Meeting at the SHAPE Center About HISD Bond

From The Front Lines of the Class Struggle.Good Jobs Great Houston held a large public hearing at S.H.A.P.E. Community Center in the Third Ward on August 20th. Around 250 people showed up to voice their concerns to a panel of activists and members of the  Houston Board of Education.While all nine board members were invited to hear and give their input only three showed up. The panel of activists and the public wanted more transparency and more oversight of the trustees.The school bond is the largest in Texas history,1.9 billion dollars.Houston schools are in bad shape and need repair.There are over 200,000 students in HISD.The last bond in 2007 passed by only 2000 votes.It failed in every African American precinct because there was no community input.There were no tax hikes last time.This time there will be a raise of property taxes,so all the more reason to have transparency and public input in the way the money will be spent and what schools will benefit from the money first.Last time no local community contractors were used,they were all from outside the community and none were minorities.A lot of the money last time was wasted in shoddy work ,bribes and other scandals.The community feels like the HISD Board of Education does what it wants with the money benefiting their own pocket books and their cronies instead of the community.The hearing got very heated at times.There were 9 chairs set up for the HISD members the ones who refused to show up had life size photos of their heads taped to the backs of the chairs in which they would have sat.Congress woman Sheila Jackson Lee and Richard Shaw head of the AFL-CIO,and Deloyd Parker head of S.H.A.P.E. Community Center were also in attendance The audience was made up of ministers,lawyers,trade unionists,parents, and of course members of the Houston Communist Party .One member was on the panel and called for a community review board which would have the power to make decisions on how tax payers money would be spent ,calling for the schools in poor areas to be fixed first ,the construction done by minority contractors from the communities itself. He said only by doing this could the community empower itself and make sure their children benefited from the bond.Many in the audience applauded and agreed.Its a hard and difficult struggle,first the bond is opposed by Republicans & other right wing reactionaries who want public schools to fail,then our taxes will go up,and finally people are despondent over how the money in the last school bond in 2007 was spent. If the community sticks together and empowers itself and doesn't rely on the supposed good will of those in power we can achieve a victory for our children in November.

--Mark Simpson