Midlothian and the State Budget Crisis: "A problem not of our making." Wrong.

A concerned parent sent me an interesting comment yesterday after the MISD Bond passed. I think it's important to post that comment and my response here so it does not get missed by readers.

The comments refer to a video on MISD's website featuring MISD Superintendent Jerome Stewart making a presentation regarding the state budget crisis and public education.

Dr. Stewart states that the state budget crisis and the lack of funding for public education is "not of our making."

Dr. Stewart is mistaken.

Here is the comment I received yesterday and my response.

Ms. Julie,

I am a parent who is greatly concerned about the decline in an already substandard education children are receiving in Texas. I was Googling various articles regarding this issue and ran across your blog.

I have been trying to understand how people can be so complacent about getting screwed. Our governor Rick Perry stole 3.2 billion dollars educational stimulus funds (our children’s educational funds) and doled it out to industries and the like. I watched a video where the school superintendent explained how the hole in the educational budget was created and he said, “…it was not a problem of our making.”

Now you are telling your readers that annually Midlothian (a school district that houses a couple of Fortune 500 industries and more) refunds an approximate 8 million dollars from their school budget back to subsidize these companies? Then I assume Midlothian ISD will turn around and ask for welfare from the State. Out of what budget will this money come? The State educational fund? Oh, you haven’t heard the news – they don’t have it!! Now what?

This is not a problem of our making”? Midlothian has money going into their school district because these nice Fortune 500 companies are paying their taxes – just like you and I do. Now Midlothian needs help because they sent all taxes these nice Fortune 500 companies paid to the school district back to these Fortune 500 companies to subsidize them. Now Midlothian ISD doesn’t have enough money so they have to go on the dole to keep the schools running. This is supposed to be good for the children of Midlothian? How long will this go on? Forever?

Are we all crazy or what? Do we like getting screwed? Or maybe we just don’t know the difference? “They” told us it was “good for us” – the screw job that is.

It was was fortunate that the bond passed or else all the children of Midlothian would have had to pay for our stupidity.

(name withheld by request)
p.s. I like C.S Lewis screwtape letters quote captioned below picture above. So fitting these times.

May 17, 2011 6:37 PM
Julie said...
Holy Cow! I am delighted to know there really are other parents out there paying attention to these underlying issues.

To answer your question, YES, for years Midlothian has been a "rich" district pretending to be a "poor" one.

The canned response of school board members and former MISD superintendent J.D. Kennedy to the issue of MISD wiring all that money each year to TIRZ was that MISD supposedly received money from the state that supposedly made it "whole."

The money that has been supposedly given in the past to MISD to make it "whole" was tax money that came from other school districts in Texas.

But you're correct -- it's the same thing that Rick Perry has done with the federal stimulus funds. The money is taken away from public education, and in this case, it's shifted to a corporation. TXI is paid to "manage" the TIRZ and decides how the money is spent.

The money MISD gives up each year to TIRZ sucks yet another hole out of public education in Texas.

It's a shell game. And public education -- and school kids -- in Texas lose.

When the MISD superintendent and the school board members then have to cut programs and lay off teachers because there's a lack of state funding for education, they refuse to connect the dots.

It is a fact. MISD helped create the problem of a lack of state funding for public education in Texas.

But I'm glad you realize the school kids of Midlothian shouldn't be blamed for this mess by being denied the schools and the education they need.

Let's hope these kids can someday be educated enough to outsmart the local industries and their corporate welfare scams, because this generation of leaders in Midlothian has not done so well.

Thank you SO MUCH for your comment!!!

Where are all those anti-tax guys when it comes to corporate welfare in Midlothian?

The MISD SCHOOL BOND PASSED!!! Giving Credit Where Credit is Due

A lot of hard work went into passing the 2011 school bond.

The credit belongs to a few hardworking parents, determined to make a better community for the families in Midlothian. At the top of the list is Jeff Millet, who, with his remarkable talents, got the message out to other parents with an extraordinarily postive campaign.

Passing a school bond in Libertarian-leaning, industry-infiltrated Midlothian is always a challenge.

From what I understand, there were over 100 people at the initial Growth Management Committee meetings back in October of 2010. As in other years, the GMC spent a great deal of time pontificating about a school bond. As before, I suspect there was a lot of hot air in that room. Polluted? Possibly.

From my experience with the school bond election of 2004, I suspect few of those blustering bond buffoons who were there just for show -- and many others -- stuck around to do the hard work of actually helping get the bond passed. Jeff not only stuck around, he raised the bar and organized an effort never before seen in Midlotian. Now THAT'S a dad who loves his kids.

Besides Jeff, I understand Andrea Walton and Cathy Altman were among the few indefatigable workers in the trenches. I have had, and continue to have, my differences with the Altmans. But on this issue, they deserve to be commended.

I commend them.

As for the cement industries who donated $2500 towards passage of the school bond, I have mixed feelings.

Mostly cynicism and annoyance.

TXI executives should have been on street corners with bull horns trying to get this bond passed. They should have read a statement to employees in support of it (just as they read a statement to employees stating opposition to the 2003 school bond).

TXI benefits from a hefty sum MISD pays each year to the Midlothian Development Authority (MDA)/TIRZ scheme. Here's what was received in 2003:



When TXI was making promises as to how much the TIRZ would benefit Midlothian, one of those promises was that TIRZ funds could be used to build a second high school and additional elementary schools in Midlothian. Just one of many promises associated with the TIRZ that will never come to pass.

In the 2001 bond MDA took out -- a bond voters in Midlothian never had a say in -- It clearly notes TIRZ money will not go towards any kind of educational facilities. Instead, tax money coming from MISD to the MDA helps pay off bond money used for "project costs." A few of the projects TIRZ has participated in the last 10 years are infrastructure related to TXI's cement plant expansion and the Midlothian Power Plant, rail expenditures related to Texas Central Business Lines, and, of course, landscaping to make RailPort look pretty.




The children in Midlothian should not be blamed for the mistakes of Midlothian's leaders.

I could not be happier that parents and grandparents banded together and passed this bond for the sake of the families and school children in Midlothian.

It's a good day.

The MISD School Bond and the never-say-yes naysayers

I've been following the MISD school bond election coming up on Saturday, May 14.

I've followed a lot of them.

So this time around, we've got still Joey and his goofy Ellis County Observer/Libertarian rantings that still pop up like clockwork whenever there's a school bond.

We've still got grumpy Duff Hale writing his usual grumpy letter to the local newspaper to say how bad the school bond is.

We've still got the mysterious "Concerned Citizens Against Higher Taxes" who refuse to identify themselves but don't mind pushing the same opinions as Joey and Duff .

Here's the gist of what these guys say, and they say it every single time a school bond election in Midlothian is put in front of voters:

They say the school bond is bad, bad bad.

But to these guys, it's not just this school bond that is bad. They think ALL school bonds are bad. To these guys, there never has been, nor will there ever be, a school bond good enough to vote for. Ever.

Each time a school bond is proposed, they use the same gimmick -- they complain and try to raise doubt and say more information is needed before voters should pass it.

It's a tactic. There will never be enough information that will please these guys enough so that they finally decide this bond, or any bond, is good enough to vote for. It will not happen. Ever.

EVER.

They are whiners. They are agitators. They are anti-public education.

They will mock anyone who dares say the school bond should be passed for the sake of the kids in the community. They will sarcastically criticize anyone who dares say: "Do it for our children."

I've said it to Joey and Duff and the Concerned Citizens Against Higher Taxes before:

It's about the kids, stupid.

If you can't do something good for the kids of a community, who ARE you supposed to do it for? The cement plants?

In Midlothian, what the cement plants want have been a priority over what the school kids need time and time again.

Not only that, but TXI has been known to actively, and successfully, work to defeat school bonds in Midlothian in the past, while at the same time reaping millions in tax "rebates" they receive from MISD school kids through TIRZ.

Leaders from TXI, Ash Grove, Texas Central Business Lines and others who benefit from TIRZ should have their names at the top of the "See Who Says Yes" list on the website local citizens put together in support of the bond, and their children's schools.

It's time -- it's PAST time -- that the corporate leaders of Midlothian do right by the school kids of Midlothian and help get this school bond passed.

It is well known that as the schools go, so goes the community.

But in Midlothian, for too long, as the industries go, so goes the community.


Vote YES for the Midlothian ISD School Bond

EARLY VOTING FINAL DAY May 10
Midlothian Conference Center
1 Community Circle Drive, Midlothian, TX 76065
May 10, 2011 - 7:00am – 7:00pm

ELECTION DAY VOTING
Saturday, May 14, 2011 from 7am-7pm
On Election Day, registered voters must vote at his/her assigned precinct.

Midlothian Conference Center
(Pcts. 101, 102, 107, 108, 111, 112, 118, 142)
1 Community Circle Drive, Midlothian, TX 76065

Ovilla City Hall
(Pcts. 103 and 137)
105 Cockrell Hill Rd., Ovilla, TX 75154

TXI and Downwinders work together to betray Midlothian residents

In 2005, there were families living in neighborhoods near Holcim who wanted to fight Holcim after Holcim violated its permit. Downwinders said not to worry, that Downwinders was in negotiations with Holcim and had it all under control.

Concentrate on TXI, Downwinders said.

And then Downwinders and Holcim negotiated a secret deal for Downwinders to back off Holcim in its plans to burn alternative fuels -- something "never-miss-an-opportunity-for-a press-release" Downwinders failed to mention to the public. In exchange, Downwinders, through the Sue Pope Fund, received a substantial amount of funding -- now totaling 2.3 million dollars.

But instead of using that 2.3 million dollars to fight the cement industry in Midlothian, the funding has been used for things like donating over $100,000 to the McKinney Avenue Transit Authority to air condition its trolleys.

Downwinders sold out the families living next to Holcim so the uptown folks on McKinney Avenue wouldn't have to sweat.

The Sue Pope Fund website says Downwinders is committed to helping reduce ozone in North Texas. It’s a worthy cause. But let's be clear: Downwinders priority is not to help Midlothian residents who live next to the industries.

Downwinders top priority is to help Downwinders.

The Sue Pope Fund did eventually donate something to Midlothian -- a hybrid school bus.

Come ride our bus! We’ll take your kids to their Midlothian schools where they can breathe toxic air!

I unfortunately did as Downwinders asked back then. I trusted Downwinders to deal with Holcim. I learned my lesson. But like Downwinders also advised back then, I've been concentrating on TXI ever since.

Now TXI plans to burn alternative fuels, including tires, petroleum coke, wood by-products, biomass fuels, plastics, auto shredder residue (including engineered asbestos) and liquid fuels in its Kiln #5 -- the kiln that TXI promised Midlothian residents when it was approved would never burn anything other than natural gas and coal.

TXI applied for this permit without public comments or hearing. The day after TXI announced the closure of its hazardous waste burning wet kilns, TXI contacted members of Downwinders to be involved in secret meetings to discuss future plans for Kiln #5. The meetings were not open to Midlothian residents.

Kiln #5 operates on infrastructure built from Midlothian's Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone (TIRZ). Kiln #5 cannot receive or burn those alternative fuels without the infrastructure built from the TIRZ. The TIRZ was created, and continues to be publicly funded "for the good of the residents of Midlothian." Burning alternative fuels will be a major modification to Kiln #5, and is clearly not "for the good of the residents of Midlothian."

TXI and Downwinders are now negotiating what Midlothian residents will have to breathe.

Soon, Midlothian residents will be breathing more poison. And Downwinders will be no doubt be getting more funding.

Here is the letter Midlothian resident Debra Markwardt sent to TXI regarding the issue:

Nov. 1, 2010

TXI Industries, LP
Mel G. Brekhus,
President and CEO Texas Industries, Inc.
1341 West Mockingbird Lane, #700W
Dallas, TX 75247

Dr. Mr. Brekhus:

I have been advised TXI has been having discussions/meetings with Downwinders with the intent to enter into negotiations for a settlement as to what fuels will be burned in kiln #5. Please confirm the validity of this information.

There are those of us that live in this community in close proximity to your plant who will be the most affected by the toxins that will result from your operation. Downwinders has never been given the authority to represent them or me. We need to be heard. All negotiations need to be open and transparent. Non-public meetings behind closed doors will not substitute for a public hearing. All parties who attempt non-transparent negotiations in an effort to side-step a public hearing could be named as co-conspirators in a lawsuit.

When kiln #5 was built, TXI assured the community that production from this kiln would be limited and the only fuels burned would be coal and gas. Now you are talking about making major modifications, adding more dangerous fuels and increasing production without increasing adequate pollution controls.

I, like most of the others in the affected community, am not a member of Downwinders. Downwinders does not have our permission or the authority to speak on our behalf. We demand that we be included in any discussions regarding how your operation might impact us.


Sincerely,

Debra L. Markwardt

More responses from the TCEQ meeting in Midlothian

The cartoon you see above is posted courtesy of Troy Johnson, a resident of Ellis County.

There was also a letter to the editor published over the weekend in the Dallas Morning News.

Posted at 4:10 PM on Saturday, Oct. 9, 2010
Letter to the Editor
Rescue us from bad air, feds

Re: "State finds no pollution risk in Midlothian -- Mayor hails report; environmentalists, others assail study," Wednesday news story.

As a high school student in the '50s, I was taught by a conservative economics teacher to fear federal intervention and to preserve states' rights.
Now I feel conflicted, because I find myself sincerely hoping that the feds will come in and override that not-believable Texas Commission on Environmental Quality report on the safety of Midlothian air.
What happens in Midlothian affects all of the metroplex and the health of all of us. How many of us have commented on the brown air when we fly into Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport? How many of us now have allergies when before we had none? And who among us feels safe breathing our Dallas air?
The TCEQ has graciously invited the pollution plants 25 miles from us to carry on, and it is our and our children's health that will suffer.
Come on in, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. We need you to protect us from our own.

Donald J. Malouf, Dallas

The cartoon and the letter speak for themselves.

Report of the TCEQ meeting in Midlothian

Comments from a resident living near TXI:

I just got back from the meeting. If you took out City staff and officials and the TCEQ staff there may have been a half dozen people. The format was odd to me. There was a powerpoint presentation going on autopilot behind the TCEQ research people. They provided a large bound book with all the data for the few of us that wanted it (I got one). They had the Cliff notes version, a 2-page handout, for everyone else. But it didn't really matter, not many came. There was no formal presentation. So I just started asking questions about the science behind the study. I asked about the location of the monitoring, the frequency, the security put in place to safeguard collection, reading and interpreting of the data. I asked how much it cost to do the study. I was told about $400,000. I told them I thought that was not very much for a study the likes of which they were representing, in my own personal first-hand experience. I asked about the logic behind the placement of the stations, the height of the collection snorkel, whether the stations were networked and remotely operated. I asked about alternate types of monitoring, as opposed to the canister sampling (VOCs) that they used. I asked if it really seemed statistically significant to use 20 random days out of 365 and form conclusions. I was assured that all was proper. I am pretty sure they knew I didn't agree with them by the time I was finished. I had about an hour to quiz them all by myself. One of the TCEQ gents, a friendly man named Darrell, gave conflicting information to what the young lady PhD would give. He acquiesced to her comments in every case. They have spent 2 years to collect 20 days each from 4 monitoring sites plus 5 days each from 4 other "portable" monitoring stations at the schools. Clearly, I am no expert. But the methodology just seems illogical from my experience and common sense viewpoint.

Comments from Sal Mier:

What TCEQ has produced is not a health study. Public health agencies look at much more than what TCEQ offered in this most recent document. A public health agency looks at health outcomes (cancers, birth defects, etc.) in both humans and animals, reviews epidemiological studies conducted in the community, and recommends additional epidemiological studies as necessary. Most importantly, when attempting to determine the impact of toxic emissions, they will attempt to determine the validity of the air monitoring data and its usefulness and appropriateness for making judgments about public health. A regulatory agency such as TCEQ does not have the training, mandate, mission or appropriate scientists and tools to adequately do this job.

TCEQ clearly states in its missions statement that it “.. strives to protect our state's human and natural resources consistent with sustainable economic development.” Therein lies the crux of the problem. We too support and promote sustainable economic development – but not at the cost of public health.

Although TCEQ did not refer to their evaluation as a “health study” it was sold and marketed to the community as a public health impact study. TCEQ should have clearly articulated that there evaluation had limitations and based on their limited study they could not fully identify all health risks to the community. They should have also made the caveat that ATSDR and TDSHS were conducting a very different kind of evaluation and one that looked more broadly at a variety of issues that might impact on public health. Instead the TCEQ document was sold as a study upon which definite health judgments could be made -- assuring the community that they should no longer be concerned about air emissions impacting adversely on their health.

The true verdict regarding the public health of our community is still pending. ATSDR has committed to do an in depth analysis of the adequacy of the TCEQ data for evaluating public health in Midlothian. They will look at meteorology as well as dispersion modeling for identification of hot spots. They will also look at the adequacy of the monitoring data – for example, were samples of mercury (which is easily vaporized) analyzed in both vapor and particulate forms; PM2.5 (the most dangerous airborne particles) – the list goes on. ATSDR will also be comparing the emission values against a completely different set of health assessment comparison value standards.

It would be prudent to wait until ATSDR/TDSHS issues its report before making declarations of any kind. All we are asking for is that all cards that impact public health be dealt face-up.

Comments from a resident in Cement Valley:

It was the same old b___ s___. (She filled in the blanks). Honeycutt and the rest of his TCEQ gang was their, the mayor, city council, industry I would say 20 to 30 people on that side. They had a screen up with a presentation running. There was no presentation by ANYONE. It was just come and ask who ever questions. I over heard Boyce bragging to Randy Loftis (reporter at the Dallas Morning News) that he hopes this puts an end to this, that our air is clean.

A waste of time.

My comments:

With the feedback on the meeting last night, I'm going to leave my questions for the City of Midlothian and MISD for another time. Although when the ATSDR gives its findings on Midlothian, I expect with all the interest the mayor and city councilmen have about the health of the residents of Midlothian, they will of course attend that meeting as well, and make sure those results are published on the front page of the Midlothian Mirror just like TCEQ's.

As far as last night, the TCEQ tested for pollution over 20 select days and found things pretty normal. The local industries were told what days the tests would be performed. The tests were performed when the wet kilns were shut down. The tests were not performed in areas closest to the plants.

It's like testing for lightning in Dallas on a sunny day.

One thing is clear from the meeting last night. Since the TCEQ now believes it is the Texas State Department of Public Health, next time you need a flu shot, contact the TCEQ.

Questions the TCEQ won't answer at tonight's meeting

"The TCEQ will host an informational meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2010, from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at the Midlothian Conference Center to answer questions regarding the study and its results. The meeting format is “come and go,” and both TCEQ and City staff will be present."

Once again, the TCEQ and the City of Midlothian will tell residents everything is okay. Once again, they will be wrong. Once again, they will not answer questions.

Here are Sal Mier's questions:

To TCEQ and local government officials:

I am unfortunately out of town and unable to ask these questions or make these statement in person. I ask that you indulge me and respond to my questions:

How appropriate is it for TCEQ to be making statements and judgments about public health impact when you are a Regulatory Agency and not a Public Health Agency?

Your pronouncements tonight regarding impact on public health on our community are not based on a comprehensive evaluation therefore, they are insincere and misleading.

As you are fully aware, ATSDR and TDSHS are currently conducting a vastly more objective and comprehensive public health evaluation and it is only when this is completed that we will then have a better understanding of public health impact of the air emissions in our community.

Do you feel there is no significance to the work ATSDR and TDSHS are doing?

It is a scientific fact that your premature statements and judgments regarding public health impact are without full basis and substance.


Sal Mier

Midlothian

Here is my question to the TCEQ:

Why don't you answer Sal's questions?

And to the City of Midlothian and MISD, after tonight's meeting, I'll have a few questions for you. I'll post them tomorrow.