There is no minimum percentage of registered voters required for a bond election to succeed. So big debt loads are often placed on taxpayers by a very few ardent supports of the bond.
That may change this year in Midland, Texas, where a big school bond vote coming up this November in which voters will also be electing a president. That's sure to bring out huge numbers of voters. And the supporters of the big Midland Independent School District bond of $163 have been in high gear trying to build support.
The photo on the right came from Your Money and Local Debt, Texas Comptroller Susan Combs' site in which she attempts to alert Texans about the huge level of debt their local governments have undertaken for taxpayers to pay back. Her list of the top ten most populous states puts Texas at number two for local debt with a per capita debt amount of $7,983.
According to the Texas Bond Review Board search engine, the bond debt outstanding for taxpayers in Midland as of 8/31/11 is as follows:
City of Midland | $179,510,417 |
Junior College | $67,410,592 |
Midland County | $42,047,267 |
Midland Mem Hospital | $211,120,245 |
MISD | $184,674,627 |
GRAND TOTAL | $684,763,148 |
So as you can see, we haven't yet reached the $1 billion mark. But take heart. An article in Sunday's Midland Reporter Telegram contained an article titled, Will voters pass the largest bond in Midland's History? lays out what happens next:
The $163.1 million elementary schools bond is phase one of a two-phase district reconfiguration plan to create true middle schools and move freshmen onto high school campuses. ...
Three different options were presented, with the projects ranging from $360 million to $500 million.
Billion dollar debt here we come! Maybe this is a good point to insert a chart from the Cato Institute:
As you can see, costs per student have climbed drastically, but unfortunately, SAT math and reading scores stayed flat. If U.S. students were outscoring students in other countries it might be easier to ignore the cost. But sadly, it is costing more and more just keep them dumb. We need to be giving them better tools with which to pay off all of the debt they'll inherit.
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