Jump to content

Larry T. Spider

Legacy Members
  • Posts

    2095
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    2

Everything posted by Larry T. Spider

  1. Off work for the summer and was hoping to work on my game at one of the poker clubs. Would prefer online after all the stuff that’s been happening and I can get a ton of hands in. A couple questions for my favorite degenerates: What is the best site these days? I play mostly tourneys. Don’t care much about cash games. What is the easiest site to get your money on and out of for people in Texas? Anything else I should be thinking about?
  2. Republicans fall in line and democrats fall in love. That process was somewhat avoided last time because Hillary was always the presumed nominee. I think they are looking to fall in love with somebody out of this huge field and haven’t found them yet. Somebody will take off and fly past joe is my prediction.
  3. I’m mostly just a lurker on this thread but got damn that sucks. Not sure why people have such an obsession with hammering AK pre flop. You’re a flip against any pocket pair and fucked against AA or KK (unless it’s sooner). You going to risk your whole stack hoping somebody was willing to go all with KQ or worse? Good luck with that.
  4. There is a formula but good luck figuring it out. It goes on for pages like this. Main point is that if you have a ton of propety value and relatively few students, the state is going to redistribute a lot of it, which is fine. The formula just really screws AISD. Until this session, I know the formula was never adjusted since it’s inception. At the time, rich suburban districts paid in the most. But the rapid rise of the big cities has wreaked havoc on the formula, especially for Austin isd. Declining student enrollment + property value is going up = bad news. https://tea.texas.gov/Finance_and_Grants/State_Funding/Chapter_41_Wealth_Equalization/Chapter_41_Wealth_Equalization/ Sec. 41.002. EQUALIZED WEALTH LEVEL. (a) A school district may not have a wealth per student that exceeds: (1) the wealth per student that generates the amount of maintenance and operations tax revenue per weighted student available to a district with maintenance and operations tax revenue per cent of tax effort equal to the maximum amount provided per cent under Section 42.101(a) or (b), for the district's maintenance and operations tax effort equal to or less than the rate equal to the sum of the product of the state compression percentage, as determined under Section 42.2516, multiplied by the maintenance and operations tax rate adopted by the district for the 2005 tax year and any additional tax effort included in calculating the district's compressed tax rate under Section 42.101(a-1); (2) the wealth per student that generates the amount of maintenance and operations tax revenue per weighted student available to the Austin Independent School District, as determined by the commissioner in cooperation with the Legislative Budget Board, for the first six cents by which the district's maintenance and operations tax rate exceeds the rate equal to the sum of the product of the state compression percentage, as determined under Section 42.2516, multiplied by the maintenance and operations tax rate adopted by the district for the 2005 tax year and any additional tax effort included in calculating the district's compressed tax rate under Section 42.101(a-1), subject to Section 41.093(b-1); or (3) $319,500, for the district's maintenance and operations tax effort that exceeds the amount of tax effort described by Subdivision (2). (b) For purposes of this chapter, the commissioner shall adjust, in accordance with Section 42.2521, the taxable values of a school district that, due to factors beyond the control of the board of trustees, experiences a rapid decline in the tax base used in calculating taxable values.
  5. His last just finished at my school. So bummed. Such a great family. His wife will probably be at Lamar more next year.
  6. Yes, it is the main reason teachers are not paid more. AISD is desperate to pay more but we were in the process of cutting 30 million this year to keep up with recapture payments. We cut all lunch monitors, a bunch of services, and each campus has their budget from the district reduced across the board. You can’t take 46% of a districts budget and expect anything but drastic cuts. Most aisd schools need significant work due to age. We passed a billion dollar bond that will help with a lot of things but it never should have happened. We could have paid for it without the bond if we were keeping more of our own money. You are correct that HISD and area schools are doing better. They pay 2x less into recapture despite being 5x bigger as far as enrollment and the funding that goes with it. Edit: under the new bill HISD will go from paying over 300 million in recapture to 0. AISD will go from over 700 million to 550ish.
  7. I’m assuming this was directed at me. I’m suggesting doing almost exactly what the lege did in this session. They got it almost exactly right, which means I should be buying lotto tickets. 1. Increase the average daily attendance funding attached to students. 2. Ensure that a good portion goes to raises for teachers but allow districts some flexibility on how the rest is spent. 3. Have the state kick in some money to reduce the burden of recapture on districts paying a ton into the system. 4. Shore up TRS a little more - was already in ok shape. Bonnen deserves a lot of credit for getting this done and getting people to work together. In my 12 years in education, this is the first session where I feel like we are leaving better off than we started.
  8. The problem isn’t that aisd is sharing money. The problem is that 46% of Austin’s money goes elsewhere. That amount is equal to all salaries paid by the district from bus driver to superintendent. As a result, you can teach for 10 years and have a masters degree in Austin and not hit 50k. Many other districts are able to start first year teachers at more than that which puts us at a huge competitive disadvantage. We have had to close schools because they are crumbling while a district in south Texas built a water park. This forces the district into passing bonds they shouldn’t have to because bond money can’t be touched by recapture- but asks even more of our taxpayers. Under this plan, the schools in south Texas will continue to get the same money. Roughly half will come from the state and half from wealthy districts. AISD will continue to send over 500 million to other districts.
  9. As I said before, reducing the amount of recapture that AISD pays is the biggest concern. Under the new plan, we will go from paying over 700 million to a little under 600 million. While this is a lot of money, it still puts Austin at a significant disadvantage. Other nearby districts such as round rock will pay 0 into recapture. https://house.texas.gov/_media/pdf/committees/FY20-HB-3-CCR-District-Runs.pdf?link_id=4&can_id=9c3810ea26bfc0c3b78a20f8bdbd4c6b&source=email-your-weekly-briefing-special-report-on-school-finance-and-pay-raises&email_referrer=email_554086&email_subject=your-weekly-briefing-special-report-on-school-finance-and-pay-raises
  10. In fairness to the saudis, I would like the US better if most people on social media were beheaded.
  11. Gambling would pay a lot of bills just by keeping Texas dollars in the state. Pot would allow the money already being spent to be taxed. If we are ever going to get serious about property tax relief and not have and income tax then we need more revenue streams.
  12. They will be out at the pool. Rats = rude ass tiddies
  13. From Texas Tribune. Huge if true. The compromise bill, Bonnen said, would reduce recapture payments that wealthier districts pay to shore up poorer districts by $3.6 billion, about 47%. But he also said the state could not afford to completely eliminate recapture, also known as “Robin Hood,” because it would cost too much to completely reimburse school districts from state coffers alone.
  14. The final version of the bill is $11.5 billion over the next two-year fiscal period -- increasing classroom spending by $4.5 billion, lowering property taxes by $5 billion and increasing teacher salaries by $2 billion. Snip The raises are tied to the state's increase to the basic allotment -- the minimum per-student amount the state funds schools. The basic allotment will increase from $5,180 per student to $6,160. Thirty percent of the increase that school districts receive from the basic allotment hike will be dedicated to raises -- most of which must go to teachers, nurses, counselors and librarians. School districts are being told to weight the raises toward teachers who have at least six years of experience. A quarter of the money designated for salary increases can be used for any full-time employee, which gives school districts flexibility to give even steeper teacher raises, or to other staff members like bus drivers, teachers' aides and cafeteria workers. Snip The bill also spends an estimated $452 million over the next two years on an outcomes-based funding program -- rewarding schools with bonus money for every student who graduates and enrolls in college or the military. It does not include a less-popular version of outcomes-based funding that gives bonuses based on third-grade reading scores -- a proposal that the Senate had wanted. https://www.dallasnews.com/news/texas-legislature/2019/05/23/texas-house-senate-strike-deal-bill-fund-schools-teacher-pay-raises-tax-relief No word yet on how/if this impacts recapture. More money per student is great but it doesn’t mean much for AISD if we are still sending 700 million a year to other districts.
  15. Hopeful but nervous on the education side of things. Big opportunity for AISD to get out from behind the eight ball. Addressing recapture is issue number 1. Overall school spending is 2.
  16. Worst building in dt Austin.
  17. Does he have autism or similar tendencies? I don’t mean that in a derogatory way, just that the level of rigidity on this stuff isn’t typical....at all.
  18. Well no shit, I have the cash app and it looks like I can buy bitcoin in about 3 seconds. Now should I....
  19. He’s just starting a conversation that’s worth having. If we aren’t going to fund things that we have to through property taxes then where the fuck is the money going to come from? Everybody hates their property taxes but shits all over all the other options. We can’t even bring up the i word without heads exploding.
  20. I’ll be staying in dt Denver. Thanks for the recs. Breweries are my thing. Especially ones that are not too ipa focused (tough find these days).
  21. What dt or nearby area restaurants and breweries would you recommend? Fun neighborhoods to explore?
  22. I’ll be there for a few nights in June. I’m going to watch the cubs but looking for other stuff to do as well.
  23. 2017: 319k 2018: 322k 2019: 340k The wife went in to protest and got it down to 323k today. Never protested before because it always seemed like a fair valuation until this year. Took about 20 minutes.
  24. Here is the problem with the 5,000 teacher raise and why it is the wrong way to tackle this problem. First, it is only for the next two years. The legislature has done this twice in the past (10 and 20 years ago) where they funded a raise then put it on districts to fund it after those two years. Many districts (aisd) would be in no financial position to carry it forward after that. There could be enough pressure to keep funding it, but I don’t trust legislators or Texas voters enough to bet on it. The other problem is that it doesn’t address the other major funding issues in education. We have many employees that make less than a living wage and this will do nothing for them. It also makes weird dynamics such as more than half of my teachers would make more than me (AP) even though I work more days, have more certifications, etc. I don’t really care, they deserve the money, but it will be hard to get people to take on extra days responsibilities, and pressure and they get a pay cut for their trouble. The same problem would exist for counselors, diagnosticians, etc. I understand the concerns that districts will become top heavy with the money and not really pass it along to teachers. They just need to give the districts the money and make them set aside a certain portion that must go to teachers.
  25. My brother is a supertaster to the extreme. Diet consists mostly of breads and cheese. No meat so I would say he’s a vegetarian but he doesn’t like vegetables either. Not quite sure how he is still alive.
×
×
  • Create New...