We’d like to share with you some information about the name change of Houston's High School for Performing and Visual Arts (HSPVA). During the hectic six day period between the announcement of the name change and the Board of Trustee’s 7-to-2 vote to adopt the contract in October 2016, there was little time or a forum to discuss it. The historic school name was lost in an atmosphere of haste, confusion, duress and misinformation. Half the trustees were blindsided by the sudden announcement of the deal between the Kinder Foundation and HSPVA Friends to change the school name to Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts.
With the KINDER GIVE IT BACK appeal letter to the Kinders, we hope to hold the discussion that was cut off by Kinder, HSPVA Friends, and anxious HISD trustees. Civil discourse is still possible in local government. Join us.
Because the name change doesn't go into effect until the new school is occupied in January 2019, we have an opportunity to push back. The appeal asks Kinder to kindly give back the name, which they can do, by amending their naming rights contract with HISD. We are not asking HISD or Kinder to renege on the contract. Amending the naming portion of the contract would not affect the money. Kinder has legally committed to give the money and has paid most of it already. We hope that the Kinders act as the good neighbors and citizens we know them to be. Just because you can do something, doesn’t mean it’s right to do it.
We know the Kinders want to set the best possible example for the first-ever significant public-private partnership at HISD. Forcing the school district to give Kinder the maximum recognition for the minimum contribution and allowing only six days for the public to respond, demanding a quick vote with a take-it-or-leave-it offer, is not the right template for others to follow at HISD. The Kinders are good people and they are not made of stone. They will hear us if we speak up.
Read and sign the appeal here.
The $7.5 million promised contribution from Kinder was represented as a “donation” and “gift.” It was a sale of valuable intellectual property owned by HISD and citizens. The public was subjected to claims the theaters in the new school building would be nearly non-functional without the additional funds from Kinder. Alarms were sounded about scaring away private money, a new source of funding for public schools. In fact, naming rights are a game changer. Private money should not be scared off so easily.
What is wrong with this picture?
Read and sign the appeal here.
See the contract here and scroll to the end for the list of theater equipment upgrades to be supplied by the Kinder money.
[1] The original cost per HISD website is $80.2 million; an additional $8.2 million was allocated in December 2015. An additional $4 M for the parking garage is also not included in those numbers—according to HISD this is being funded by a downtown TIRZ. Including the land, valued by HCAD at $18.8 million, the total is $111 million. The total with Kinder’s additional $5 million is $116 million. Kinder’s $5 million contribution is 4.3% of the total. Taxpayers pay for more than 95% of construction costs and all ongoing costs.
[2] Houston Chronicle, 10-13-16, “the school board president suggested delaying the matter…said trustees ‘probably’ would put off voting on the item this evening…a spokeswoman for the (Kinder) foundation said its gift proposal, as is, remains on the table but the agreement does expire today.” Full article here. Trustee Lunceford's "no vote no donation" email is below. Lunceford introduced the Kinder contract and placed it on the board agenda, but even to him, it's news that the contract offer is "expiring." We could find no documentation that the offer contained an expiration date when it was submitted to HISD. The contract itself contained an effective date, the date of the voting meeting. That is not the same thing as an offer deadline.
With the KINDER GIVE IT BACK appeal letter to the Kinders, we hope to hold the discussion that was cut off by Kinder, HSPVA Friends, and anxious HISD trustees. Civil discourse is still possible in local government. Join us.
Because the name change doesn't go into effect until the new school is occupied in January 2019, we have an opportunity to push back. The appeal asks Kinder to kindly give back the name, which they can do, by amending their naming rights contract with HISD. We are not asking HISD or Kinder to renege on the contract. Amending the naming portion of the contract would not affect the money. Kinder has legally committed to give the money and has paid most of it already. We hope that the Kinders act as the good neighbors and citizens we know them to be. Just because you can do something, doesn’t mean it’s right to do it.
We know the Kinders want to set the best possible example for the first-ever significant public-private partnership at HISD. Forcing the school district to give Kinder the maximum recognition for the minimum contribution and allowing only six days for the public to respond, demanding a quick vote with a take-it-or-leave-it offer, is not the right template for others to follow at HISD. The Kinders are good people and they are not made of stone. They will hear us if we speak up.
Read and sign the appeal here.
The $7.5 million promised contribution from Kinder was represented as a “donation” and “gift.” It was a sale of valuable intellectual property owned by HISD and citizens. The public was subjected to claims the theaters in the new school building would be nearly non-functional without the additional funds from Kinder. Alarms were sounded about scaring away private money, a new source of funding for public schools. In fact, naming rights are a game changer. Private money should not be scared off so easily.
- The total cost of the new HSPVA campus is $111 million including land. [1] It will be a beautiful addition to downtown’s new east side entertainment district.
- Kinder’s contribution of $5 million for equipment is less than 5% of the cost. Taxpayers pay 95% of construction and all ongoing costs of the campus.
- Kinder “gave” the extra $2.5 million, even though HSPVA doesn’t need it, to meet the minimum in the naming policy. We call that the “Dibs!” provision.
- The additional $2.5 million is for future unspecified capital needs, to be paid over time until 2029, spent only with Kinder approval. For HISD, this is a buy-now-pay-later, contract. It is tax deductible for the Kinder family, whose fortune stems from Kinder Morgan, Inc., a pipeline company whose name will be indirectly referenced in the new school name.
- In 2008, Dallas raised $42 million for the renovation of Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. A spokesperson at Booker T. Washington's Advisory Board said that they extensively sold the names of parts of the building—theaters, rooms, wings, etc.
- HISD and the community lose the historic HSPVA name, valuable intellectual property based on a reputation built by thousands of educators, students, parents, alumni, and taxpayers. HISD did not appraise it, offer it for sale to other buyers, or seek to obtain a price higher than the policy minimum.
- Kinder’s name on the school implies they founded it and endowed it. They did neither. For a comparatively small one-time price, Kinder claims the building and the reputation.
- A middleman, the small non-profit HSPVA Friends, “negotiated” the deal for the school, placing itself in the middle of the exchange of money, allowing it to claim credit for “fundraising” the sales price of a public asset.
- HISD had no representation in the writing of the very one-sided contract. It grants the name “in perpetuity”—forever—a contract term no longer commonly used by universities and museums when they sell naming rights.
- When the board tried to slow things down for discussion and study, Kinder told the board to take it or leave it. [2]
What is wrong with this picture?
Read and sign the appeal here.
See the contract here and scroll to the end for the list of theater equipment upgrades to be supplied by the Kinder money.
[1] The original cost per HISD website is $80.2 million; an additional $8.2 million was allocated in December 2015. An additional $4 M for the parking garage is also not included in those numbers—according to HISD this is being funded by a downtown TIRZ. Including the land, valued by HCAD at $18.8 million, the total is $111 million. The total with Kinder’s additional $5 million is $116 million. Kinder’s $5 million contribution is 4.3% of the total. Taxpayers pay for more than 95% of construction costs and all ongoing costs.
[2] Houston Chronicle, 10-13-16, “the school board president suggested delaying the matter…said trustees ‘probably’ would put off voting on the item this evening…a spokeswoman for the (Kinder) foundation said its gift proposal, as is, remains on the table but the agreement does expire today.” Full article here. Trustee Lunceford's "no vote no donation" email is below. Lunceford introduced the Kinder contract and placed it on the board agenda, but even to him, it's news that the contract offer is "expiring." We could find no documentation that the offer contained an expiration date when it was submitted to HISD. The contract itself contained an effective date, the date of the voting meeting. That is not the same thing as an offer deadline.
| no_vote_no_donation.pdf |