Hondo Anvil Herald (Hondo, Tex.), Vol. 115, No. 47, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 22, 2001 Page: 3 of 28
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Hondo Area Newspaper Collection and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Hondo Public Library.
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I he Hondo \n\il Herald. Thursday, November 22, 2001, Page 3 '
D’Hanis ISD public hearing to study athletic facilities ^ ©ma’g Cftrigtmag jfatr
By William Hoover
Anvil Hfrai.d Corrlspon illnt
The DHanis Independent School
District Board of Trustees has called a
public hearing for the evening of
Wednesday, Dec. 5, at 7:15 p.m. tocon-
sider the public's willingness to support
a bond to build a $2.25 million gymna-
sium, and baseball complex. The
meeting will be held in the IT Hams
gymnasium.
On Nov. 5. the board of trustees dis-
cussed the rebuilding of the recently
demolished football stadium and its
facilities during a public meeting.
The baseball complex would con-
sist of a girls' soltball field and a base-
ball field. I he gym would be modeled
after one in the Harper ISD and would
have lockers and dressing rooms at
both ends, a weight room, a laundry
room, accessible public restrooms and
retractable bleachers.
DISD Supt. Bruce Davis said the
school’s insurance adjuster estime ed
the cost ol rebuilding the football sta-
dium at $1!7,0(X) with the conces-
sion stand valued at $16,700 and the
scoreboard costing around $15,000.
Hie estimate was originally rendered
by the school's insurance agent after
an Oct. 25 visit. The stadium was ren-
dered unusable after the Oct. I 2 tor-
nados tore through the area.
Board members thought the district
would be fully reimbursed for the
stadium's value of $146,700. How-
ever, they were disappointed to dis-
cos er they would only recoup
$50,000, a shortfall of $96,700.
District taxpayers have signaled
their willingness to support the
DISD's plans by approving various
bond packages However, thq,bonds
were never sold because they were
contingent on receiving state Institu-
tional Funding Assistance (IFA)
money, according to Davis. The su-
perintendent said the school district
passed three bond issues the year be-
lore he became superintendent. Bui.
none were sold because the school did
not qualify for IFA from the state.
A $650,000 bond was passed to re-
build the elementary. A $2.16 million
bond was passed to assist with build
ing a new gymnasium and a $500,000
bond was approved for a new librarx
and learning center. "They were all tied
to IFA funding but we have been turned
down for IFA three times because the
state ran out ot funds and we were too
tar dow n the list. They spend till they
run out." explained Davis.
"II we don't have IFA funding, we
can't sell the bonds. So we are see-
ing if there is any interest in another
bond to build a new modern gymna-
sium," said the superintendent "We
arc just now gathering information in
public meetings. At Mondav \ board
meeting, we tried to determine it
there was enough interest to support
another bond because we are talking
about raising taxes."
Davis said the current proposal is
lo build a larger gym. “The current
gym is a cracker box w hich only has
two dressing rooms and no public
restrooms. When we have visitors, our
kids use a classroom to dress and we
give one dressing room to visitors and
use the other one as a restroom. It is
too small and is not in compliance w ith
the Americans with Disabilities Act
Former Castroville
man dies in private
plane crash
Chief Warrant Officer Jonathan
Greene was one of three Fort Cam pell
soldiers killed last week in a private
plane crash. Greene formerly resided
in Castroville in the 60s and 70s with
his family.
The three did not die while on Army
manuevers. They were in the fifth
month of a six-month training program
at Fort Hood and had rented a plane to
fly to Kentucky for the weekend. That
private plane crashed, and all were
killed, according to Lee Trigg, manag-
ing editor of the Killeen Daily Herald.
A complete obituary was published
in last week's Hondo Anvil Herald.
We joke about having a home court
advantage because our kids know how'
not to run into the wall "
The proposed bond for the new
$2.25 million gymnasium would be
for $1.6 million w ith the remaining
$650,000 taken out of the school's
$ 1.8 fund balance.
There is a multiplier formula where
districts can move up on the IFA
funding eligibility list if bonds are
sold, according to Davis, but the
school will most likely have to self-
finance any gymnasium construction
which means a boost in school dis-
trict tax rates.
"Selling the bonds moves you up
10 to 15 percent on the IFA list Your
existing debt allotment can also help
you qualify for IFA. But we are prob-
ably looking at doing something our-
selves that could raise taxes 15 to 50
cents," said Davis. "We have $1.8
million in a fund balance and we are
required to maintain around $1 to
$ 1.2 million. So we can use $600.0(8)
to $800,000 to offset the cost We
want to do what is best for the school
so we don't have to raise taxes by 50
cents. But we need to see if there is
enough interest first."
The school board's biggest con-
cern is w hat the cost to taxpayers will
he "Tile district has raised taxes 6
cents in the last three to four years
But if we hadn't, we would be in a
financial bind." said Davis. “The
state sets the maximum tax rate of
$1.50 and the average is $1 42. But
if you are not at the maximum, you
don't qualify lor Tier II funding. So
the state has a built m incentive for
schools to hike their tax rate to $ 1.50
to be eligible for funding.
" Two to three years ago we hail a
$200.0(8) to $5(X).(8K) deficit, but the
new tax rate of $1.57 has allowed us
to build up our fund balance to $1.8
million. Monetarily , we are self-suf-
ficient. We don't want to be absorbed
by another school district so we hav e
to keep our tund balance up. That is
why I was brought in," explained
Davis. "We would have been out of
business il we had not raised taxes
We are not a wealths or poor district
but we are holding our own."
The football stadium is another
frustrating issue for the board It now
appears the stadium was prematurely
demolished after the tornado
"Our insurer showed up and hired
a cleanup crew. He said he knew our
coverage so the adjuster and his crew
made a lot of decisions. They cleaned
up a lot and tore down a lot. mclud
mg the scoreboard and concession
stand. Someone suggested the via
dium could be repaired, so our engi-
neer wanted to perform a load test
lor $ 10.000 to 12.0(8) But we were
told it would be cheaper to replace
the superstructure because we were
covered for in-kind construction."
It was after the stadium was de-
molished that the insurer told the
DHanis trustees they only had
$50,000 worth of coverage on the
stadium and related facilities. "The
DHanis insurance agent flew to Dal-
las to talk to a representative of the
school’s insurer, Texas Political Sub-
division, face to face," said Davis.
"The meeting was disappointing be-
cause TPS insurance agents denied
the school's claim it should have
been covered for the $ 146,700. They
maintained our coverage was for
only $50,000" With only $50,000
' w orth ok coverage, the school district
is trying to determine how to de-
crease the $96,700 shortfall.
"It's not a pleasant situation.” ex-
plained Davis. "We have a student
body of 289, with 91 in high school
and another 90 in grades 6,7. and 8.
The others are in elementary school,
but they will soon be playing sports.
We have a junior high boys and girls
team, v arsity boys and girls teams, and
junior varsity girls and boys teams.”
With six teams sharing one floor,
the gym is cramped. And it's a ma-
jor inconvenience for the student-
athletes not to have their own foot-
ball stadium, according to Davis.
Hondo ISD Superintendent Doug
Coleman explained that the state pro-
vides money to offset school con-
struction costs, and hence bond rates,
by providing IFA funding. A school
has to apply lor IFA funding and the
legislature sets the amount accord-
ing to the scores on dillerent crite-
ria. according to Coleman There are.
however, restrictions on the funding.
"IFA kinds can’t be used to construct
athletic facilities." explained Coleman
"There is too much demand to build
new school campuses. Athletics is tied
to education. But. to qualify for aid.
you need more locus on classrooms."
The tax rate of $ I 50 per $100
valuation is not a maximum tax rate,
but is the rale the state decided school
districts should be asking from tax-
payers before they try to seek state
aid. according to HISI) assistant su-
perintendent Clyde Parsons.
Parsons said D Hanis was hav mg
problems qualifying for IFA money
because competition gvms are not
eligible lor IFA funding "If a gvm
is tor physical education, line Bui
competition gyms don't qualify lot
IFA When you start adding parking
and sealing m there, thev know it's
for competition and not |ust for PH."
explained Parsons The H1SD tax
rate is $ I sg pci $10(1 valuation
" The $ I 50 is a magic number to
eel monev trom the stale." continued
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Parsons. "It a school district is not
making an effort to raise enough
money locally, they cut hack slate
lunds, so eventually every school dis-
trict in ihe stale will be ai $1.50 for
maintenance and operations. It's a
complicated finance system. Every
district in the state has a different
amount of wealth. The taxable value
per student is different The HISD's
taxable value per student is $ 160,(8)0.
Some school districts have $500,000
or more per student. II you have over
$500,0(8) in taxable value per stu-
dent. you have to send money back
to the state. You have a range of tax-
able value per student in the slate of
$70,000 to $500,(8)0 per student."
Harper ISD Superintendent Pari
Whitten said her school district built
Us 20,0(8) square foot gymnasium six
years ago lor $1.2 million. "It's not
flashy, just utilitarian," said Whitten.
The Harper gymnasium has a girls
and hoys locker room, weight room,
basketball court, retractable bleach-
ers on both sides which scat up to 450
spectators, v isiting team dressing
rooms on both sides, a laundry facil-
ity and a small training room vv ith hot
tub, and an equipment storage area.
D Hanis resident Ronnie Koch be-
lieves the DISD needs to spend more
on education and less on sports by
finding a more economical gvm de-
sign. "Our teachers are paid minimum
w age. That is w hy so many of the good
teachers are forced to leav e. They can't
receive adequate compensation for
their skill and experience by staving
on at D'Hants with its pay scale at the
state minimum," said Koch "When
y ou keep building athletic facilities in-
stead of focusing on education, it's
hard on the morale of teachers."
a unique assortment of crafts
Dec. 1st & 2nd
10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
3 Halls ~ Food & Drinks Available **
S ’ For more information call 830-755-5080 ^ 0
Kendall County Fairgrounds
_Hwy. 46E • Boerne
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Fried Catfish &
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November fj
22 & 23 yji
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426-4020
Hondo Airbase
Underage tragedy
Hill Country Council on Ald -
itol and Drug Abuse, Inc. oilers
several tragic reasons to take un-
derage drinking seriously: high-
way death, drowtflng, suicide,
violent in|ury, alcoholism, drug
abuse, unwanted pregnancy
For more information about
how you can help prevent under-
age drinking in your county, call
the Hill Country Council on Al-
cohol and.Drug Abuse, Inc.. 850-
896-8884.
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Porcelain Dolls
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Wooden Paper Dolls
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Imported from Africa
Australian Hats
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l‘\ll>IOR H\ I I VWS FOR III \m Bomi I \ .III I Dl N >>l Mi I Kl \S< Kl K
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Hondo Anvil Herald (Hondo, Tex.), Vol. 115, No. 47, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 22, 2001, newspaper, November 22, 2001; Hondo, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth818996/m1/3/?q=waco+tornado: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Hondo Public Library.