Jeff tried  his best to warn the taxpayers.  If the bond is utilized as advertised, the district will be 8.5 years ahead of enrollment numbers in terms of available physical facilities. But worse, we’re seeing evidence that the real benefits of the bond will be– not to meet the needs of the children–but to fulfill the desires of some to economically profit. From the Community Impact Newspaper, we learn that–as a result of the passage of the bond– a developer in Spicewood is now going forward with his plans for mixed-use project in the vicinity of a future school funded by the bond proposal.  The article is aptly titled:  Spicewood developer adapts to growing school districts, bond election. The developer states:

“If the bond had failed, it would’ve made the property more uncertain as to what type of area it will be,” he said. “Now that the bond has passed, there’s more certainty that they will build [the school].”

is this really what Lake Travis taxpayers expected when they passed this bond? Did they really expect the bond to drive development, rather than to be a response to higher enrollments of children because of development that was already present or  imminent and not dependent on the District taking on more debt on the taxpayer’s dime?  Did taxpayers really expect to take on this debt to assist developers in what is essentially speculation?

When we teach our children budgeting and personal finance, do we teach them that that going into debt beyond their reasonably forseeable needs is a good thing?  Do we teach them, as if they are nothing more than a herd of tax-cattle, that they need to take on debt to keep the economy, local or otherwise growing at all costs, including the collective costs of malinvestment and at the risk of a bust, not to mention the impact on their own financial condition?  No, we teach them to be frugal, save their money and to go into debt only when absolutely necessary to purchase property or began businesses or to obtain an education. These days, even those laudable goals seem suspect, as our world is drowning in debt that it can never repay. I do not think that the taxpayers intended that tax funds would be used to help drive population into a fallow area to facilitate and benefit a developer’s new project–in the speculative hope that people will come and add to the tax base.

Perhaps I am wrong, and the taxpayers of Lake Travis have become gamblers. If so, then the children we seek to educate in this debt-burdened school district are receiving a lesson that–if followed–will lead them down the path of financial ruin.