Vote No on HISD Bonds-Prop A & B. 

• No Bond Under Miles: He is under investigation and has wasted millions—while cutting student services and increasing class sizes.
• Vote No to a $4.4 Billion Blank Check: This bond will actually cost $11 billion—almost triple the $4.4 billion initially stated—contrary to claims that it won’t raise taxes. It even inflates construction costs for some schools by close to $100M. The bond allocates up to $10M million each for seven schools that are slated to close, all in historically under-resourced Black and Brown neighborhoods. 
• No Bond Without Local Control: The unelected board is pushing a bond with no taxpayer oversight, saddling us with the largest school bond debt in history. The Greater Houston Partnership construction companies and architects are supporting the bond so they can profiteer on the backs of children.

Save our schools. Our kids deserve better.

• Our kids need meaningful instruction. Miles forced out half of our teachers and principals and replaced them with 2000 uncertified teachers.
• Our kids need to read by third grade. Miles closed our libraries and won’t allow kids to read books in schools.
• Our kids need support, but Miles tripled the number of executives making over $200K while slashing Special Ed, wraparound services, homeless services, and college access coordinators.

Sign this petition to protect our children’s future.

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How can we trust Miles with a bond?

1. Miles spent $100M on redundant furniture and technology to replace nearly new items.
2. One of their first actions after the takeover, the appointed board increased the amount Miles can spend without board approval from $100K to $1 M.
3. Miles squandered at least $9 M in ESSER funded books purchased for libraries by closing libraries
4. He spent almost $470K on his musical last year and $356K on adult-sized spin bikes for kids.
5. When Miles took over, HISD had a $118M budget deficit; it is now at least $450M.

And it is not just HISD where there have been scandals.

• In Dallas ISD, in 2017, Jim Terry who is HISD's current chief financial officer, was escorted off the premises by Miles' replacement due to an IT procurement scandal about a contractor Terry brought on board, who now works at TFS-CO.
• In 2013 when Miles was superintendent in Dallas, he was investigated by the US Attorney General for interfering in an investigation and violating HR policy 

And we all know about the TFS Scandal.

• Third Future Schools Tx (TFS-TX) rented a mailbox in an Austin shared workspace, which it no longer uses but still listed this address on its Jan 2023 tax forms.
• There is no charter management contract between TFS TX and TFS Co, which are separate entities. No invoices, no contracts, nothing whatsoever for $49 M transferred to Colorado. These were taxpayer dollars for the benefit of Texas public schoolchildren.
• Yet, Mike Miles is still a signer for both TFS-TX and TFS-CO bank accounts while none of the board members are.
• Midland (Sam Houston and Ector Prep-1700 students total) ended up $2.5 M in debt to TFS CO for services, but there is no documentation. These excessive fees were used prop up their TFS CO debts. TX public dollars should be used for the benefit of public schoolchildren.

That is why we need to vote no to a $4.4 B blank check to Mike Miles. 

• It will saddle us with the largest school bond debt in Texas history.
• The bond inflates construction costs for some schools by close to $100M.
• The Board Audit Committee was planning to meet in secret until the public found out.
• Miles gets to choose the bond oversight committee himself and of course there are no elected trustees to hold accountable.
• In the bond budget- $10M per school for lead remediation at 7 schools that will be closed.
• Co-locations (closures) are all in historically under-resourced Black and Brown communities, without regard for proper planning and changing demographics.
• This bond will raise your taxes by replacing the nearly paid-off old debt with much larger new debt.
• With so much staff and leadership turnover, there is little institutional knowledge to ensure the bond serves HISD stakeholders.