Coppell Chronicle Vol. 4, No. 40
Coppell ISD Facing More Budget Cuts • Bond Projects to Resume in New Order • Make a Child Smile Benefits Local Kids • Community Supports Noncompliant Carport
During each meeting of the Coppell Planning and Zoning Commission, the staff summarizes the most recent City Council meeting. So on Thursday evening, the staff discussed a few things I wrote about in last week’s edition.
When Commission Chair Edmund Haas asked for details about the council’s votes, Commissioner Cindy Bishop said this: “Koller’s newsletter talked all about that.”
Amen, sister!
Coppell ISD Facing More Budget Cuts
Elections have consequences. That’s true whether you’re talking about the candidates at the top of our ballots or the tax propositions buried at the bottom.
On Monday, the Coppell ISD Board of Trustees canvassed the results of this month’s voter-approval tax-ratification election, or VATRE. The proposal that would have netted the district $2.4 million — while sending $3.48 million to the state via recapture — was rejected by 12,799 voters and supported by 10,780 of them. That equates to 54.28 percent versus 45.72 percent.
“It was never a guarantee, but we were hopeful,” Superintendent Brad Hunt said, “and it not passing has just created more opportunities for us to really have to look very closely about what we’re doing with our budget.”
During the election, Hunt and his staff had to watch what they said. Now that voting is over, the muzzles are off. Hunt said he wants everyone to know that some programs may be cut, some services may be altered, and some events may look different, because the school district doesn’t have as much spending power as it once had.
“People just need to understand that this is moving to action,” Hunt said. “It’s not this ‘what could be’ or ‘what if’ — it is what’s happening now.”
While the trustees weren’t asked to consider any budget cuts on Monday, Chief Financial Officer Diana Sircar showed them some projections to illustrate Coppell ISD’s growing deficit and its effect on the district’s fund balance. These figures assume a 3 percent cost-of-living raise for teachers and other employees. They also account for the money the district will save by closing Pinkerton Elementary and consolidating the Dual Language Immersion program at Denton Creek Elementary.
“We need to continue to work on reducing the structural deficit before we impact the fund balance this much,” Sircar said.
The district is not expecting much help from Austin. Legislators are already filing bills in advance of the session that will begin in January. Sircar said that session is likely to produce funds that can be spent only in specified areas such as reading and math for early grades, special education, school safety, and teacher salaries.
Despite inflation, the Texas Legislature hasn’t boosted the basic per-student allotment to school districts since 2019. Sircar said the allotment would need to increase by at least $1,000 for Coppell ISD to have the same spending power it had five years ago. But she said a hike of just $500 would cost the state about $7.4 billion over a two-year period.
“It’s very unlikely that we’re going to see them dedicate 7.4 billion dollars to public education,” Sircar said.
Could Coppell ISD try the VATRE again? One year ago, Lewisville ISD voters rejected a series of bond propositions related to athletics, but that district put the same propositions on the ballot last May, when they passed. A VATRE, however, can happen only in November.
During Monday’s meeting, Hunt and Trustee Manish Sethi thanked the parents who formed the “Yes! Committed to Our Schools” political action committee that supported the VATRE’s passage. Sethi said Coppell ISD could build on, and learn from, their efforts if the trustees put a similar proposition on the ballot next November.
“There’s a lot to be unpacked until that decision’s made,” Sethi said, “but I’m pretty sure this is not the end of it.”
Bond Projects to Resume in New Order
Last June, Coppell ISD’s trustees paused bond-funded projects at elementary schools until they decided whether to close any campuses. Now that they’ve made that decision, those projects can resume.
On Monday, the trustees approved a motion to pick things back up, but in a new order. This slide compares the original schedule to the one approved last week.
Sid Grant, who manages the district’s bond projects, recommended moving Denton Creek Elementary’s refresh up to 2025 because many Wilson Elementary teachers will be moving there due to the consolidation of the Dual Language Immersion program. Without an adjusted timeline, those teachers would have emptied their classrooms in three consecutive springs thanks to the completed refresh of Wilson (2024), their move to Denton Creek (2025), and the scheduled refresh of Denton Creek (2026). The trustees agreed with Grant’s recommendation.
“There is a cost associated with packing and moving, and cutting one of those out is a benefit to our taxpayers,” Board President David Caviness said.
That slide does not mention that the original schedule called for a refresh and foundation repairs at Pinkerton Elementary in 2025. Because the trustees have voted to close Pinkerton at the end of this school year, those projects are off the table.
Due to the budget problems laid out in the previous article, more schools may need to be closed. Yet the district is plowing ahead with its bond projects, for a couple of reasons.
First, all Texas school districts work with two separate buckets of money. The failed VATRE would have added more money to the maintenance-and-operations bucket, which pays for salaries and other day-to-day expenses. These bond projects are covered by the interest-and-sinking bucket; in May of 2023, a majority of voters supported borrowing $321.5 million for that bucket.
The second reason is inflation. If the district delays these projects, their costs will only go up. “You’ll never build or construct something less expensive than you can today,” Grant told the trustees.
With other closures in mind, seeing the Lakeside and Austin projects pushed back by a year made me wonder about those schools’ futures. But Superintendent Brad Hunt cautioned against such assumptions.
“Just because a school is or isn’t named doesn’t mean it is or isn’t closing,” Hunt said. “It’s just allowing us to move forward with some of these projects.”
On a related note, the district announced on Tuesday that Pinkerton Principal Mandy Sweeney will follow the International Baccalaureate program to Wilson next year, when Wilson Principal Cooper Hilton will transition to a newly created job: Director of Governmental Relations and Strategic Initiatives. That new gig aligns with the advocacy Hilton has done as president of the Texas Elementary Principals and Supervisors Association.
Some people may question why a district with deficits is adding an administrative role. In Coppell ISD’s defense, I’ll point out that two other positions in Hunt’s cabinet — Chief Operations Officer and Executive Director for Instructional Leadership — were vacated this year and are not listed among the district’s job postings. Director of Communications Amanda Simpson said other administrative positions in the technology and human resources departments have also not been filled.
Make a Child Smile Benefits Local Kids
Despite our school district’s budget woes, Coppell has a reputation as a community where most residents are doing fairly well financially. The key word there is “most.”
For nearly three decades, our city government has sponsored the “Make A Child Smile” program that encourages residents to donate Christmas gifts to underprivileged students in Coppell ISD. These children’s wishes are listed on ornaments in the city manager’s office and on the program’s website. Peruse that site, and you’ll see that nearly 80 local families are participating.
City Council Member Biju Mathew is also a member of the Board of Directors at Metrocrest Services. During the most recent council meeting, he reported how many Coppell residents were helped by Metrocrest in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30:
846 Coppell residents were provided services.
700 of those Coppell residents visited Metrocrest’s food pantry a combined 2,055 times.
51 Coppell ISD students were provided 4,590 meals via its Sack Summer Hunger program.
60 Coppell households received emergency rent and utility assistance.
As you may recall from an August article called “City Braces for Potential Influx of Homeless,” Coppell ISD had more than 75 students last school year who qualified for services under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. That doesn’t necessarily mean they are unsheltered; a homeless student could be living in a hotel, staying with a friend’s family, or couch surfing.
The district welcomes donations of gift cards for grocery stores and restaurants that can be distributed to these students in need. If you wish to donate, during the holiday season or otherwise, get in touch with Katrina Owen via kowen@coppellisd.com.
If you choose to donate to the Make a Child Smile program, you have until 5 p.m. on Dec. 2 to bring wrapped gifts to Town Center.
A Brief Promotional Interruption
Let’s check the tote board: As of this morning, this newsletter has 1,143 paid subscribers and an additional 1,752 free subscribers. If you’re a member of the latter group, then you receive the Chronicle on a monthly basis. You could receive it every Sunday by paying $5 per month or just $30 per year.
These quotes — two anonymous, two attributed — are all from real people who recently shared why they became paid subscribers.
Community Supports Noncompliant Carport
A homeowner who doesn’t want to dismantle his carport has support from more than 100 of his neighbors but only one zoning commissioner.
Derric Bonnot bought his house on Arbor Brook Lane in 2019. A few years later, he paid someone to build a carport that is far closer to the property line than Coppell’s regulations allow — 9 inches instead of 9 feet. His contractor did not apply for a permit before constructing the carport. In September, the city’s Board of Adjustment rejected Bonnot’s request for a retroactive exception to the rules.
(See “Board of Adjustment Denies Carport Variance” in Vol. 4, No. 29.)
Bonnot’s carport was the subject of another public hearing on Thursday, this time before the Coppell Planning and Zoning Commission. Senior Planner Mary Paron-Boswell told the commissioners that the carport wasn’t the only amenity added to Bonnot’s property without the benefit of a permit or inspection. The list of off-the-record projects also included a deck extension, a covered patio, a pergola, and a canopy.
“What kind of blows me away is that you can’t do anything in this city without getting a permit,” Commission Chair Edmund Haas said. “Everyone should know this. Every qualified developer, contractor should know this.”
(I don’t know the name of Bonnot’s rogue contractor, whom he described as a friend, but I know what my first question will be the next time I hire one: “Are you familiar with the city’s permitting process?”)
Commissioner Kent Hafemann pointed out that there are other carports in Bonnot’s neighborhood that may not be up to code, but Paron-Boswell said those carports had no bearing on the case before the commission on Thursday. “Each one will be looked at independently, and there may be other circumstances for those other ones,” she said.
Bonnot drives a pickup truck, and his wife drives a minivan. He showed the commissioners a video to demonstrate that it’s difficult if not impossible to fit both vehicles in their two-car garage. Bonnot said they did not realize this until after they purchased their home.
“I get the code; I understand the code now more than ever,” Bonnot said. “But I think there are circumstances sometimes where the code just needs to be reconsidered.”
Bonnot also showed the commissioners this graphic that illustrates how many of his neighbors signed a petition in support of his request to convert his property into a planned development, which would allow him to keep the carport.
Ten people spoke in support of Bonnot’s request during Thursday’s hearing, and one spoke in opposition. That one person was not Julie Garza, Bonnot’s next-door neighbor whose property line is inches from the carport. Although she did not speak on Thursday, Garza has written to the city to express her opposition.
“If we lift the roof off of this thing, it doesn’t change her viewpoint of what she’s gonna be looking at,” Bonnot said. “She’s still gonna be looking at the same fence. My car’s still gonna be parked in the same spot. So, I just don’t see why this is creating any hardship for her.”
In 2022, the City Council approved a zoning change that allowed several residents of the Sherwood Park neighborhood to keep carports that had been constructed years earlier without permits. But Paron-Boswell told the commissioners that comparing Bonnot’s case to that one was an apples-to-oranges situation, for various reasons:
Bonnot wants to convert his single property to a planned development, whereas Sherwood Park is an entire subdivision that was already a planned development.
Bonnot’s property is more than 17,000 square feet, while the properties in Sherwood Park average about 4,400 square feet.
Bonnot’s house has a two-car garage, but the duplexes in Sherwood Park have one-car garages.
The garages and carports in Sherwood Park are rear-facing, while Bonnot’s carport faces the street.
(You can click here to see all Coppell Chronicle articles about carports, including the ones in Sherwood Park.)
Three of the seven commissioners were absent on Thursday. While everyone in attendance agreed that Bonnot’s carport is as beautiful as a carport can be, Hafemann was the only commissioner who supported keeping it in place.
“These rules are for the benefit of the community,” Hafemann said, “and when you have one person in the community that doesn’t like this proposed change — yes, they’re adjacent — but the rest of you feel that the design is appropriate and good for the neighborhood, then I think that’s OK.”
The ultimate decision lies with the City Council, and this case should be on the agenda for their Dec. 10 meeting. Perhaps Bonnot will have more luck then? Without naming names, he said his application for a planned development was inspired by conversations with multiple council members.
Although planned developments don’t set legal precedents, Haas warned that the council would be “opening Pandora’s box across the community” if they approve Bonnot’s request. “Everyone could just build whatever they want.”
How ’Bout Them Cowboys?
The Coppell High School football team cruised to a 38-10 victory over Lake Highlands in the second round of the Class 6A Division 1 playoffs on Friday. Next up for the undefeated Cowboys is a showdown with the undefeated North Crowley Panthers. That regional semifinal will kick off at 2 p.m. on Saturday at Vernon Newsom Stadium in Mansfield.
A regional semifinal is where Coppell’s 2023 season ended with a loss to Trophy Club Byron Nelson. North Crowley won a regional title last season before losing to the eventual state champions from Duncanville.
Chronicle Crumbs
• Slowly but surely, the City of Coppell is recovering from a cyberattack that happened on Oct. 23. Wi-Fi is still unavailable in city facilities, but the website where I like to peruse applications for building permits and certificates of occupancy is accessible again. That’s why I know that a business called Psychic Chakra Readings is seeing clients by appointment at an office along State Highway 121, between Northpoint Drive and Sandy Lake Road.
(If this psychic had received her certificate of occupancy one month earlier, could she have warned the city’s staff about the cyberattack?)
• Speaking of certificates of occupancy, a business called Zayn Global Market received one in July for the space formerly occupied by Rozana Market and Restaurant on the corner of East Belt Line Road and South Belt Line Road. I noticed last week that signage has gone up for Zayn Global Market and its associated restaurant, Zaky Zayn.
• TRAFFIC ALERT: The contractors working on DART’s Silver Line tracks plan to fully close the south end of Mockingbird Lane between 7 a.m. on Monday and 10 p.m. on Tuesday. If that’s part of your commute, find another route.
• Coppell Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Ellie Braxton will retire at the end of March. She has been with the organization since 2018. “Ellie’s legacy at the Coppell Chamber will continue to inspire us, and her commitment to excellence leaves a lasting impact,” Chamber Chairman Daniel Armbruster said. “While we will deeply miss her, we celebrate her incredible contributions and wish her all the best in her next chapter.”
• The Coppell ISD Education Foundation’s annual Give for Grants campaign, which wrapped up on Nov. 15, brought in a record amount of money: $63,604.22. (You can’t forget those 22 cents.) PTOs and booster clubs contributed $4,100 of that haul; the rest came in via individual donations. All of the money will fund grant requests from Coppell ISD teachers, and none of it will be subject to recapture by the state government.
• A Nov. 3 article called “More Hotels Planned Within City Limits” explained how the number of hotels in Coppell could grow from four to 13. I have since learned of plans for a 14th hotel in the city. According to a brochure maintained by a company called Retail Street Advisors, a five-story hotel could be built along Interstate 635, west of Point West Boulevard.
• One year ago, I published an article called “Grapevine Hopes to Add Second Waterpark.” It was about a Wisconsin company’s plan to build a resort just across the Grapevine-Coppell border. Last week, Grapevine Economic Development Director Garin Giacomarro told my rivals at Community Impact that the deal is dead.
• Here’s your reward for reading this far: I’ve been told by a reliable source that Coppell’s Kroger will “soft launch” its new fuel station this week. Who’s pumped to use those pumps?
Community Calendar
Big Book Sale: The Friends of the Coppell Public Library will sell books between 1 and 4 p.m. today at the Cozby Library and Community Commons.
Teen Life Skills: Resume Building: Representatives from Coppell’s Employee Experience Department will be at the Cozby Library and Community Commons between 5 and 7 p.m. on Dec. 3 to help teenagers polish their resumes.
A Christmas Carol: Theatre Coppell will stage nine performances of Charles Dickens’ classic tale about Ebenezer Scrooge. The first one is scheduled for 8 p.m. on Dec. 6.
Vintage Christmas: Several businesses in Old Town Coppell will offer special treats and activities between 9 a.m. and noon on Dec. 7.
Holiday Parade and Tree Lighting: The parade down Samuel and Parkway boulevards will start at 6 p.m. on Dec. 7. If your business or organization would like to participate in the parade, you have until 11:59 p.m. on Dec. 1 to submit your application.
Holiday Concert with HarpEssence: Take a break from the hustle and bustle by listening to some grand harps at 2 p.m. on Dec. 8 at the Cozby Library and Community Commons.
Sounds Like Holiday Spirit: The Coppell Community Orchestra will perform festive favorites and timeless classics at 3 p.m. on Dec. 8 at the Coppell Arts Center.
Our Favorite Time of Year: The Coppell Community Chorale invites families to sing along while celebrating the holidays at 7 p.m. on Dec. 13 at the Coppell Arts Center.
30th Annual Madrigal Feast: The Coppell High School choir will offer dinner and a show at 7 p.m. on Dec. 13 and 14 in the CHS Commons.
Thanks, Dan!
Thank you for keeping us informed!
I enjoy your writing.
Go Cowboys!