2006 BOND DEFEATED IN KATY ISD:

In a stunning defeat for the supporters of the 2006 Bond Proposal, for the first time in the history of Katy ISD, the May 2006 bond referendum was soundly defeated, and the Katy Citizen Watchdogs* with help from George Scott took credit for the loss.

The vote was 3,990 to 3,528 against the proposal.

Highlights of the campaign included the election of Tom Law, Katy Citizen Watchdog, to the School Board; the passage by the Board of the dictum placed in Local Policy (and KISD was the first and only school district to have such a policy at the time) that it would take three board members to place an agenda item on the Board's Agenda after August 2006; a cover-up by the school district of the failure of the Katy Copperheads to pay for the use of the Leonard E. Merrell Arena until after the second bond election was over (see story elsewhere on this web site); discovery of pornography on KISD computers used by Xpediant Education Solutions employees; "facilitators" at a bond committee that ganged up on two leaders of the Katy Citizen Watchdogs at a bond committee meeting to which the Watchdogs had been invited by the superintendent, Leonard E. Merrell; an email/letter that was sent to Bond Committee members allegedly from the Katy Citizen Watchdogs when no such email/letter was ever sent by the Watchdogs; an election night when the votes were "miscounted"  and the bond resolution was declared victorious a well as the District backed school board candidate--results which were immediately countered by the Katy Citizen Watchdogs with the ultimate result of the bond being defeated and Tom Law being elected to the chagrin of the superintendent and his followers. Fortunately for the Watchdogs, A. D. Muller had kept a count of voters all during election day, so it was obvious that there was a mistake in the election returns on election night.

When all of the Watchdogs went to the Administration Building on election night after the "results had been announced" to point out the discrepancies of the vote, all of a sudden the superintendent showed up, and all of us were surrounded by KISD police!  Really!!!!  They all looked really foolish when it turned out that we were right!

It was a night to remember!

*Members of the Katy Citizen Watchdog leadership at the time were Chris Cottrell, Kevin Tatum, Fred Hink, A. D. Muller, Mary McGarr, and Tom Law--all of whom were solid, politically active citizens, as well as parents of current or former KISD students.