Sep. 6—Odessans for a Bright Future kicked off its campaign Wednesday to advocate for Ector County ISD's $436,109,000 bond issue at United Pump & Supply.
Sarah Moore, chair of the PAC, owns and operates the business with Clay Moore and Riley Hunter. Members of the committee, plus teachers, ECISD board members, business people and a representative from the city came together to show their support.
Moore noted that Wednesday marked 62 days until the Nov. 7 election.
"That's not a very long campaign time. It's very important that our residents, our citizens, inform themselves about the details of the bond. The political action committee has a website, Odessansvoteyes.com, and can see all the details and figures for the bond," Moore said.
She added that the ECISD website also has details about the bond. The bond would not affect ECISD property taxes; they would remain the same if it passes, Moore said.
There are three propositions that have to be divided that way by law. Among the items in Proposition A are a new middle school to be located in the western part of Ector County, a career and technical education facility on the south side, new transportation building, new transition learning center, technology, maintenance; a complete renovation of the Permian High School Auditorium; replace outdated instruments; performance risers for all middle school choirs; classroom instruments for elementary campuses; uniforms for middle school bands and mariachi; JROTC facility needs; and complete replacement of classroom buildings and barns at the Agriculture Farm.
The second proposition is to reseal the concrete at Ratliff Stadium, which is cracking, and also lighting for the parking lot.
Proposition C is to build an indoor training facility at Odessa High School and replacing artificial turf at Permian High School's practice facility.
"We really hope to get all three propositions passed," Moore said.
She added that they are all priority items and she noted that the repairs and maintenance will touch all ECISD campuses.
Moore said the Career Technology Education facility planned for the south side if the bond passes will serve as a home campus for students, which would alleviate some of the overcrowding at Permian and Odessa high schools.
Students can choose to attend high school at the CTE facility and get their full high school curriculum, rather than having to bus back and forth.
"That is designed so we can help relieve some of the overcrowding at the high school level. It doesn't fix everything, but it's a step in the right direction," Moore said.
She added that anytime you build something in an area of town, businesses pop up and a new middle school in the western part of the county would likely do that.
"It's a way to attract and build more infrastructure there in West Odessa, which is very much needed," Moore said.
District officials have said that this would be the start of a series of bonds to take care of district needs. Moore noted that there is nothing planned, but it's a great step.
"If you compare our situation with our neighbor city, Midland, they are working on passing a ... $1.4 billion bond ... I'm sure they have their plan and I wish them luck with that. We're in a similar situation. Both school districts require a lot of upgrades and upkeep and changing to accommodate our growth. But to me and to the members of this committee, we feel like this bond for $436 million is the best first step to take," Moore said.
"Once we get this portion done and get the building and everything completed, I think we'll be in a position to take the next step. When or where or how much I can't tell you, but it's a move in the right direction. The future's here. It's no longer the new millennium. We're here and so the future is coming faster and faster all the time. This is our first opportunity to make a step toward that and to prepare our students for that," she added.
The district has "made major strides" in being fiscally responsible by paying down debt early so interest payments were saved, which created some liquidity.
"That allows us to bring forth this bond without a rate increase over what was paid last year," Moore said. "That doesn't mean necessarily that the appraisal district won't change the value of your home or that other elected districts won't change. But for ECISD ... the tax rate will stay the same. It will not be affected by this bond."
She encouraged people to look at Odessansvoteyes.com and the ECISD website.
"You can register online to volunteer. We will begin having all of these volunteer sheets available where you can scan a QR code and register with your contact information to volunteer. Also, we encourage you not to rely on social media for your information and your facts because it's usually more opinion than necessarily facts; not to say everybody is wrong, but we have the facts about the bond and the details on our website," Moore said.
"This is a community effort. We don't want this to be a political issue, blue vs. red or division among the areas of the city. This is a community effort for a community benefit, so it should benefit all citizens and all residents of Ector County," she added.
Kevin Searcy, a PAC member, a lifelong resident of West Odessa, said his role in the PAC is coordinating all the data, whether that's designing the website, creating a quality plan on how to target voters, understanding where they had issues in the past and communication on the data, including things like tax compression.
"Our goal is to put it out there in more infographics; understandable, while still being completely true to the facts," Searcy said.
He added that he thinks this bond is pretty well suited for all of Ector County.
"I'm really happy that we've had a commitment from the board members on a far west, very far west middle school. Anybody that deals with traffic on University (Boulevard) in front of Odessa College knows the population's coming out west every single day. I hope that alleviates a lot of that. We're not only just touching people with kids in school, but we're actually impacting infrastructure immediately," Searcy said.
He added that he's also excited about the much needed CTE facility that would be built with the bond passage.
"We have a population here that is energy driven. That's not something I see going away. That's what I do and my day job is as an energy consultant. I see our area growing exponentially over the next 25 to 30 years," Searcy said.
Workers are also needed and not just in energy but plumbers, heating and air conditioning specialists and more, he added.
Mary Caywood, a PAC member who will be scheduling meetings and sessions with people and groups, said she thinks the bond package is a great response to people's needs and desires.
"So once they recognize that, I truly believe that they'll be excited and that is where we'll catch fire and continue to ignite and spread that fire and build the excitement to vote yes; build the excitement to come and talk to my neighbors if they have questions or concerns; come and talk to my employees. They have questions and concerns. I truly believe once they know the facts and benefits of this bond they'll be excited and they will turn out to vote," Caywood said.
The feedback so far has been pro and con, but she appreciates those who bring forth their concerns.
"I truly welcome that. As a PAC, we truly welcome that because it also tells us where we need to clarify our messaging because if you have a concern about this that tells us we need to communicate better. We need to communicate more. We want to be able to assuage those concerns, because I promise you, it's not the first time we've heard them. We've put serious thought into how we can respectfully and creatively address that."
As Moore said, Caywood added that the bond is not perfect.
"We are not striving for perfect, but we are striving to take steps to move forward and to move us in the right direction. I truly believe that's where the excitement will come from," Caywood said.
She added that once people have all the facts and get the full picture they will be able to get more yeses.
