If the upcoming bond doesn’t pass, it won’t be because a vocal minority objects; it will be because too many people just didn’t vote. Our district’s needs are indisputable: an aging infrastructure; excruciatingly overcrowded high schools; inadequate facilities for CTWE training—training that gives kids access to honest, high-paying jobs. But if those needs don’t move you, consider what this district does for people in our community. ECISD deserves our support.
Two years ago, the district was 350 teachers short; now 98% of our teaching positions are filled because the district used TRE money to raise teacher’s salaries and improve earning opportunities. In 2020, the district responded to the pandemic shutdown by pivoting from in-class to at-home learning in a single week and providing breakfast and lunch for children who would’ve otherwise gone hungry. Each child now has a computer or iPad and the district’s working towards county-wide Internet access. Three- and four-year-olds can now attend free pre-k, meaning that kids from all income levels are ready to learn the first day of kindergarten. Kindergarten readiness rose 13% this year and is predicted to hit 64% next year. Graduation rates are at a 20-year high, the college, career and military readiness indicator is above every other school in our area, and SAT scores are above state average. Real people—kids and their parents—are measurably better off because of ECISD.
What if every parent whose child got breakfast and lunch during the pandemic or a free computer or reliable internet access or quality pre-k education or a certified teacher instead of a sub voted yes on the bond? What if every parent whose child was turned away from a vocational program or took vocational classes in an old, shabby facility or fights through a crush of bodies to change classes at OHS or Permian voted yes? What if every teacher who appreciates the chance for a better salary voted yes? What if the rest of us who recognize that effective public education raises the quality of everyone’s life voted yes? If everybody the district has touched positively united, this bond would pass in a landslide.
It’s easy to say no, but that’s not how good things happen. Good things happen when good people care. The folks in ECISD care about our kids and our community—the evidence is overwhelming. They deserve our support. Please vote yes on Propositions A and B on Saturday, May 7.
Donna Smith
Odessa
