Fort Worth Independent School District mounted a campaign to pass a $1.2 billion bond issue, the largest in the nation, and it passed by 57 votes, out of nearly 25,000 cast.
The successful campaign reflected the needs of the public schools and the hard work of parents and the chair of the campaign, Dr. Charles Foster Johnson of Pastors for Texas Children.
a The new money will be used to renovate the district’s middle schools, some built 70 years ago, to build a new elementary school, and to renovate others.
Dr. Johnson and his fellow clergy worked closely with parents to win support for the bond issue, as this article by Dr. Johnson shows.
Dr. Johnson wrote:
As the pandemic worsened, teachers went the extra mile, checking on the health and safety of children and often providing for students’ needs out of their own pockets. Fort Worth professional educators served as angels of mercy, especially for our poorest, most vulnerable children. Eighty-six percent of students in the district are economically disadvantaged. For many, their lifeline is their neighborhood public school.…
The package is the result of years of detailed planning and careful community input. An advisory committee of educators, parents and business leaders spent more than five years assessing our facility needs. Our elected school board held thoughtful, thorough deliberations.
This thorough due diligence is one reason why the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and Fort Worth Metropolitan Black Chamber of Commerce all endorse this bond.
Why now? With bond rates at historic lows, Fort Worth can save millions of dollars by improving our children’s neighborhood schools now instead of waiting. Furthermore, this bond will not result in a property tax rate increase for homeowners and businesses. It is imperative that we provide our educators with the tools and facilities they need to best prepare the next generation of community leaders. The bond package will help our hard-working teachers across the district continue to provide quality programs at every grade level. This includes improving every part of the district with additional classroom space, renovations to aging middle schools, and a new elementary school.
The improvements funded by the bond issue will help the public schools fend off the aggressive invasion of new charter schools, which are favored by Governor Gregg Abbott.
Read more at: https://www.star-telegram.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/other-voices/article255103397.html#storylink=cpy
Diane Ravitch's blog 
that is a great line to read over and over: “The improvements funded by the bond issue will help the public schools fend off the aggressive invasion of new charter schools, which are favored by Governor Gregg Abbott.”
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Dr Johnson called teachers nothing short of heroic. Dr Johnson is nothing short of heroic.
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Thank you, Diane, for highlighting the great victory for our children secured by the citizens of Fort Worth in the face of formidable moneyed forces that opposed this bond. It is my privilege to lead this good effort, allowing me to engage on a local level in the community I love.
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I live in a growing largely military community in North Florida. This year a new K-8 school opened, and there are plans to open a new public high school in the next three years. There is no intense push for charters despite Florida’s rebuke of public education. There are more than two billion federal dollars in private military contracts spread among the three most western counties in Florida. They know that military families depend on decent public schools, and they do not want to alienate them with their snake oil privatization schemes. Hypocrisy at its finest!
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Seriously BLESS Dr. Johnson’s community of dedicated families but here is what happened yesterday 11/11 in Seattle area schools. It is fallout from The Pandemic. It puts future bond levies in jeopardy and is happening in too many districts.
The unexpected announcements by the Seattle, Bellevue and Kent school districts that there would be no classes Friday due to staffing shortages have caused anger and frustration among parents who are scrambling to figure out child care.
On Tuesday, officials in Seattle Public Schools and the Bellevue School District announced class cancellations for Friday because of substitute and staffing shortages. The Kent School District followed suit on Wednesday. Students and staff had no school on Thursday, which was Veterans Day, a federal holiday.
Douglas Glazer, who has three children in Seattle schools, said even though the district will tack on a day at the end of the school year, it won’t replace what students would have learned on Friday.
“No learning happens the last week of school and making the school year last one extra day doesn’t mean much,” Glazer said. “The short notice is incredibly frustrating. How did you [the school district] not see this coming?”
https://www.seattletimes.com/education-lab/substitute-shortages-staff-burnout-lead-to-seattle-area-school-cancellations
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Given what we’ve seen in Katy and Allen, I hope none of this is for high school stadiums.
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