My wife, Katie, and I strongly endorse the upcoming Austin school bond referendum, partly because it is important for Austin and partly because it serves us, too.

We have reached those years where we’re past having kids in school. So what provides value to us if our taxes rise (a little) when we help pay for educational facilities and a program that we don’t directly use?

It’s pretty simple. The value of our home is directly proportional to the demand on the part of families to live here rather than in another community. Great places, places with very good schools, attract and retain families and that in turn creates even stronger communities in which real estate and business values rise. At the neighborhood level it can mean (as it does for us) that one’s next door neighbors are young, well educated, have kids in school or will be in school shortly, and importantly, invest heavily in their property. We’re a beneficiary when this occurs. And it’s happening next to us because a family who has had a choice in the place in which to live has seen value in the future of Austin.

At the citywide level many of us today are talking about Vision 2020, a process for creating a long term better community. How we address the current opportunity, the referendum, tells us whether we really believe in Vision 2020. This is one of those moments when there is convergence of what is good for community is also good for each of its members.

We need to support this referendum and remind ourselves as to why we have chosen Austin as a place in which to live.

 

George Brophy,

Austin