Kingwood Area Democrats held the Humble Independent School District Candidate Forum on March 6th, 2019 at their monthly meeting location at Los Cucos Mexican Restaurant (23730 US-59, Kingwood, TX 77339). All but one of the candidates, Ryan Engolio, were present.
Janie Branham, Nikki Roux, and Robert Scarfo are vying for School Board Position 2. Colin Carney and Lori Twomey are vying for position 6. Nancy Morrison is unopposed for position 7.
The President of Kingwood Area Democrats, Charlotte Reinemeyer, opened the Forum with the Pledge of Allegiance. Program Coordinator Fred Lawson gave a brief introduction and then turned the forum over to the moderator, former Kingwood Area Democrat President, Wil Williams.
Wil Williams conducted a streamlined forum. He ensured the candidates got their message out in an hour or so, the allotted time for the event. Ms. Reinemeyer closed the event and immediately moved on to the business meeting of the
Kingwood Area Democrats 2019 Candidate Forum
Following are the questions that were asked/answered explicitly or implicitly.
- Why are you running for election/re-election to the Humble I.S.D. School Board?
- What contribution do you believe you can make as a member of the School Board?
- The construction of the new high school will necessitate a change in attendance zones. What do you think is the best way to manage the transition?
- Background: The December 31, 2018 Final Report issued by the Texas Commission on Public School Finance titled “Funding for Impact: Equitable Funding for Students Who Need It the Most,” included 35 recommendations. Commission Recommendation #20 (pgs. 45 and 114) is “Expand the career and technology allotment to include courses in sixth through eighth grade.” The Commission gave the following reasons for the recommendation. (a) “. . .in order to better excite and prepare students to enter P-TECH (Pathways in Technology Early College High School*) and other career and technology programs,” and (b) “to ensure that students have the opportunity, experience and credentials to pursue meaningful careers after high school.” Question: Taking into consideration instruction time and space limitations, please tell us how you believe Humble I.S.D. could implement such an expansion.
- Background: HB2 and SB2 are similar bills filed this legislative session regarding property tax revenue increase limits. (The “tax-cap” bills.) The Legislative Budget Board has provided Fiscal Notes for both bills. On each Fiscal Note, the Budget Board used the same language regarding amending the rollback tax rate calculation for school districts and about school districts having to hold elections to approve a higher tax rate. The Board also included the following: “The bill’s prescribed method for calculating the school district no-new-revenue tax rate (a key component in the rollback tax rate) requires corresponding amendments to the Education Code which are not identified in the bill. Consequently, the cost to school districts and the state cannot be estimated.” While the Board was unable to estimate costs to school districts, it did estimate large, escalating revenue losses for counties, cities and other special districts beginning in 2021. Question: Do you know what the budgetary impact of these bills will be for Humble I.S.D.? What are your concerns about the debate/adoption of these bills without a full Fiscal Note?
- If you could change one thing about our district, what would that be?
- What is the last book you read?*
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