Where does a school district’s money come from? School funding is largely in the hands of states. The primary job of the state finance system should be to account for differences between the districts in the cost of providing the right educational quality level, and then to distribute the funds. About 30 years ago the Texas Supreme Court ordered the Texas Legislature to fix the state’s unequal school funding system. The fix by lawmakers is often called the “Robin Hood” recapture plan. In 2023, three school districts voted to stop paying the recapture money to the state and two of those districts are here in North Texas. Carroll ISD and Keller ISD led the way and if other districts followed it would force the legislature to look at more options. If you received one of the recent postcards, they sure look misleading!
So, what is the funding system? According to a 2019 Texas Tribune article, “Texas guarantees every school district a certain amount of funding for each student. State lawmakers determine the base number per student, which is currently $5,140. Many educators argue that the state should regularly increase that base number, at least with inflation, to get all schools the money they need. But the amount has not changed in four years.” What many Texans don’t realize is that Texas consistently ranks in the bottom 10 to 12 states for education spending per student. According to an article by Texas Standard, Texas hasn’t increased school funding since 2019. It goes on to say to keep up with inflation over the last four years, state lawmakers would need to add almost $1200 per student. Two North Texas districts, Carroll ISD and Keller ISD, led the way and if other districts followed it would force the legislature to look at more options.
Remember when we were told if we approved the Texas Lotto, it would support education, where is all the money from the profits of these scratch-offs and power ball drawings? The truth is only 7% of the funding by the state for the state’s public school system comes from the Texas Lotto. However, the Texas Lottery is a better wordsmith to perfume the pig. The Texas Lotto website reads, “The Texas Lottery Supports Texas Education. Since 1997, the Texas Lottery has contributed $33.9 billion to the Foundation School Fund, which supports public education in Texas.”
While funding is an important part of the discussion so are the spending habits of some of these districts. How did our school district choose to spend their money? Are the funds being distributed properly? Are they spending based on a well-thought-out budget? We decided to investigate the spending habits via the Frisco ISD Check Registers on the district’s website. The district has 4 funds: The General Fund, Child Nutrition, Debt Service, and Capital Projects. We started with the General Fund!
$$ Legal Services: In 2024, Frisco ISD paid Abernathy Law $40,851.93, in 2023 they paid $85,913.58. We are curious, would it be a conflict of interest if the same law firm represented both the city and the School District? Was the legal advice received around these “Public-Private Partnerships” that are sold to residents as success ventures.
$$ Legal Services: In 2024, Frisco ISD paid Walsh Gallegos Kyle another law firm $411,336.57 and in 2023, $353,028.02. Why does the district have two different law firms? What kind of legal services is the district needing?
$$ Amazon: In 2024, the district spent $2,271,090.30 on “MISC SUPPLIES.” That is slightly higher than the 2023 spend, which was $2,047,880. That is a lot of Amazon!
$$ Dallas Physician Medical Services for Children: In 2022, the district opened a medical clinic to provide FISD employees with free access to health and wellness. As we know nothing is free! In 2024 the district paid DPMSC $470,000 dollars, and in 2023 the district spent $472,000 dollars. We are curious why they would partner with a medical service for children – when it is supposed to be for adult employees.
$$ Blue Star Frisco EV: In 2024, $457,915.28 for “Rentals”, in 2023 the district paid 359,028 dollars. When the public-private partnership was announced for The Frisco Star residents were led to believe this was a good deal for the school district as they would have use of the facilities. The city website reads “It houses Frisco ISD events such as football games, soccer games, marching band competitions, commencement exercises, and other similar events.” Everyone failed to mention how much the district would pay for it each year on top of what the district paid for in the original agreement.
$$ City of Frisco (Contracted Services): In 2024, the district paid the city $2,361,742.00 and back in 2023, they paid $2,135,134.56 dollars. What contracted services cost that much?
$$ City of Frisco/Park (FISD Debt Payment): In 2024, the district paid $4,511,073.80 and back in 2023 they paid $5,678,818.38. What is the district getting back from that?
$$ Hilltop Holdings (Yearly Investment): In 2024, the district paid Hilltop Holdings $63,301 and in 2023 it was $81,017.98. What is the yearly investment for?
$$ GCS Trails of Frisco (Contracted Services): Par for the course the city is paying for the use of the facilities for GOLF! In 2024, the district paid $61,555.85 and then in 2023 they paid $54,893.94. I thought the whole point of the PGA partnership was to have “USE OF THE FACILITIES” so why are we paying to rent facilities.
$$ Population & Survey (Demographics Survey): The most interesting expense was the 2024 payment for $115,700 for a survey. Then we noticed in 2023 they paid $113,450.00 for another survey. Why? For What? We plan to file a PIR for the information.
The district’s website reads “OUR MISSION is to know every student by name and need.” At Frisco Whistleblower our mission is to understand how the district spends its money and the need to ask us for more Bonds = More Taxes! There were many more payments in the 2024 and 2023 General Fund Report that some may question. While we wanted to highlight a few, we are still left with the question of what the point of the Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone (TIRZ). If all we are doing is paying out on them then how are they beneficial? What are we getting back from these TIRZ if we now have to go and ask residents for another $1 Billion dollars? Next up we will look at the 22/23/24 Capital Fund spending. Until then, you can review the Financial Reports on the district’s website. Lastly, look over the check registers as you might find some interesting things like we did.
There is a magical art behind asking for something you want and then getting it! I read an essay many years ago that talked about how culturally it was not always the norm to ask directly for what you want and when we do, we are usually bad at it. People tend to hem and haw and often walk away from asking because we cannot clearly articulate the message. For example, many are uncomfortable asking their boss for a raise or salary bump.
Persuasion tactics are strategies that can help you convince people to see things your way and being good using these tactics is usually an art form. To be good, or to be great you must first know exactly what you want and what you need others to “buy in” to. Second you must ground yourself in why you are doing it and make sure it resonates with you so you can “sell it from the heart.” Third, you must be able to state clearly and with no confusion what you are asking for or trying to sell to the people. It must be direct, clear and specific. Lastly, you must be selective and targeted about who you ask or when you announce it.
In Frisco, one man is very good at Persuasion Tactics and his name is Mayor Jeff Cheney. When he “wants” something in Cheneyville, well he gets it! He is very good at “telling you” what you want versus “asking” residents what they want. For example, he has put together his team and he has been gathering his clan of supporters to push for the Performing Arts Centre. When he hit a no with the public/private partnership with the school district and Hall Group, he didn’t stop. Nope, he just changed course and came back at it again with his little clan in toe. Next thing you know he will get what he wants, residents will bitch, and no one knows the wiser of how we ended up here.
The talk of a Performing Arts Centre is not new, but what is new is we are curious “How much has this cost taxpayers?” The city has spent $1.6+ million on the current Theatre Projects assessment or feasibility study, but how many others have we done in the past? What were the costs to taxpayers in the previous studies? Why are we doing so many studies? When it comes to wanting studies and assessments what is the magic number of how many we will do before we say enough is enough? We did some research, and this is what we found:
Feb 17, 2015: Under the consent agenda for the city council meeting item 17 reads, “Consider and act upon approval of publishing a RFQ for the development and implementation of a study to examine the feasibility of a performing/theatre arts facility within the corporate limits of the City of Frisco.” We looked high and low and could not determine how much any of this cost. We could not even find the RFQ they approved to publish.
2015: Frisco Association of the Arts commissioned a “Facility Programming Report” by Page Southerland Page. According to the minutes for the Citizens Bond Committee on 01/26/2015, Tammy Meinershagen provided an update that a feasibility group has been identified to conduct a study for the PAC in Frisco. She went on to say it would take about six (6) months to complete the study and has an estimated cost of $200,000 dollars.
2018: The City of Frisco commissioned a “Needs Assessment” by Webb Management Services and Parkhill Smith & Cooper (PSC). According to a Community Impact article, the study showed there 14 performing arts groups that have 667 days of demand for performance facilities in Frisco. According to the study, the majority of this demand—466 days—calls for a facility with 225 to 500 seats while 177 days of demand calls for a facility of 1,001 to 1,750 seats. At the June 2018 Council Summer Work session, PSC Associate Michael Howard presented the findings and told the council there is not enough capacity in Frisco right now. At that time Cheney told Community Impact that “it was council’s preference to use available bond funds to build a 300- to 500-seat facility to meet the current demand of community arts groups with the hope of working with a private partner to build a larger performing arts center.” Of course, Cheney always changes his tune later! The CI article goes on to say the Councils “Performing Arts Committee is in the middle of a feasibility study to determine the size and needs of a potential PAC.” HOW MUCH DID IT COST – We don’t know! We can’t find anywhere in an agenda search where this shows up from 2017 to 2019.
August 2020: Frisco ISD commissioned a “Programming Report” by Schuler Shook. We can’t determine how much this one cost our ISD Taxpayers either. We have sent a PIR asking for that information.
October 2020: The City of Frisco and Frisco ISD commissioned a “Feasibility Report” by Garfield Public Private and Schuler Shook. Well Shocker – we cannot find anywhere what this one cost taxpayers either!
September 2021: Frisco Arts Foundation commissioned a “Market & Feasibility Study” by Theatre Projects Consultants, Inc. We cannot find out how much this one cost either. However, we are guessing since each year the city “FUNDS” the FAA through Hotel/Motel Fund somehow Taxpayers still paid for it.
May 2022: City of Frisco, Frisco ISD, and Hall Group commissioned a “Space Analysis Narrative by Corgan + Studio Gang. In February of 2022 the city council authorized an agreement for services in the amount of $175,000 dollars. Remember in late June of 2021, the city and Frisco ISD entered a public-private partnership with developer Craig Hall to construct a $67 million performing arts center. The city has agreed to contribute $14 million in voter-approved bond money, while Frisco ISD will contribute $43 million from the 2018 bond package, and Hall will contribute $10 million. Remember this is the one that “FELL APART” and truly if the city had wanted a PAC would have been the best option for everyone involved but we have learned from city insiders that “to many chiefs got involved” which caused the band to break up.
July 2022: Hall Group commissioned and performed a “Proposal and Outline” and we could not find out what the cost of this study was.
January 2023: The City of Frisco commissioned and executed an agreement with Theatre Projects Consultants, Inc., for consulting services related to a performing arts venue in the amount of $99,300 which was to be paid for by Bond Funds
September 2023: The City of Frisco commissioned part two of the agreement with Theatre Projects Consultants, Inc., in the amount of $1,415,500 dollars. Recently in 2024 after some CLARITY they Upp’d that amount to $1.6 million as we told you in our last article.
We did learn a few interesting facts along this deep dive…
According to the Dallas Morning News, “Frisco leaders also launched the HEARTS Project initiative — an acronym for Hall, Education and the Arts — to crowdsource an additional $100 million in donations for auxiliary upgrades. The amenities could include a large video screen facing The Star in Frisco, box suites, a VIP arts club with membership benefits, Frisco summer musicals, and a restaurant or bistro, according to the campaign website, but would not contribute to additional seating.” The 2021 article went on to say that “although city officials have previously said the center could host professional performances, the petition states that the limited seating capacity is too small for consideration by Touring Broadway. Experts recommend between 1,750 and 2,000 seats, according to the petition, which cited Theatre Projects’ market assessment and feasibility study for Frisco.
Next, we found it interesting just a few years ago in 2021 Frisco ISD had committed $43 million from a 2018 bond package and now they are back in 2024 asking voters to VOTE FOR the new 1-billion-dollar bond because they are broken penniless poppers! Just a few years later, they are begging for us to vote in favor of the bonds so the Frisco Kids can have an 11,000,000-tennis center.
We also learned Keating was a huge fan of the arts from a 2018 article in Lifestyle Frisco. He is quoted as saying Deputy Mayor Pro Tem John Keating said, “This is our chance to blow it out of the water, Frisco style!” Remember, Keatings motto in his last re-election we are #1 this, #1 that, #1 here, #1 there! Now he is closing on his house in The Preserve at Fields the #1 most exclusive community in King Cheney’s Frisco.
In closing, the city has buried how much these things cost deep in agendas, under nicknames and code words, hoping that you or I will give up looking. We did but what we can tell you with the most recent study in 2023 plus the other three we are at about $2 million alone in just “STUDIES, ASSESSMENTS, ANALYSIS” done for a Performing Arts Center. That means we are going to keep paying money for these via the bonds, hotel/motel tax fund, or something else until King Cheney gets his Performing Arts Center. You can bet little pretty Princess Tammy will be right next to him the whole way. Trailing behind will be their wingman “John “The Infamous Cheating” Keating.
Diving into all this has taken a lot more time than we expected and unless you understand the arts and all these studies it is a bunch of well-pitched jargon crap to confuse the residents of Frisco. We will continue our deep dive into this because we know the city is about to hit us with a bond. It will be through the City or the secret weapon “THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT BOARD”. Just wait and see…. the EDC will make the pitch because the city has been called out.
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