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Support for Zafari grows among service center opponents
By Conner Hammett, chammett@starlocalnews.com
When the Allen American interviewed Allen ISD school board candidate Rona Zafari about her school board campaign in March, she said she wasn't ready to make known her positions on several key issues facing the school district.
More than a month has passed since that interview, and on April 17, the candidate returned calls from the American requesting more information about her platform.
Zafari said the district, the tax rate of which is at the state maximum of $1.67, cannot continue to raise taxes to foot its expenses and must instead balance its budget by reducing non-instructional costs and cutting off the addition of any new debt.
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| Rona Zafari |
Since the initial interview with the American, Zafari has built strong support in the west Allen Quail Run neighborhood, which for months has been fighting the AISD school board to change the course of its service center project, which is currently planned to be built at the northeast the corner of Watters Road and Bossy Boots Drive.
Five of the six contributors with listed addresses on Zafari's campaign finance report live in close proximity to the site. Her largest contributor, Richard Honiball, has donated $250 and spoke in opposition to the service center at the Dec. 12 school board meeting. Quail Run Homeowner's Association President Sameer Bhatnagar, who has also spoken to the board in opposition to the project and formed a Political Action Committee called "United for Allen's Future," donated $100.
Zafari said she has no official position regarding the service center and has not discussed the issue with her donors. She did say she is concerned about the $36.5 million project's impact on the existing debt and posed the question of why the district chose to commission an environmental study after land for the project was already purchased.
"I think we should look at it and see what options we have at this point so we don't add more debt to the debt that we have currently," she said.
Zafari also said the district must find a way to accommodate student growth using its existing campus facilities. The district has said that new schools are needed to accommodate the growth, but Zafari said the impact to the instructional side and bond rating of the district would be too great to continue bringing on new debt. Bond funds used to construct new schools could not otherwise be used to pay for teacher salaries.
"The more debt that we have, that's going to keep new residents from moving in, our high tax rate, our high debt. All of that is going to keep people from moving into Allen," she said.
Alan Hurst, who is challenging Carl Clemencich for the Place 2 position on the school board, has "Liked" Zafari's campaign Facebook page and her Facebook post about the AISD tax rate. He told the American last week that he likes Zafari's platform but stopped short of a full endorsement.
Bhatnagar told the American that his PAC has not made an endorsement for any particular candidate in any of this year's races but should have endorsements by the end of the week. He said his donation, which was made April 2, was personal and based on his professional and neighborhood relationship with Zafari rather than any political allegiance.
"She has not publicly said to me one of the main issues is the service center," Bhatnagar said. "When I talked to her, she's more concerned about the tax revenue Allen ISD's spending on doing expensive things, so the service center may be part of that."
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