In the $9.9 million school bond proposal, a little more than half of the funds are designated to entirely replace the high school’s track and football/soccer field. You’ve heard how worn out they are, how limited their usefulness is, that the field requires 1 million gallons of water every year and that one end of the track is covered by water the first month of practice. That’s all true, but I want to focus on kids, not facilities. I’ve been a volunteer track coach for seven years, first for McMurray, now the high school. Each spring, I am bowled over by their enthusiasm, intensity, goofiness, capacity for hard work, vulnerability, pride, hope, kindness, encouragement of others, acceptance of pain, confidence (or lack of it) and joy. It is such a pleasure to be around them.

It is less pleasurable to hear people insinuate that the school board and district administrators are careless with money and projects they undertake, that facilities are not properly maintained and precious tax dollars are spent unnecessarily. I can tell you, from first hand observation, that nothing could be further from the truth. The school district weighs the use of every dollar, grinding endlessly to minimize expense. Carefully scheduled maintenance programs are followed to the letter. The bond proposal, Proposition 1, relegates almost half of the $9.9 million total to restoring systems and facilities whose time has come. Our VISD leaders, the administration and school board are good people and careful stewards of our school assets.

We voters are stewards, too, of the fabulous kids, all of them, in our community. We owe each of them standard facilities, including athletic facilities, like those enjoyed by students at every other school. These are not extravagant projects dreamed up by irresponsible leaders. They will simply bring worn out facilities up to the baseline. For our kids.

— Todd Pearson