VOL 3 No. 24
Phone: 281-980-6745 PRSRT STD
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U.S. POSTAGE PAID STAFFORD, TX PERMIT NO.10
FORT BEND FAIR. BALANCED. INFORMATIVE. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 16, 2010
FBISD board approves $488 million budget The Fort Bend ISD Board of Trustees approved a $488.40 million operating budget for the 2010-2011 school year at its June 14 meeting. The budget is designed to provide services for a projected 69,687 students. The 2010-2011 budget is balanced and fiscally conservative while supporting District Strategic Plan priorities and instructional programs, the district said in a press release. The budget includes a continued low administrative cost ratio and additional staffing for opening three new campuses
in August: Heritage Rose Elementary School; Ridge Point High School; and the Ferndell Henry Center for Learning. Salaries levels will be the same as last year, and the beginning salary for first-year teachers is $44,500. To help offset an estimated $10.8 million deficit in what the district pays for annual employee health care benefits, the new budget includes a 15 percent increase to employee health benefits effective Jan. 1, 2011. Even with this increase, the district will still be facing a deficit of more than $5 million in health care costs.
years will also be challenging.” He noted that Missouri City has “fared much better” than some entities such as FBISD, which has had to cut staff, and “Houston is even considering furloughs. All levels of government are experiencing this and we’re no exception.” With all of that considered, Simpson said Missouri City has not had to eliminate any specific service or program. “Everything is still there but additional cuts have been made. We reported last year to
council there was a possibility of eventual adverse effects noticed by citizens. We’re trying to minimize them but when you reduce the number of staff there are possibilities there will be some efficiencies and effectiveness lost,” the city manager said at council’s June 7 meeting. The 2011 proposed budget is for $31.2 million or $2 million less (6.1 percent) than the $33.2 million 2010 budget. See BUDGET, Page 3
Hightower students in art contest Ten Hightower High School advanced art students in Beth Agar’s class have entered artwork in the 2010 Dr. Mari Jon Filla Student Art Exhibit and Contest – “The Dog, Man’s Best Friend!,” which will be held July 22-25 in Hall C of the Reliant Center, in conjunction with the Reliant Park World Series of Dog Shows. The contest invited students in grades K-12 from several Houston area school districts to express on canvas their unconditional love for the family pet. On July 23, an awards ceremony will be held to announce the winning entries. Last year, the contest received 896 entries from 18 participating school districts. Of the participating Fort Bend ISD students, Madeline Camp of Baines Middle School was awarded a Committee Choice Award for her qualifying entry. 10701 Corporate Drive, #282, Stafford, TX 77477 Mailing Address: P.O. Box 623, Sugar Land, TX 77487 www.fbindependent.com Seshadri Kumar 281-980-6745 Publisher & Editor Fort Bend Independent is published every Wednesday (for a subscription rate of $20 per year) by Fort Bend Independent, LLC., 10701 Corporate Dr., #282, Stafford, Texas 77477. Periodical postage application pending. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Fort Bend Independent, P.O. Box 623, Sugar Land, Tx 77487.
Birds of Fort Bend
Other changes include an increase in mail order pharmacy co-pays and office visit co-pays, and implementation of a mandatory specialty drug program. Detailed information regarding changes to the health care program can be viewed on the district website at www. fortbendisd.com by opening the “Budget Challenges” link and then going to “Information/FAQs.” A link to the 2010-2011 FBISD budge is available on the front page of the district website directly below the Financial Challenges link.
Missouri City cuts 2011 budget by $2 million
By BARBARA FULENWIDER Missouri City Manager Frank Simpson, in his overview to city council on the proposed 2011 budget, said it’s been a challenge but that the great recession has probably hit bottom and the economy will start to recover but it will be a slow and steady recovery. Simpson said the public sector still lags because of the economic downturn. “The last couple of years,” Simpson said, “have been a challenge and the next few
P. O.BOX 623, SUGAR LAND, TX 77487-0623
Top picture (top row, from left) are: Tiffany Duong, Shelbie Morgan, Cristina Bonilla; and (bottom row) Andrea Carmona, Mel Hull and Salvador Guerra. Bottom picture, (top row, from left) are: Brittany Pipkins, Stephanie Lau; and (bottom row) Dasha Bert and Karen Desrosiers.
Barred Owls live year round in Fort Bend and love our open spaces to hunt. They live in forested areas, and swamps are just fine! They nest in cavities in deciduous trees. Hunting at night their preferred prey includes small mammals, rabbits, birds, amphibians, and reptiles. It’s quite common to see them in trees during 6 a.m. hikes on the Quail Valley Golf Course as they are ending their hunting and are common on the slough off Glenn Lakes. Distinctive with their black eyes and no feather tufts on the ears, a barred owl lost its home on Stafford Run from a wind storm and lived in a tree near our home for several days until he or she located a new home. During last summer’s drought, the owl would return to our birdbath during the day. It was quite unusual to see that large a bird in the birdbath much less an owl in the daytime. To learn more about the Barred Owl and see other photos, visit http://traction. typepad.com/birds/ — Photo by Margaret Sloan.
State GOP chair election impacts local party activists
The Republican Party of Texas has a new chairman. Steve Munisteri, a Houston businessman, trounced incumbent chair Cathie Adams in a bruising battle over the weekend at the state party convention in Dallas. Munisteri and Amarillo businessman Tom Mechler challenged Adams. One of their major charges against Adams is the state party’s burgeoning debt. Observers say an incumbent chair never lost an election and also, this time, a floor vote decided the final winner after two rounds of senatorial district votes. Usually, 31 senate districts convey their choice of party chair to the nomination committee and usually, delegates accept whoever is picked by the committee based on the input from senatorial districts. If delegates don’t agree with the choice, someone can be nominated from the floor. And that happened for the first time last Saturday. In the first round, Munisteri got 13 district votes, Adams 12 and Mehler got 6. Since no one got the required 16 votes, a second round of voting occurred. This time, Mechler withdrew and gave his support to Munisteri. Now, Munisteri got 22 votes to Adam’s nine. As the nomination committee announced Munisteri’s name, someone nominated Adams from the floor, necessitating a floor vote. A Texas Tribune report succinctly captures the contentious election and deep divi-
Inside Track By Seshadri Kumar siveness in the party, thus: After the historic floor fight concluded, Munisteri was the clear victor, with 59 percent of the vote. Melinda Fredericks, who ran on Mechler’s ticket, was chosen as the new vice chair. Adams is a favorite of the Christian right and has built her career within the pro-life movement. Before she was party chair, she headed the Texas chapter of Eagle Forum. Munisteri is a retired lawyer and businessman from Houston. And though he’ll emphasize that he’s no slouch on social issues, he’s regarded as, above all else, a fiscal conservative — an important credential for a party currently $500,000 in debt. Does the narrative sound familiar? If not, here’s how outgoing vice chair Robin Armstrong, who ran on Adams’ ticket, characterized the race as he asked for the delegates’ votes on the floor: “It is about whether we will go down the road of moderation … about whether we will water down our conservative beliefs when the country is getting more conservative.” Though Armstorng suggested that Munisteri’s election would turn the Texas
GOP “moderate,” what remains is the chasm between the conservatives who backed Adams and those who supported Munisteri. It is also to be noted that the nationwide phenomenon of anti-incumbency played its part in Texas and Tea Party activists played a crucial role here. The division at the state level has its parallel at the local county politics as well. In a very contentious Senatorial District 17 committee woman election, Debra Ross of Sugar Land was opposed by Tina Gibson, also of Sugar Land. The vacancy followed as the veteran conservative activist Terese Raia did not seek re-election for the post. The local division among conservatives has been in the making for a while. Mike Gibson, Tina Gibsons’ husband, ran unsuccessfully against incumbent Fort Bend GOP Chairman Rick Miller in March this year. Raia was opposed by Lewis Luckenbach, a Gibson supporter, for the precinct chair position in Sugar Creek. Raia won narrowly. Now, comes Gibsons’ victory over Ross. Tea Party activists as well as Harris County delegates in SD 17 appeared to have played a role in deciding the election. Except for a change in the SD 17 committee woman, and SD 18 committee man and woman, the rest of the local party machinery has not changed. See INSIDE, Page 4
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