Valley View Bond

02/13/2026

I, Steve Ga***rd, have decided to run for Precinct Chair for the Republican Party again. I held the position from 2004 – 2022 in addition to serving on the NCTC Board from 2004-2010. I always ran as a conservative. I held the line on property tax increases for the six years I served on the board, resulting in one 1.2% tax increase over my six years on that board and I voted against that. I believe my activism in defeating over-priced bond issues both for NCTC and Valley View ISD show my commitment to conservative ideals of looking out for taxpayers, even when I am minimally affected, having turned 65 a few years ago.

Our current Republican Precinct Chair, Richard Womack, came out in support of the VVISD Bond issue on October 23, 2025. I have the Facebook post in case anyone wants it. In it he said: “I do support the bond and trust that in the end, our elected school board will ensure that our money is spent wisely.” The truth is the bond failed by more than a 20% margin in probably the highest voter turnout Valley View has seen. I think Richard is a good man but not nearly as conservative as I thought he was.

As documented in recent posts, Valley View ISD went back on their word not to double tax us when they called a tax ratification election to raise the M&O rate by 8 cents and promised to offset the I&S, (debt) tax rate by 8 cents. They went back on that promise four years later and continue to collect that tax both in the M&O rate and the I&S rate. In addition, last year, they raised the I&S, (debt), tax rate by 6.5 cents, when they could have lowered it by more than half a cent and still collected the full bond payment. On top of that they have a surplus of more than $800,000 in the account that can only be used to make bond payments. In total, VVISD taxpayers without a special exemption paid a tax rate more than 15 cents higher than VVISD said they would do or needed. That amounts to about $375 in property taxes for the average homestead in the district that was due this past January.

Mr. Womack said he supported the bond and trusted the VVISD Board to spend it wisely. Apparently, he does not have a problem with the VVISD Board going back on their promise to not double tax us when we authorized the additional M&O tax of 8 cents. Nor has he said anything about the VVISD Board when they raised the I&S tax rate 6.5 cents in 2025 when they should have lowered it by more than half a cent per the state mandated Truth in Taxation form. Mr. Womack may be a nice man, but I question his judgment and claims to be a conservative. Valley View needs a TRUE CONSERVATIVE that will look out for the taxpayers.

The chart below shows the excess VVISD taxes paid by our families for various home values in 2025. Mr. Womack appears to support this extra taxation by his statement that he trusts the VVVISD Board to spend our money wisely:

I would appreciate your vote in the Republican Primary on March 3rd.

Pol. Ad. Paid for by Steve Ga***rd, Candidate for Precinct 11 Chair

01/21/2026

As you pay your 2025 property taxes in the next ten days, which are late and subject to penalty if not paid by January 31, 2026, you should probably know that VVISD levied an extra 8 cents M&O Tax in 2025 that they promised they would never do, BECAUSE THE VOTERS WOULD NEVER APPROVE ANOTHER BOND ELECTION IF THEY DID. For the average VVISD homeowner, that amounts to an extra $199 that you will have to pay in VVISD property taxes this year - see table below where I have extended out the excess taxes levied for a range of home values. Since 2014, that double taxation has cost the average household over $2,000.

Back in 2010, the VVISD Board & Superintendent came up with the idea, which has since been outlawed, to use M&O funds to pay for Debt Service. The justification was the state match on M&O taxes was higher, yielding an extra $195,000 in state funds, supposedly at no cost to us taxpayers. The Debt Service on the existing bonds back then was 8 cents in the I&S tax rate. They said if we approved the 8 cent M&O tax increase, they would reduce the Debt Service, (Interest & Sinking), rate by the same 8 cents.

Being skeptical, I emailed VVISD Superintendent Stokes and Board President Alan Kassen. Superintendent Stokes sent me a 5-page annotated letter back saying they would never go back on this, even though they legally could. His responses to my questions were in BOLD Red Type. FOUR YEARS LATER MR. STOKES and the VVISD BOARD WENT BACK ON THEIR WORD.

Back in September, I brought this up with Superintendent Womack. He first said that was before him and that they might need to raise M&O taxes even more, he wanted the full 17 cents up to the legal limit. A week later, I gave him my spreadsheet showing that they stopped honoring their word in 2014 and asked him to review to see if I had missed anything. I also discussed it and sent my documentation to Alan Kassen and Eric Vann, recent and current VVISD Board Presidents. I heard nothing but crickets. I eventually sent it to the full board, crickets. One current board member said it was done by a previous board. That may be true but each board member since has voted to continue to levy that 8 extra cents year after year. They don’t have to continue to do it. While Superintendent Womack declined to provide the documentation the board looked at in voting that tax rate each year, the minutes seem to indicate the votes were unanimous.

One former board member called and asked me about it. He knew about the promise and said if he had known they were going back on it, he never would have voted for it. Unfortunately, he was like most board members I have observed, they ask few if any substantive questions. They seem to just raise their hand whenever the Superintendent or College President asks for their vote. Even for tax increases.

We are going to have a school board election in May. Candidates can file starting January 14, 2026. Filing closes on Friday, February 13, 2026. We need some conservative candidates to run against some of the Big Tax & Spend Liberals on the VVISD School Board. Based on the recent bond election results, the current Big Spending School Board represents less than 40% of the voters. I submit VVISD needs Board Members who practice integrity, not just talk about it. Is this the example we want our students to follow?

The attached graphic below with the red bolded text is from Mr. Stoke’s letter to Steve Ga***rd dated August 20, 2010. I can provide the full letter and original email to anyone who wants to see it.

Pol. Adv. Steve Ga***rd, Concerned Taxpayer

01/05/2026

As you pay your 2025 property taxes which are late and subject to penalty if not paid by January 31, 2026, you should probably know that VVISD levied an extra 7+ cents for Debt Service in 2025 they did not need. For the average VVISD homeowner, that amounts to an extra $176 that you will have to pay in property taxes - see table below where I have extended out the excess taxes levied for a range of home values.

When VVISD Superintendent Womack was asked about this, he said they were being prudent in paying down the debt VVISD owes to save interest. That is questionable for a couple of reasons. 1. There is no history of VVISD paying down their debt early in the past five years. 2. The interest rate on their existing bonds ranges from 2-5%. Considering almost half of families are carrying credit card balances with interest rates of 20% or more a year, does it make sense to make them borrow the extra money to pay taxes so that if they actually did pay off debt early, they could save 2-5% interest?

Per the last audit I have received, they had a debt service surplus fund balance of more than $800,000. Was it really prudent from them to raise the I&S Debt Service tax rate? See included VVISD notice below showing what they needed to levy to make the annual bond payment and the additional 7+ cents they levied. Keep in mind the previous year VVISD levied an emergency M&O tax of 6.5 cents as a result of the tornado in FRF that they were not allowed to extend without voter approval.

We are going to have a school board election in May. Candidates can file starting January 14, 2026. Filing closes on Friday, February 13, 2026. We need some conservative candidates to run against some of the Big Tax & Spend Liberals on the VVISD School Board. Based on the recent bond election results, the current Big Spending School Board represents less than 40% of the voters.

Pol. Adv. Steve Ga***rd, Concerned Taxpayer

11/05/2025

I’d like to thank all that were patient and willing to consider our arguments against Valley View ISD’s $65 Million Tax Bond. I know more than a few got tired of the prolific posts and numbers and are glad the election is over.

I pray that VVISD will consider inviting in some conservative voices into their planning sessions, sharpen their pencils, and be open and honest with what the true needs are. Perhaps we could come to an agreement on a more modest bond that the community could get behind, to address the most urgent needs at VVISD. I think most everyone wants the school and students to do well, we could not support a $65 Million Tax Bond and the associated taxes. There were also recurring tax rate actions by VVISD, counter to what they previously told us they would do.

That said, I ask everyone that has a sign, to please keep it or return it. Thank you for being willing to risk the scorn from some of the ardent bond supporters for putting a sign in your yard. I hope with the wide margin that the bond went down, that the VVISD Board and Administration will pull back from previous statements that they may have made, saying they will bring back a larger bond referendum next year, if this one failed. I am going to assume they will do what they said they would do, until they show otherwise. The signs were intentionally designed to be reused, leaving off the date and amount of the bond. In my experience they often come back shortly after a defeat although this is the largest defeat of a bond election I have been actively involved in. I think Decatur failed by a larger margin and the second round, even reduced by 75%, failed similarly, six months later.

I’d like to thank Matt Lowry for helping us have a good discussion on the bond proposal on The Valley View Voice page. It would have been more challenging to get our points out without his help. I would like to thank Calvin Tillman of Cooke County Conservatives for coming out and interviewing me and his wise counsel. I would also like to thank Brent Scoggin, Richard Burch, Lupita Rico, Scott Dalton and Sherry Gray who were willing to publicly support us and risk the scorn of some in Valley View. Some of the other key people that helped wish to remain anonymous, so I won’t mention their names, you know who you are. If I left someone out that wants to be mentioned, my apologies. I would also like to thank my wife who supported me in this, sometimes a difficult task for someone who prefers to stay in the background.

Pol. Adv. Steve Ga***rd

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11/05/2025

VVISD BOND is failing, 670 Against, 440 For, Era is not in yet, but it can’t make up 230 votes

11/05/2025

Valley View & Mountain Springs ballots are in. Pam said she should be able to give us a preliminary total soon. It won’t be the full county but I think it will be all VVISD votes.

11/05/2025

Early Voting is running almost 60% against the bond. We are up 90 votes so far. Between Valley View and Mountain Springs, I anticipate 800 or so Election Day votes. I think there are a few votes in Era too. Valley View turnout was near double Mountain Springs as of 1:30.

11/04/2025

My friends created some memes of the Cat Whisperer I thought I’d share. I’ll save the one my political opponents will like the best for last.

All have me sitting in an electric chair a friend had out for Halloween.

11/04/2025

I guess the VVISD Students First -Vote Yes dumped their signs out at the polling places today. I can only figure not many people wanted them in their yards. That is the most pro-bond signs I’ve seen in Valley View since they had to remove the signs unlawfully placed in the state right of way.

Apparently they even placed some VVISD signs presumably paid for with our tax dollars. They didn’t mark them as political advertising so not sure why they are at the polling location… unless they are intended to be political advertising.

Pol. Adv. Steve Ga***rd

11/04/2025

Today is Election Day. Today is the last day to cast a NO vote on the huge tax increase that will come if the $65 Million Valley View ISD Bond passes. We estimate the average homestead will see a $1,020 bond tax in 2026 going to over $3,000 and a total of $65,000+ over the 34-year life of the bonds.

Pol. Adv. Steve Ga***rd

11/03/2025

Let’s all remember to vote tomorrow, Nov 4th, if you have not already done so.

We recommend a NO VOTE on the Valley View ISD $65 Million Bond.

Contrary to what VVISD and the Bond Supporters say, there is no imminent overcrowding that cannot be addressed in a more transparent and honest election in six months or a year. Valley View ISD enrollment is at the lowest it has been in the last six years at 865 per the report Mr. Womack sent me. They have well over 100 transfer students that could go to another district if there are too many local students, so that provides a buffer.

As of November of 2024, VVISD showed a high school student capacity of 525 and an overall capacity of 1315. Somehow Superintendent Womack lowered those numbers to 290 for the high school and 984 overall but he won’t provide any details at how they arrived at those numbers. When I asked for supporting documents on utilization and capacity, they told the TX Attorney General they needed to withhold them as releasing them could lead to a terrorist attack. I’m not making that up, I would not dream of it.

VVISD School Board President Eric Vann has intentionally low-balled the average tax impact saying it is $331.yr and $9941 over the life of the bond. We say it is $1,020 in 2026 and will rise as property values go up, so that over 34 years, the cost for the average valued homestead will be $65,000 unless the owner reaches the age of 65 during that 34 years, whereupon the tax payment will be capped when they reach the age of 65. Mr. Vann ignores the effect of property values rising in calculating his total tax and uses a lot of smoke and mirrors to arrive at his numbers, supported by Live Oak who stands to earn $165,000, if the bond passes.

Mr. Vann and the VVOSD Students First – Vote Yes PAC say that we need to pass the bond now because construction costs are rising 1-2% a month and it will just cost more later. They show no expert report showing that claim. We produced two expert reports showing construction costs are rising 4-5%/yr., not 12-24%/yr. as they claim. They have provided no independent report to support their claims of cost rising quickly. They are trying to rush us into passing the bond by telling us costs will go up fast if we do not.

The bond package was assembled by 38 YES people, affiliated with VVISD. No potential bond opponents were invited to participate. They withheld the committee list from the public until I agreed to pay $833 costs for Public Information to get it. Based on emails between Mr. Womack and Vann, they expect that same committee to assist the PAC in getting the bond passed.

VVISD needs to appoint an independent committee, not affiliated with VVISD, to analyze what the true needs are. If independent outside experts are needed, they should be paid based on the unbiased work they do, not based on whether they can help pass the bond or not, like Live Oak and Corgan.

If they were wanting to have an honest discussion, they would be open to answering our questions. They would not be blocking their pages from people who want to know the full truth, not just their one-sided facts that support the $65 Million Bond. They would not be sending their friends to attack and bully those questioning the true cost and need for the bond.

We are not saying Valley View ISD does not need some capital improvements. Far from it. What we are saying is the current proposal is too expensive, put together by biased YES people. They are putting out misleading, one-sided information, and hiding many documents they do not want us to see, in hopes of getting the bond passed before we really know the underlying truth.

Pol. Adv. Steve Ga***rd