The following letter was submitted to the Star-Telegram on June 13, 2011 in response to a letter from Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst which ran in the Star-Telegram's June 10 edition. Because the letter references the upcoming Tax Ratification Election, the Star-Telegram considered it an election letter, the deadline for which was June 12, 2011.
Dear Editor:
With all due respect, the Keller ISD Board of Trustees and administration are dumbfounded by Lt. Governor Dewhurst's recent letter to the editor. We read it with interest Friday. In that letter he indicated that the Legislature appropriated over $3 billion more in state funding for public education. This is a contradiction to the front page headline and story in the same newspaper.
The story focused on the fact that House members grappled with a revenue and school financing measure that would implement $4 Billion in state education cuts over the next two years.
In the most recent "run" from the company Moak Casey we were informed that Keller ISD would lose about $13 Million in school year 2011-12 and $17 Million in year 2012-13.
If Keller ISD received the target revenue of the district immediately to the west of us, we would have an additional $55 Million annually, and we would not be facing budget issues.
The potential funds raised by the Tax Ratification Election would replace missing state funding.
Assuming the TRE does not pass, Tier 2 cuts will be effectuated and approximately 300 additional positions will be lost along with the missing state funding, and class size will increase significantly throughout the District.
Yours truly,
Kevin Stevenson
Keller ISD Board President