Bay Area Houston

Congrats to CCISD Board Members Jay Cunningham and Jonathan Cottrell! They are not opposed in the upcoming election. Welcome back.

Jeff Larson for District 4 drew an opponent, Albert Wittliff. He seems to be an interesting candidate. He was a former Special Agent at Department of Homeland Security. He doesn’t have a campaign page set up yet. Larson is running for reelection and has served on the Board for 3 years. I was not thrilled that Larson followed Scott Bowen’s lead on various issues. He even voted for Bowen for President, VP, and Secretary. Bowen lost all three votes. But, as I have said in the past, I have been told the Board is performing well and that is good for us, our teachers, and our kids.

It is great to see Jay and Jonathan returning. More information about the race in District 4 will be posted.

I’ll give you three guesses.

Three seats on the CCISD Board are open for the May 2024 election. Applications for Trustee Positions 4, 5 and At-Large A are now being accepted and must be received by 5:00 PM Feb 16, 2024.

The incumbents Jay Cunningham, Jonathon Cottrell, and Jeff Larson are seeking reelection. Based upon the success of the Board and the state of CCISD I am hoping no one will challenge the incumbents. From my discussions with former Board members it seems like the current Board is running well.

In the last election the extremist group Defend Texas Liberty, funded by 2 billionaires out of the Dallas area, attempted to influence the last election. They failed. You can read more about them and their association with known white supremacists here. Take a few minutes. It truly is shocking. The Texas Tribune broke the story about their association. It is also a very disturbing read.

The election will be May 4, 2024. Election central is on the CCISD website.

School funding in Texas is complicated, very complicated. Voting to support our schools, students, and teachers is easy.

This is a no brainer. You can get a substantial tax cut AND help our school district! Let me explain as if I am an idiot when it comes to Texas school funding, and I am. (I tried to take the online class provided by CCISD. I failed.)

Texans are going to vote in favor of the Texas Constitutional Amendment 4 which will lower their taxes by a substantial amount. This is going to pass even though it is actually a bad idea, but that doesn’t matter. The CCISD Propositions include a VATRE (Voter Approved Tax Rate Election) and two bond elections. Voting for the VATRE will take a small portion of the large tax cut and put it back into CCISD schools. The proposed upgrades to CCISD are detailed extensively here. (Go ahead and read it. I’ll wait.)

In the end it is a win-win situation. We get a tax cut and CCISD gets needed improvements to campuses across CCISD. Remember these improvements were studied by a group of individuals from the community, provided to the CCISD Board and were recommended to the voters for approval. That approval begins tomorrow.

The propositions are supported by the Bay Area Chamber of Commerce and the Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership. It’s a good deal. Let’s take it.

CCISD Trustee Bowen needs to speak up.

It’s hard to stay quiet without looking like I don’t like Scott Bowen, but I don’t like Scott Bowen anyway especially with his ties to the Defend Texas Liberty PAC. The leadership of DTL had a 7 hour meeting with Nick Fuentes a known white supremacist. According to The Texas Tribune:

White supremacist and antisemitic leader Nick Fuentes has been thrust into the state political spotlight after he was hosted by the president of an influential group that has donated millions of dollars to top Texas Republican officials.

On Sunday, The Texas Tribune published photos of Fuentes at the headquarters of Pale Horse Strategies, where he spent nearly 7 hours on Friday. Pale Horse is owned by Jonathan Stickland, a former state representative who also leads Defend Texas Liberty — a political action committee that two West Texas oil billionaireshave used to give millions of dollars to right-wing candidates, including Attorney General Ken Paxton and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.

What to know about Nick Fuentes. The Texas Tribune

I’ve looked at DTL campaign finance reports. They have spent almost $8 Million in just a couple of years on extreme far right candidates including State Representative Bryan Slaton, who was removed from office after providing alcohol to a minor and having sex with her. DTL claims they are now targeting Republican House members who voted to impeach Ken Paxton, the same guys who voted to remove Bryan Slaton from office.

How does Scott Bowen fit into this picture? Well, out of 1207 school districts in Texas, Defend Texas Liberty PAC donated to multiple candidates in only 1 district, just 1 out of 1207. Guess which one? DTL donated almost $2,000 for text messaging services for Bowen’s 2022 campaign. Then they donated to two candidates in 2023, one a political friend of Bowen for $5000, and another who returned a $5000 donation.

How did Defend Texas Liberty pick CCISD out of 1207 districts to meddle in? How did they know who was running? Why would two billionaires care about CCISD? It’s pretty clear that Bowen invited them. He has some association with this organization and brought them into our school board.

And the leader of that organization, former State Representative Jonathon Stickland, met with a known white supremacist for 7 damn hours. Stickland is silent. So is Bowen.

Along with many school districts in the State of Texas, CCISD is reaching an unprecedented financial crossroad. From crippling inflation costs to inaction by the Texas legislature failing to adjust the basic student allotment, CCISD is leaning on our community to ensure that our students continue to reach their full potential, while improving their learning environment at a minimal impact to taxpayers. CCISD is seeking public input on a proposed Voter-Approval Tax Rate Election (VATRE) and three Bond proposals options to address critical capital needs. The community is invited to attend one of the following public meetings to learn more about the proposals and provide feedback.

LEARN MORE: www.ccisd.net/electioncentral

The CCISD Board of Trustees is seeking nominations for the 2023 Citizen of the Year! This distinguished award is presented each year to honor an outstanding member of the community who champions the school district and devotes their efforts to the betterment of public education. The recipient will be announced at the Clear Creek Education Foundation’s Annual Gala on November 9, 2023. Submit your nominations by August 1: http://bit.ly/43onqCZ

As has been said in the past “I consider this issue to be clooooosed!”

Unfortunately Bowen, in typical republican fashion, just can’t stop whining and claiming to be the victim something his buddy, Ted Cruz does very well. Bowen has posted a pre-board meeting response to the vote today claiming to be a victim, and the target of an attack on the Constitution, and blah-blah-blah, poor little me. Of course his comments on his Trustee re-election site is chock full of misinformation. I’m going to reluctantly respond to it below:

1. As stated to the board, this entire issue was brought about by Bowen and Bowen only.
2. No one claimed he violated the law. If I had I would have filed a complaint with the District Attorney’s office, not CCISD.
3. The attorney hired did not STRONGLY agree to squat. She dismissed it because Bowen said a cute little statement after identifying himself as a Trustee of CCISD and representing the constituents of the district. “I’m here on my own time and own dime”. You can read the entire opinion here.
4. No one said there was a violation of anyones 1st amendment rights. The complaint specifically stated he violated policy by identifying himself as a Trustee against a public education bill. Policy, not 1st Amendment. He does NOT have the right to represent the Board as per CCISD policy. The video is clear. Watch it.
5. And it is so rich that Bowen talks about wasting money, when he supported the many re-counts by his buddy Christine Parizo who lost by 25 points and the lawsuit by Misty Dawson costing the district thousands in legal fees. I addressed the cost in my letter to the Board. Quit clutching your pearls Scott.
6. And lastly he is whining about the Galveston News, much like all republicans do.

As I have written to the Board I consider this issue to be cloooooosed. Here is my letter to the Board concerning the vote tonight followed by Bowen’s whiny post on his Facebook site, followed by a link to the video of his testimony.

I say good day SIR!