be made. Based on
last week's letter to the editor
from Ms. Riley, I got the impres-
sion that she believes teachers’
salaries and benefits should be
directly dependent upon the
salary of their spouses. Does this
mean that a teacher who is
married should be paid less than
a teacher who is single? I simply
do not agree with this premise. A
person’s salary should be based
on his or her individual worth
and the competitive marketplace.
In reality every budget can pro-
bably be cut to some degree, but
a $1.1 million cut is not just cut-
ting, that is major surgery.
Although outside scrutiny and
impartial objectivity are certainly
needed by the Burleson ISD, a
budget the size and complexity
of this district’s cannot be arbit-
rarily reduced by someone from
the outside making recommen-
dations where money can be
saved, without the proper infor-
mation.
This district needs to look at a
balance between good sound fis-
cal decisons and the educational
impact of those decisions; and
that can only be done by people
who are willing to be objective, by
listening to all sides of an argu-
ment, and then making a reason-
able choice.
The future of this district
depends on the ability of the
community to solve problems
together by communicating with
one another in a spirit of trust
and mutual respect for differing
opinions. In making up their
mind about this important issue,
I only hope people will realize
that our most valuable resource
is not gold, silver, or diamonds; it
is EDUCATION.
GARY HIDALGO
Candidate BISD, Place 1
Riley uninformed
on school issues
In response to Debbie Riley's
letter in the March 9 edition of the
Burleson Star, I felt as though I had
to reply. For many weeks now, I
have read the editorials and heard
both sides of the rolback issue.
Many times I felt like sitting down
and answering some of those let-
ters, but this letter in particular real-
ly got my attention.
First, as a teacher in the BISD,
I would like to know about these so-
called "bonuses" that Ms. Riley
seems to think we are getting. May-
be I'm missing out on them be-
cause I'm not aware of any teacher
who receives these. As far as career
ladder goes, that takes several years
just to qualify for and that money is
STATE funded, not locally funded.
Secondly, I would like to ad-
dress the matter of our insurance.
Just this year BISD's insurance pre-
miums were raised because we had
so many claims last year. This cost
was not absorbed by the BISD, but
instead passed on to teachers. This
made my rate so high that I had to
cancel it and pay extra to be includ-
ed on my husband's insurance poli-
cy. You may be correct in saying
you pay for your insurance, BUT
you are NOT paying for mine.
Last of all, I would like to ques-
tion your salary figures. You as-
sume that we teachers marry "our eq-
ual and above." Many of my teacher
friends are single, but assuming we
do marry our equal, at $18,000
EACH, that gives us a combined
total of $36,000. Yet you said that
we would be "bumped up to the
bracket of $50,000-70,000." If I
assume that I married my "above,"
he would have to make $32,000-
57,000 to put us in the bracket you
claim we are in. That would certain-
ly be nice, but unfortunately it's
not very realistic since you yourself
state that the average combined in-
come of Burleson families is
$28,000-32,000!
I could also write a whole
different letter about making so
much less than my husband when
both of us have college degrees, but
I won't get into that argument now.
In conclusion, I would like to
say that I agree that all citizens
should do their own research. How-
ever, make sure you look at ALL
the facts, not just the ones that
favor your opinion.
I am writing this letter as a
private tax-paying citizen and not
as a "non-resident” teacher who sim-
ply wants a raise. I realize that
BISD does have some problems,
but I want to stay here because I
believe we have a great education
system. I am not willing to "jump
ship" to get away from this, but I
know of several GOOD quality
teachers who are waiting to see how
this bad situation dividing the
community is worked out.
Wouldn't Burleson be better off
with teachers who want to be here
rather than teachers who couldn't
get a job anywhere else? Think
about that
Patti Bradley
evaluate your needs and wants,
and the importance of them to
conform to your budget. t
As an average individual I can-
not rely on a tax increase to bail
me out financially, so that the
next year I can continue to over-
spend with no reprocutions to
myself, (a lesson is not learned). I
must find either another avenue
of income or revise my priorities
and budget, just as I do every
year when my over-appraised tax
statement finds its way in my
mail, and so should the school
district. For those residing in the
appraisal office and on the
school board, it might look to you
like our money grows on trees,
but I assure you it doesn’t. It’s
earned the hard way (honestly,
long hours, & work)!
Eight years ago our board was
so concerned that our school dis-
trict would become over pop-
ulated by an additional estimated
3,000 students. So it’s eight years
later, .where are they? In the last
eight years our student popula-
tion increased approximately 400
students, our budget income in-
creased $7,000,000. With over-
appraisals of our property
allowed to continue at a high tax
rate, we will never have -that
problem.
How many of you have tried to
sell your home at the appraised
value? Those people that came
here for a future in our com-
munity have ^ad to leave due to
these high taxes. Our elderly, vyho
have supported our community
for 20-30 years, are having a terr-
ible time surviving, and can’t
hang on much longer. Is this the
view you want future families to
see when they grow older and on
fixed income: our officials will
take away their property and
home, since they couldn’t pay
these over-appraised taxes?
Everyone is hurt by this action,
why don’t our officials and ad-
ministrators do something posi-
tive for our community foW a
change? An example of this pro-
blem is a builder in Burleson
bought 16 acres at $25,000.00 last
year, yet the '88 tax appraisal bill
was appraised at $75,000.00,
why?? No structures or im-
provements has been made. Is
this fair?
At this point, our student pop-
ulation will decrease at this rate.
A rollback is not to blame, the
damage is already done. For you
taxpayers that are undecided or
on the side of SOS, keep this in
mind come election time. And if
you hear that our rollback did
this to our community you’ll
know that it wasn’t the rollback—
it was our officials and their ac-
tions. Let’s stand up and be
counted. I am.
DEBBIE RILEY
Burleson
Burleson Star policy
on letters to the editor
It is the editorial policy of the Burleson Star to publish any original
"letter to the editor” submitted which includes the name and signature
of the writer with an address and phone number. The writer’s name
and city of residence are included with the published letter, but not
specific street addresses or phone numbers. To be considered for
publication, letters to the editor must also be:
—Written in good taste;
—Concerning a current issue of concern to the local readership of
this newspaper;
—Not inflammatory or libelous.
In rare instances only, a letter to the editor may be published with a
“name withheld on request” signature. That does not eliminate the re-
quirement that the letter be signed when submitted. Consideration of
withholding a signature is at the discretion of The Star and would be
based on there being a clearly detrimental effect to the writer if his or
her signature should be published. Additionally, the subject matter of
the letter must be of significant import to our readership to warrant
the exception of withholding a signature.
The Star does not publish form letters or copies of “letters to the
editor;” only original, signed letters which meet the other criteria ex-
plained here are considered for publication.
Community ed
benefits area
I have heard about tax funds
for the schools being cut.
I hate to hear of this because of
programs like the "Grant Pro-
grams” for community education
which will be cut if this goes
through.
So many people, like myself,
could not afford to go to the
junior colleges to learn such
things as: typing refresher, word
processing, and data base man-
agement for adults.
This would leave people of
allages wishing they had a way to
learn something to further their
careers or change their career.
Here is one who is hoping
these programs are ongoing for
other people’s sake.
LOIS HOGAN
BUILESON STAR
(U8H-C7S7M)
Saooad-ClaM Poaiaga Paid at
Burleson, Tnai 79028
Susan Hutaon-TIce
James Moody
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Moody, James. Burleson Star (Burleson, Tex.), Vol. 24, No. 46, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 16, 1989, newspaper, March 16, 1989; Burleson, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth760840/m1/3/: accessed July 6, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Burleson Public Library.