ILLUSTRATIONS AND PHOTOS
All of the other photos are from either school districts or chamber of commerce or city/area visitor sites. If you'd like to know more, right click
on the photo you'd like more information about.
Here is some supplemental material for which there was not room above, or, as with the case of Brownsville ISD, as their check register is
not online, the district did not qualify for inclusion in the above roster.
All of the other photos are from either school districts or chamber of commerce or city/area visitor sites. If you'd like to know more, right click
on the photo you'd like more information about.
Here is some supplemental material for which there was not room above, or, as with the case of Brownsville ISD, as their check register is
not online, the district did not qualify for inclusion in the above roster.
| MALDEF/Edgewood "Robin Hood" school districts Students |
| P E Y T O N W O L C O T T |
How we take back our children's education: one person, one question, one school at a time. |
| FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of education issues vital to a republic. We believe this constitutes a "fair use" of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C., Chapter 1, Section 107 which states: the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright," the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond "fair use" you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. |
| ATTENTION EDUCATORS AND ADMINISTRATORS: Every attempt possible has been made to verify all sources and information. In the event you feel an error has been made, please contact us immediately. Thank you. |
| Copyright 1999-2008 Peyton Wolcott |
"Walk softly and carry a big stick." -- Teddy Roosevelt "Trust but verify." -- Ronald Reagan |
| Just because you can doesn't mean you should. |
| Check Register Roster - Texas MALDEF / "Robin Hood" Edgewood Chapter 42 districts ( 22 ) |
| H o w w e t a k e b a c k o u r c h i l d r e n ' s e d u c a t i o n: o n e p e r s o n , o n e q u e s t i o n , o n e s c h o o l a t a t i m e. |
HOME
| Total Receipts/ Exp./Disbrsmts Per Student |
| Brownsville's leadership presented proclamations to BISD trustees recognizing the Broad Prize Award. |
| HAS ROBIN HOOD ACHIEVED 'EQUITY'? ARE CH. 42 DISTRICTS WISE STEWARDS? |
| General Fund Per Student |
| 2006-07 actual dollars spent** (include taxpayer-funded federal ReadingFirst & eRate funds, grants, state funds |
| Scenes from Sharyland ISD (right). |
| 01.06.09 / PSJA Bribery Scandal Saga Continues: U.S. district judge Ricardo Hinojosa told news sources that contractors involved in a bribery-for-votes scheme should share just as much blame for the school district scandal as the indicted elected officials. Two contractors pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges on Monday for offering thousands of dollars in kickbacks to four former Pharr-San Juan-Alamo independent school district school board members and ex-superintendent Arturo Guajardo (R). Steven Sambrano, 49, and Ramiro Guzman, 62, stated that they gave school officials sports tickets, plane rides, hotel rooms and more than $100,000 in cash in exchange for votes on district construction and insurance contracts. The guilty pleas come as part of an agreement with prosecutors that shielded “samcorp” from federal prosecution. The company has since filed for bankruptcy amid demands from creditors seeking millions of dollars. (SOURCE--FoxRio2) (More here) |
| Lone U.S. official patrolling Rio Grande |
How this works: For example, on the alphabetical drop-down (on the first link above) scroll down to for -- let's choose as an "A"
example, Austin ISD, and click.
example, Austin ISD, and click.
THE NUMBERS
The data above is from Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS) Budget and Actual Financial Reports; these are available
online here at the Texas Education Agency. Here, I'll walk you through it. You'll see this a page that looks like:
The data above is from Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS) Budget and Actual Financial Reports; these are available
online here at the Texas Education Agency. Here, I'll walk you through it. You'll see this a page that looks like:
| Friends, although the Mexican-American Legal Defense & Educational Fund (MALDEF) has sued Texans several times now for billions of dollars for so-called "equity," rather than using the monies entrusted to them for improving their students' academics, many of these districts are instead spending it on fluff such as private TV stations and fully staffed employee fitness centers. Sadly, many also continue to be dropout factories, their high schools a way station on the school-to-prison pipeline. The following information will hopefully encourage these public schools, also known as the Edgewood or "Robin Hood" or Chapter 42 districts, to become wiser stewards of the monies entrusted to them. The dollars in the pink column (below left) represent "General Fund/Total Revenue" forecasting for 2006-07 whereas the actual dollars received and spent for that same 2006-07 period are reflected in the blue columns (below right). |
| $7,671 7,392 7,502 7,721 6,597 |
| $370,399,322 41,348,623 89,320,302 108,865,324 116,154,532 |
| $ 602,959,858 87,251,126 130,885,773 233,915,317 154,497,331 |
| $ 12,488 15,597 10,993 16,590 8,774 |
| 48,284 5,594 11,906 14,100 17,608 |
| Brownsville Edcouch-Elsa Edgewood Harlandale Harlingen |
| 2006-07 budget projections* (doesn't include federal funds) |
| Forecasting and Fiscal Analysis -> Standard Financial Reports _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ This section will allow you to select the school year for which you would like to view and/or download school district and charter school Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS) Budget and Actual Financial Reports. |
| School Year |
| PEIMS Financial Budget Reports Budgeted financial data for each school district or statewide totals. |
| PEIMS Financial Actual Reports Actual financial data for each school district or statewide totals. |
| ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ ___________________________________________ |
| 2006-07 2005-06 |
| 2007-08 Financial Budget Reports 2006-07 Financial Budget Reports |
| 2007-08 |
| Available in spring 2009 2006-07 Financial Actual Reports |
| 2004-05 2003-04 |
| 2002-03 2001-02 |
| 2000-01 |
| 2005-06 Financial Budget Reports 2004-05 Financial Budget Reports |
| 2003-04 Financial Budget Reports 2002-03 Financial Budget Reports |
| 2001-02Financial Budget Reports No longer available |
| 2005-06 Financial Actual Reports 2004-05 Financial Actual Reports |
| 2003-04Financial Actual Reports 2002-03 Financial Actual Reports |
| 2001-02 Financial Actual Reports 2000-01 Financial Actual Reports |
| CLICK HERE |
| CLICK HERE |
| 2000-2001 77,816 students Total receipts/all funds $ 661,890,704 2006-2007 81,917 students Total receipts/all funds $ 1,126,936,650 |
No wonder Pat/Pascal hasn't put Austin ISD's check register online yet!
If you'd like to look up other years, start here and follow the links. Myself? I only look at the actual financial data as the budgeted
forecasts are not nearly so useful -- or as grounded in reality. Here's the full URL to get you to the page shown above; you can either click
on it or copy and paste it into your URL browser:
If you'd like to look up other years, start here and follow the links. Myself? I only look at the actual financial data as the budgeted
forecasts are not nearly so useful -- or as grounded in reality. Here's the full URL to get you to the page shown above; you can either click
on it or copy and paste it into your URL browser:
At the beginning of 2006-07, Austin ISD supe Pat Forgione forecast that Austin ISD would spend $ 624,423,013 as its
general fund, total revenue amount. Curious how close Pat's forecast was to the amount he actually wrote checks for
during 2006-07? I'm curious, too; after all, under his other name, "Pascal Forgione," he was the Clinton-appointed U.S.
Commissioner of Education Statistics who headed up the National Center for Education Statistics (until he and then-Vice
President Al Gore tangled on what the stats meant and he found the Austin ISD gig).
So let's click on the second red link above, scroll down again to Austin ISD and click one more time. As it turns out, Pat's
forecast amount was short, by almost half: $1,126,936,650 (all funds, total revenue). To put this in historical
perspective, Austin ISD only gained about 4,000 students during that period yet its spending almost doubled:
general fund, total revenue amount. Curious how close Pat's forecast was to the amount he actually wrote checks for
during 2006-07? I'm curious, too; after all, under his other name, "Pascal Forgione," he was the Clinton-appointed U.S.
Commissioner of Education Statistics who headed up the National Center for Education Statistics (until he and then-Vice
President Al Gore tangled on what the stats meant and he found the Austin ISD gig).
So let's click on the second red link above, scroll down again to Austin ISD and click one more time. As it turns out, Pat's
forecast amount was short, by almost half: $1,126,936,650 (all funds, total revenue). To put this in historical
perspective, Austin ISD only gained about 4,000 students during that period yet its spending almost doubled:
| Pat Forgione (PHOTO-John Anderson/ Austin Chronicle) |
| BROWNSVILLE ISD, recipient of the $1 million Broad Prize for 2008--the same week it was announced BISD failed to make AYP--actually received the equivalent of 384 Broad Prizes during 2006-07 from Texas and U.S. taxpayers as a $384 million gift. Is BISD a good steward of those monies? Only if you consider an 8-person TV studio (KBSD) wise use of other people's money. What about BISD's 6-person PR department? Is it necessary to have a PR team to trumpet your "good news" in order to win the Broad Prize? Is it equitable for one of the so-called Robin Hood recipient districts to have such luxuries as a TV studio and PR department when donor districts can't afford such luxuries? FAST FACTS: BISD's 2006-07 total receipts/all funds spending per student: $12,488. QUESTION: If BISD is serious about fraud, waste & abuse why aren't Brownsville ISD's checks online? LEFT: Thanks to one judge's decision in Plyler v. Doe, and U.S. authorities' unwillingness to safeguard our own borders, Americans are forced to pay for education & social services for millions of illegal immigrants--including how many at Brownvsville ISD? |
| Check register online? |
| Supe's contract online? |
| Brownsville ISD had two big announcements in October 2008: the Broad Prize and BISD failed to make NAYP. Never fear -- the district has its own TV station, although having professional TV coverage of 5th graders' career day (R) appears to have nothing to do with improving their education. Was this the "equity" MALDEF wanted? |
| Brownsville Edcouch-Elsa Edgewood Harlandale Harlingen Jim Hogg County Kenedy Laredo La Feria La Vega Los Fresnos Monte Alto Pharr-San Juan-Alamo Raymondville Roma San Benito San Elizario Sharyland Socorro South San Antonio United Ysleta |
| No Yes No Yes No |
| No No No No No |
| State payments Robin Hood, etc. (2006-2007) |
| Federal paymnts eRate, Reading 1st (2006-2007) |
| $304,184,102 41,161,779 79,019,180 90,841,885 82,782,682 |
| $ 79,187,774 11,919,317 19,039,885 20,334,888 21,264,142 |
Brownsville ISD Private
TV Station
TV Station
| Edgewood ISD appears to be the only school district in Texas wealthy enough to be able to afford its own employee fitness center; the questions I raised years ago to then-supe Richard Bocanegra -- who owned & operated an offsite private daycare center while EISD supe -- about his relationship with Pete Soldana, who headed the fitness center, and Soldana's credentials for heading such an enterprise, remain unanswered. |
| $ 12,534,203 8,948,152 326,591,049 37,022,587 32,215,710 |
| $ 1,668,260 2,019,314 44,095,258 3,828,284 3,223,712 |
| $ 9,337 8,837 7,534 7,316 6,844 |
| $ 3,163,177 4,985,335 171,470,501 21,495,184 14,344,916 |
| $ 10,176,890 6,521,881 186,795,453 23,301,273 18,443,983 |
| No No ? ? ? |
| 1,090 738 24,795 3,185 2,695 |
| San Benito San Elizario Sharyland Socorro |
| Los Fresnos Monte Alto Pharr-San Juan-Alamo Raymondville Roma |
| Jim Hogg County Kenedy * Laredo La Feria La Vega |
| With $13,172 to spend per student, guess that's how Laredo ISD can afford its own TV station including 15 staffers (R). Some of their job titles: ITV coordinator, production ass't, technical director, master control operator, camera operator, program controller, 3 camera operator/editors, master control operator, 2 studio teachers, special projects producer, and a graphics artist. |
| South San Antonio United Ysleta |
| Fund Balance (Ave:17.9%) |
| 23.3% 15.4% 25.0% 10.5% 29.5% |
| 9.71% 23.4% 29.1% 10.3% (0.38%) |
| $ 11,499 12,125 13,172 11,624 11,954 |
| ? ? ? ? |
| No No No No |
| 10,641 3,760 8,196 38,162 |
| $ 13,355 11,479 16,768 11,375 13,475 |
| $118,858,587 6,887,203 483,462,981 26,696,613 86,466,036 |
| $ 7,357 9,111 7,346 8,210 6,634 |
| $ 65,476,983 5,466,607 211,820,611 19,268,781 42,572,338 |
| 15.5% 20.6% 16.0% 8.0% 23.2% |
| $ 13,480,386 1,390,515 42,981,883 6,470,851 11,974,294 |
| $ 51,103,914 4,560,896 170,712,655 14,186,416 41,392,217 |
| ? ? ? ? ? |
| No No No No No |
| 8,900 600 28,833 2,347 6,417 |
| 9,786 37,671 45,143 |
| $ 20,486,987 6,865,690 5,905,193 36,827,639 |
| $ 70,399,820 27,215,767 32,903,429 221,705,045 |
| 9.0% 4.8% 27.0% 15.9% |
| $ 78,761,412 30,373,708 54,451,004 252,070,888 |
| $ 7,402 8,078 6,644 6,605 |
| $ 10,155 12,220 11,932 9,498 |
| $ 108,055,370 45,947,911 97,793,893 362,474,951 |
| $ 60,867,032 172,626,315 218,130,255 |
| No Yes Yes |
| $ 13,595 9,527 10,538 |
| ? ? ? |
| $ 15,023,275 24,924,410 52,565,423 |
| $ 133,041,106 358,897,266 475,736,232 |
| $ 7,322 6,526 6,511 |
| $ 71,656,209 245,844,159 293,936,324 |
| 27.0% 14.0% 9.4% |
| 64 193 142 193 107 547 472 809 307 1,170 199 831 2 776 146 171 138 210 278 202 54 219 |
| $130,000 $185,000 $143,018 $130,000 $158,788 $ 91,267 $ 95,000 $ 79,200 $110,012 $ 47,687 $128,244 $ 78,000 $324,201 $ 80,000 $142,000 $135,613 $143,750 $125,000 $113,713 $127,000 $194,000 $219,398 |
| EDGEWOOD DISTRICTS SUPERINTENDENTS' BASE SALARY CONTRACTS DOES NOT INCLUDE: Insurance, annuities, cell, car, travel, meals, etc. (Reference: State average for superintendent salaries: $102,644) DISTRICT SALARY RANK IN STATE |
* Kenedy ISD's check register was online but the URL is not working; I have written KISD superintendent Janet LaCour (01.13.09) for
assistance in locating the new check register.
assistance in locating the new check register.
| Is this what the MALDEF lawsuits were about, so a public school district could have its own private TV station to talk about high school football (left)? Or to discuss school menus (right)? Couldn't the Chapter 41 districts have kept their dollars and Laredo ISD sent home flyers about what's for lunch? |
| 01.14.09 update: A total of 303 Texas school districts (of 1,031) have voluntarily posted their check registers online! More here |