|
Katy Citizen Watchdog$ |
|
We’re Taxpayers. It’s Our Money. |
|
To Belt Or Not To Belt. That Is The Question! |
|
On the front page of the June 20th edition of the Katy Times there is a story entitled “KISD Officials Call State’s Seat Belt Law “A P.R. Move”. I have to admit that I had to read the article twice because, quite frankly, I couldn’t believe the comments from a district Deputy Superintendent and our Director of Transportation.
“The bus those girls were on was a charter bus, not a school bus. If those kids had been in a school bus, there would have been injuries, but nobody would have died and nobody would have had their arms cut off. This is a PR thing, they don’t really care about the kids.” said Mr. Bill Kyser, KISD’s Director of Transportation. WHAT?! How could anyone know what would happen in the event of a school bus accident?
“If we go to the three-point belted seats, we can’t get six kids across the aisle, it’s too cramped. We’ll lose 20 to 30 percent of our carrying capacity and have to put those kids on the street – they’ll be more of them riding, walking or in a friend or parent’s vehicle and that’s where they’re more likely to get hit,” said Mr. Scooter McMeans, a KISD Deputy Superintendent. WHAT?!
Mr. Kyser and Mr. McMeans, your statements, in my humble opinion, are not just unbelievable but absolutely irresponsible to say the very least! What makes these statements even more unbelievable is that they are coming from individuals who we have entrusted with the safety and security of our children! The fact is that seat belts have been NEEDED on school buses for years. They were needed when I was in school and they are still needed now.
Then if both of these statements weren’t bad enough, you then have Mr. Kyser saying, “If (the legislature) felt so strongly, why didn’t they fund it?” Mr. Kyser do you have any idea where money from the state comes from? It comes from the taxpayers! There is no magic money tree in Austin. This is yet another shining example of a government educrat/bureaucrat asking us for more money!
Perhaps someone should tell Mr. Kyser that the district is currently sitting on millions in undesignated bond funds that probably could easily fund the $3.5 million dollar mandate. Or if this money can’t cover it perhaps someone should tell Mr. Kyser that this community just awarded this district almost $300 million in new bond funds. And that Mr. Peter McElwayne, our district’s top architect, just recently mentioned publicly that he had found some “miracle money”; that the inflation factor the district used in calculating new construction costs (some 12%; a percentage that the Watchdog$ told the community was far too high during the campaign) came in much lower than expected. I just have to believe that some of this “miracle money” could easily fund the retrofit or purchase whatever new buses are needed. But I guess that might mean some new schools might have to go without their multi-million dollar hot dog stands.
Folks, the bottom line here is that the retrofit/bus purchases that are needed will end up costing far less than any wrongful death/injury lawsuit that is brought against the district. Should we be cutting corners when it comes to our children’s safety?
© 2007 by Chris Cottrell. All rights reserved.
|
|
Chris Cottrell, Katy Citizen Watchdog$ |
|
Date: 06/21/2007 |
