As the beginning of the 2018-19 school year slowly transitions through the new changes and students get into routines, the Tax Ratification Election (TRE) looms closer than ever. Proposed last year by the ECISD Board of Trustees, this tax rate change will help bring more funding to schools in the district for repairs and new technology for the students to use. The motion would also help fund the Student Health Advisory Council (SHAC) to prioritize the safety of our students in the schools after the countless school shootings in the past few years.

If the vote passes, students at Permian can expect to see newer pieces of technology for their classes, more updated devices such as higher quality projectors and SMART Boards, and even could see an improvement with air conditioning and PA systems within the school. The funds would also give ECISD faculty a small pay raise which could help with the current shortage of faculty at Permian that’s causing classes to be overcrowded and some classes to merge together.

“I think any pay raise is a good thing,” senior Clarissa Sifuentes said. “More money is never not okay and the pay raise could get more teachers to work at Permian.”

The vote also would create a larger budget for repairs and updates throughout the school, but in order to fix most of these issues the school would have wings and classrooms sealed off while the repairs are done, which would disrupt the school days for months after and even ignores the fundamental issues we have now with the layout of the school, at the cost of higher taxes on the citizens of the city.

“The old building is way too small for the class sizes we have,” senior Morgan Brown said. “We have over 30 kids in some classes and the more freshmen we get from the middle schools just increases this problem.”

Students that have classes in the main building are still very much cramped, and some of the funds from this bill are working to fix this as the funds for remodeling and updating the school also act for the size of classes and amount of desks per class. The classes are also seeing better quality items given from the school, which may make up for any missing space the room may still have as an issue.

A very large problem with faculty and students alike is the seeming neglect for the very possible threats of school shootings in schools as many newer classrooms have large windows overlooking the second floor and balcony areas.

“The windows are nice for opening up the rooms but I feel they’re really unsafe,” senior Briton Gonzalez said. “It’s really unsafe because a really angry kid could just smash them with a watch or something and not even have to shoot out the windows.”

From the current standing of board members of both TRE and SHAC it seems this vote will pass, so perhaps all of these problems could be solved. Election day is Nov. 6.