On its face, that sounds like it should be an effective argument. Effective, meaning persuasive to reasonable politicians in Austin, who might not have been aware that more and more funding for schools is coming from local property taxes. Then I read something in Vox that opened my eyes."More and more of the burden for financing our schools is ending up on the backs of our local taxpayers," said Richardson ISD School Board President Justin Bono. "They're finding other priorities for it. We wish and try to press that public education should be a priority." Bono says the state used to provide 50 percent of a district's funding just less than 10 years ago. By next year, the state's funding will only account for a mere 20 percent of the district's revenue.
Source: Fox 4 News.
Thursday, September 7, 2017
Local Property Taxes Carry More of the Load
School districts made a big pitch during the recent Texas legislative session for more state funding for public schools. The pitch's argument often went something like this: if homeowners don't like their property taxes always going up, it's because the amount the state chips in is always going down.
Wednesday, September 6, 2017
OTBR: Prairie Dog in Boulder
Longitude: W 105° 14.298
A child on a road trip with his family asks, "Where are we?" and the father answers, "Let's check the map. We're off the blue roads [the Interstate Highways marked in blue on the road atlas]. We're off the red roads [the US and state highways]. We're off the black roads [the county highways]. I think we're off the map altogether." It was always my dream to be off the map altogether.
After the jump, a few of the random places (and I mean random literally) that I visited vicariously (not actually) last month that are "off the blue roads".
Tuesday, September 5, 2017
Single Member Districts are not the Way to Diversity
Single member districts are not the way to diversity. Maybe elsewhere, with different geography and demographics, but not in the Richardson ISD, anyway. Carol Toler of the Lake Highlands Advocate has been asking RISD trustees (current and former) about RISD adopting single member districts. Toler first raised the issue in an interview with new RISD board president Justin Bono. Bono responded reasonably in my opinion:
I don’t know that single member districts would accomplish what proponents want or make a board more effective, just given how our district is laid out. Our board would welcome a more diverse pool of candidates and colleagues, and we’re focused on getting more diversity on strategic planning committees, diversity of backgrounds and geography as well, so that there is a greater pool of potential board candidates. Ultimately, it has to be the right time for any candidate to step into board service.
Source: Lake Highlands Advocate.
Monday, September 4, 2017
Repeat Tweets: Vote First. Hearings Later
Repeat tweets from August, 2017:
- Aug 1 2017: RT @ericawerner: "Cornyn on the floor acknowledging any path forward on health care will have to be bipartisan."
That's our Texas Senator acknowledging what should have been obvious, what was the right thing to do, all along. What a waste. - Aug 1 2017: RT @TopherSpiro: "NEWS: Bipartisan hearings to draft stabilization legislation. Testimony from patients, Governors, and experts."
Vote first. Hearings later. Not the way I remember "How a Bill Becomes a Law" but better late than never. - Aug 2 2017: The Girl on the Train (2016): Psychological mystery borrows heavily from Rear Window and Gaslight. Well-crafted if maybe too predictable. B-
- Aug 3 2017: RT @costareports: "Secret Service vacates Trump Tower command post in lease dispute with president's company."
Because of course. - Aug 4 2017: Trump heads govt (Secret Service). Trump owns Trump Tower. But great negotiator can't get a lease done between 2?
- Aug 4 2017: "Russell Barlow, Jr Commits to TCU Hoops."
It's a great time to be a Ram. @BerknerBB #txhshoops
After the jump, more repeat tweets.
Friday, September 1, 2017
Review: Infinite Jest
Amazon |
A woman at U. Cal-Irvine had earned tenure with an essay arguing that the reason-versus-no-reason debate about what was unentertaining in Himself's work illuminated the central conundra of millennial après-garde film, most of which, in the teleputer age of home-only entertainment, involved the question why so much aesthetically ambitious film was so boring and why so much shitty reductive commercial entertainment was so much fun. The essay was turgid to the point of being unreadable, besides using reference as a verb and pluralizing conundrum as conundra."
I finished "Infinite Jest." The novel that sold a million copies since publication twenty years ago; the novel that's on almost every list of best novels of the twentieth century; the thousand-page novel that I bet hardly anyone ever actually finishes reading; the novel whose sentences go on even longer than this sentence of mine; you know, that novel. I finished it. I finished it. I deserve some recognition for that. Or punishment. I don't know which.
Thursday, August 31, 2017
POTD: Ball Court of Coba
From 2017 01 29 Caribbean Cruise |
Today's photo-of-the-day is from the ancient Mayan city of Coba on Mexico's Yucatan peninsula. It shows the ball court. The object of the game was to maneuver a ball, without using your hands, through the stone hoop attached to the side wall of the court. The rules of the game are in dispute (kind of like American football) but that doesn't stop archaeologists from deducing that the losers of the game (or sometimes the winners) were ritually sacrificed (kind of like American politics).
Wednesday, August 30, 2017
Sand Storm (2016)
IMDB |
Tuesday, August 29, 2017
POTD: Abandoned City of Coba
From 2017 01 29 Caribbean Cruise |
Today's photo-of-the-day is from the ancient Mayan city of Coba on Mexico's Yucatan peninsula. It was a huge city but the jungle has mostly reclaimed it.
Bonus photos after the jump.
From 2017 01 29 Caribbean Cruise |
From 2017 01 29 Caribbean Cruise |
Monday, August 28, 2017
Lo and Behold (2016)
IMDB |
Saturday, August 26, 2017
Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk (2016)
Friday, August 25, 2017
Magnet Schools vs Neighborhood Schools
Five years ago, I blogged about magnet schools — their purpose and their effect. I think it holds up well, in that I had questions about the purpose and effect of magnet schools in Richardson that I couldn't answer then and I still can't answer today. I don't believe there has been adequate public discussion. It's time.
Thursday, August 24, 2017
POTD: D'Amico
From 2017 01 29 Caribbean Cruise |
Today's photo-of-the-day is from Galveston Bay, the entrance to the busy Houston Ship Channel, ranked first in the United States in foreign waterborne tonnage; first in U.S. imports; and first in U.S. export tonnage.
Wednesday, August 23, 2017
Local, State, Nation: Same Story
Recently, I posted a graph showing Richardson ISD schools' academic ranking plotted against the percentage of students they have on the free and reduced lunch program. As I expected it showed a correlation — as socio-economic status drops, so too does academic ranking.
Today I want to look at state and national data.
From SchoolDigger.com |
Tuesday, August 22, 2017
Logan Lucky (2017)
IMDB |
Monday, August 21, 2017
Local Evidence that Demography is Destiny
When looking at Schooldigger.com school performance numbers, I fell back on a story of demographics to explain why the Richardson ISD has some of the highest performing schools in the state *and* some of the lowest performing. Same school district. Same policies. Same curriculum. Same central administration. But widely differing results. Different demographics, I said.
I was confident my story wasn't a fairy tale, but I didn't bother backing it up with more than just a couple of quick data points. I believe that it's a good personal habit to challenge one's own preconceptions now and then. Because sometimes I'm wrong. (I know. Hard to believe.) So I did my homework.
I was confident my story wasn't a fairy tale, but I didn't bother backing it up with more than just a couple of quick data points. I believe that it's a good personal habit to challenge one's own preconceptions now and then. Because sometimes I'm wrong. (I know. Hard to believe.) So I did my homework.
Friday, August 18, 2017
Transforming Fashion
It's the last weekend to catch the Dallas Museum of Art's exhibit Tranforming Fashion featuring designs by Iris van Herpen. These dresses are bold, sure, but I just can't see them "transforming fashion." No woman is going to be wearing anything that looks like any of these dresses. Sci-fi aliens, on the other hand, maybe. High fashion will probably come to use the technology van Herpen used, like 3-D printing, but it will be put to more practical styles than seen here. It's still great fun.
Coincidentally, Season 16 of Project Runway premiered this week. I have to admit, it's my guilty pleasure. I haven't picked a favorite this season yet, but I'm forever on Team Mondo.
A bonus photo is after the jump.
Thursday, August 17, 2017
Oh, Hello on Broadway (2017)
IMDB |
Wednesday, August 16, 2017
The Incredible Jessica James (2017)
IMDB |
Tuesday, August 15, 2017
War Machine (2017)
IMDB |
Monday, August 14, 2017
Richardson's Budget - Black or Red?
It's August and that means it's time for Richardson budget roulette. Will the proposed city budget be balanced? You'd think that would be a simple question. Isn't the city required by law to have a balanced budget? Well, yes, but it all depends on the meaning of "balanced".
Last year when I looked at this question, I concluded that the city's 2016-2017 budget was indeed balanced and didn't require use of that sneaky asterisk ("plus reserved fund balance and other financing sources").
After the jump, reviewing that conclusion and looking ahead at 2017-2018.
Last year when I looked at this question, I concluded that the city's 2016-2017 budget was indeed balanced and didn't require use of that sneaky asterisk ("plus reserved fund balance and other financing sources").
After the jump, reviewing that conclusion and looking ahead at 2017-2018.
Friday, August 11, 2017
The Big Sick (2017)
IMDB |
Thursday, August 10, 2017
POTD: Idle Oil Rigs
From 2017 01 29 Caribbean Cruise |
Today's photo-of-the-day is from the Galveston Channel in Texas, where oil drilling rigs stand idle due to the prolonged slump in oil and gas prices.
Wednesday, August 9, 2017
Every Number Tells a Story
It's almost back-to-school time. So let's look at the Richardson ISD by the numbers. Specifically, the numbers from SchoolDigger.com: "K-12 school performance data at your fingertips." RISD's overall numbers can tell any story you want.
"Steady as she goes": RISD consistently ranks in the top half of all school districts in Texas.
"Sound the alarm": RISD dropped from the 86th percentile in 2010 to the 56th percentile in 2015.
"Back on Course": RISD climbed from 56th percentile in 2015 to 72nd percentile in 2017.
So have at it. What's your story?
"Steady as she goes": RISD consistently ranks in the top half of all school districts in Texas.
"Sound the alarm": RISD dropped from the 86th percentile in 2010 to the 56th percentile in 2015.
"Back on Course": RISD climbed from 56th percentile in 2015 to 72nd percentile in 2017.
So have at it. What's your story?
Tuesday, August 8, 2017
POTD: Ready to Cast Off
From 2017 01 29 Caribbean Cruise |
Today's photo-of-the-day is of the cruise ship terminal in Galveston, Texas.
Monday, August 7, 2017
Dunkirk (2017)
IMDB |
Friday, August 4, 2017
OTBR: A Deer Farm in Australia
Longitude: E 144° 22.386
A child on a road trip with his family asks, "Where are we?" and the father answers, "Let's check the map. We're off the blue roads [the Interstate Highways marked in blue on the road atlas]. We're off the red roads [the US and state highways]. We're off the black roads [the county highways]. I think we're off the map altogether." It was always my dream to be off the map altogether.
After the jump, a few of the random places (and I mean random literally) that last month I visited vicariously (not actually) that are "off the blue roads".
Thursday, August 3, 2017
POTD: A Streetcar Named Riverfront
From 2016 12 15 Louisiana |
Today's photo-of-the-day is from the riverfront in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Riverfront is not as poetic as Desire, but the Streetcar named Desire was converted to a bus line in 1948. Sigh.
Wednesday, August 2, 2017
The Girl on the Train (2016)
IMDB |
Tuesday, August 1, 2017
Repeat Tweets: Watch the Uninsured Rate Drop
Repeat tweets from July, 2017:
- Jul 4 2017: RT @sparksjls: "Watch the uninsured rate drop across the country as the ACA went into effect." @sparksjls Watch Texas stand out as a laggard in this animation.
- Jul 6 2017: RT @bonojl: "Poll: Most voters blame state for school money woes." mystatesman.com I'll believe it when I see it at the polls in 2018.
- Jul 6 2017: RT @EricCeleste: "Well, now. This is super interesting." @EricCeleste Good for DMN. Better late than never. A win for Jim Schutze.
- Jul 6 2017: RT @BraddJaffy: "In a span of 13 minutes, on foreign soil, Trump trashed the American free press, the U.S. intel community, and Obama."
Trump's own apology tour??? But who is he apologizing to? Russia? - Jul 6 2017: RT @GregAbbott_TX: "Join me in a statewide call to stand with law enforcement on July 7. Let's band together to #BackTheBlue."
You didn't stand with Texas police chiefs who opposed SB4.
After the jump, more repeat tweets.
Monday, July 31, 2017
POTD: How Can Something So Sweet...
From 2016 12 15 Louisiana |
How can something so sweet come from some place so gritty? Today's photo-of-the-day is from Domino Sugar's Chalmette Refinery on the Mississippi River below New Orleans.
Bonus photo after the jump.The Chalmette refinery typically produces about 2 billion pounds annually, or about 7 million a day. That generally accounts for about 19 percent of the country's cane sugar.
Source: The Times-Picayune.
Friday, July 28, 2017
Chasing Coral (2017)
IMDB |
Thursday, July 27, 2017
A Conversation About Health Care
In response to the GOP effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA), I was sucked into a Facebook conversation (I know, I know better). Spoiler alert: I was against repeal. For the possible amusement of my future self, I reproduce the conversation here (well at least my part, which is only slightly edited). The "points" in favor of repeal are greatly condensed (hey, it's my blog; if you want your say, that's what the comments are for). The "counterpoints" are my own wordy answers. The whole thing was kicked off by a third person's comment that taking health insurance away from millions of people is not the Christian thing to do.
Point: As a method to "help" people, Obamacare further entrenches health care within the swamp that is "political ideology."
Counterpoint: As a method to "help" people, I propose making health care affordable and accessible to all, whether that involves charity (which is individuals acting for the good of others) or government (which is us, acting collectively for the general good). In contrast, supporting removing health care from millions is elevating political ideology above the teachings of Jesus.
Point: As a method to "help" people, Obamacare further entrenches health care within the swamp that is "political ideology."
Counterpoint: As a method to "help" people, I propose making health care affordable and accessible to all, whether that involves charity (which is individuals acting for the good of others) or government (which is us, acting collectively for the general good). In contrast, supporting removing health care from millions is elevating political ideology above the teachings of Jesus.
Wednesday, July 26, 2017
POTD: Any Port in a Storm
From 2016 12 15 Louisiana |
Today's photo-of-the-day is from the Mississippi River below New Orleans.
Tuesday, July 25, 2017
Okja (2017)
IMDB |
Monday, July 24, 2017
POTD: Beignet, Anyone?
From 2016 12 15 Louisiana |
Today's photo-of-the-day is from the French Quarter in New Orleans.
Bonus photo after the jump.
Friday, July 21, 2017
POTD: The Neon Lights of Bourbon Street
From 2016 12 15 Louisiana |
Today's photo-of-the-day is from the French Quarter in New Orleans.
Neon Lights
Shimmering neon lights
And at the fall of night
This city's made of light.
I dream of you
With me tonight
We're all alone
Under neon lights.
Bonus photos are after the jump.
Thursday, July 20, 2017
Get Out (2017)
IMDB |
Wednesday, July 19, 2017
A Clarification, Apology and Grace
A morality play in five acts...
- Preface: Lynn Davenport challenged an incumbent for a seat on the Richardson ISD school board. She lost. Curtain rises...
Tuesday, July 18, 2017
POTD: Reverend Zombie's House of Voodoo
From 2016 12 15 Louisiana |
Today's photo-of-the-day is from the French Quarter in New Orleans. No, that isn't the Reverend Zombie in the doorway. And, no, there's no truth to the story that this is the facility where Ellen's bone marrow transplant was performed. #FakeNews
Monday, July 17, 2017
Engraftment
From 2017 06 30 UT Southwestern |
Pop quiz: Which of the following describes the photo above?
- Dallas 4th of July fireworks as seen from Ellen's hospital room
- X-ray of Ellen's intestinal system after chemotherapy
- Joy in my heart when Ellen's bone marrow transplant engrafted
- All of the above
The correct answer is "All of the above" but the Fourth of July is long gone and the nausea is mostly gone, so "engraftment" is the answer that prompts this celebratory post. Engraftment is when, after a bone marrow transplant, new blood-forming cells start to grow and make healthy blood cells that show up in your blood. It is an important milestone in your transplant recovery. Ellen has reached that milestone. After chemotherapy and full body radiation, Ellen's white blood cell count had dropped to zero, as intended. Within three days of engraftment of transplanted stem cells, her white blood cell count rebounded to "normal" range, a level Ellen hasn't seen in two years. She was discharged from the hospital to continue her recovery at home. I'd say that's reason enough for fireworks. Celebrate.
More photos after the jump.
Friday, July 14, 2017
POTD: Let the Good Times Roll
From 2016 12 15 Louisiana |
Today's photo-of-the-day is from a wedding celebration in the French Quarter of New Orleans.
A bonus photo is after the jump.
Thursday, July 13, 2017
The BFG (2016)
IMDB |
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