By Pam Priour Stuart

President, Bee County Chamber of Commerce

The Bee County Chamber of Commerce recently issued a position statement in opposition to the tax rate increase proposed by the Beeville Independent School District. As the result of that position statement, the Chamber has heard from a cross section of our community, including those favoring the tax rate increase, and others opposed to it.

The Chamber recognizes the value and importance of quality education to our community. When individuals or companies contemplate relocating to Bee County, they include the schools among their most important considerations. They want for their children what we all want, excellence in education. Economic development is the lifeblood of any community, and an educated, capable workforce is key to economic development. For these and many other reasons, the Chamber affirms the importance of developing and maintaining schools which are consistently effective and for which excellence is the standard.

The Chamber’s position statement on the tax rate election reflects the business community’s concerns about the performance of our schools. However, the Chamber also recognizes the burdens and challenges faced by our educators. Clearly, the state system of funding schools (including the tax rate election process) does not adequately fund districts such as the BISD. The Chamber knows that the BISD is one of the most under-funded districts in the state, and the Chamber is prepared to use its influence and resources in an effort to change the funding laws.

The Chamber also acknowledges that our educators face significant challenges in their day-to-day efforts to teach children. Some classrooms are overcrowded, too many children have little or no parental support, school discipline issues occur daily, and some students just don’t want to be there. The list of challenges to quality education is endless, and consequently, the Chamber has resolved to lend a hand.

In recognition of these obstacles, and in affirmation of the community’s need to come together in support of educational excellence, the Chamber board of directors has authorized board President Karl Arnst to appoint an educational excellence task force. The mission of the task force will be to meet with BISD representatives to identify the ways in which the Chamber membership and resources can be focused in support of educational excellence in this community.



By Dr. John Hardwick

Superintendent, Beeville ISD

We, in the BISD, are dedicated to providing a safe and successful learning environment for all of our children. I have been reflecting on the opportunity I had to interview in front of our school board as part of the opportunity to return close to the South Texas community where I grew up.  One of the important questions that the board asked me as part of the interview process was “John, how well do you feel that you can communicate with our diverse community as you reveal professionalism in a spirit of working with all of our community?” I often stress that the “how” is more important than the “what” because trust in a system is based on how you assume your tasks while simultaneously respecting the priorities of others in the community.  Much of the Beeville ISD community perceives that a blow to our integrity was delivered by the stance of our Chamber of Commerce.

This blow has occurred in the presence of a nationwide concern and diminishing of trust in both government and business.  I had a chance to visit with the Chamber of Commerce board today. The discussions were very candid. Comments included that the process to emphasize their desire to see quality schools may have resulted in a process that needs to be more carefully studied.  The most passionate elements of the meeting were focused on what the Chamber of Commerce can do to help our educators deal with many of the cultural, socio-economic and work ethic issues while they simultaneously work closer with our teachers to get a better sense of how they can support schools by volunteering, influencing school finance and supporting our district through communications to the Chamber members.

I do not like the setback that this has caused for our district. It is a distraction that occurs at a time when our teachers are working hard to squeeze every moment out of every day to prepare our students to perform well. At the same time it was a special moment this morning with the Chamber as I revealed the difficult task that our educators face every day to address the incredible range of learning needs in our community.  I shared that whatever happens we will get up on Nov. 5, look at the results of the election, and adjust accordingly. We will continue with our leadership efforts to influence statewide school finance issues. We will accept the offer by the Chamber of Commerce to make it a priority on helping our community value education.  This urgency by the Chamber of Commerce to become more involved was an important step in helping me realize that they understood that our urgency for school finance is based on the huge range of needs in our system that has us as the “poster child” for under-funded schools. We have some incredible examples of quality education coming out of Beeville ISD.  We have a large number of challenges that we need to “circle up the wagons” in order to address.

I am proud to be the superintendent of BISD because of our children, teachers and staff!