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Text Box: Victor R Vreeland PO Box 217 Cedar Creek, Texas - 78612 Thursday, June 17, 2010 Senator Glenn Heger P.O. Box 1008
Katy, Texas 77492 RE: Petition Language – Taxing District(s) Dear Senator Heger: Thank you for the concern you have shown for our community throughout your time in office. 1. I am writing you to request you sponsor or draft legislation which would make “petition” language understandable to the average voter and taxpayer. A case in point: Recently a group of local citizens carried petitions requesting registered voters sign a petition to establish a community college “taxing district.” I have attached a copy of the petition. There is NO mention of the word “tax” in the petition. I have heard from those who signed the petition that there was no mention of the word “tax,” and they were actually surprised to hear their property taxes would rise if this proposition was approved. I typed the petition language into Microsoft Word and “Flesch Scored” the document. The Flesch Score was 20.9 – “easily understood by college GRADUATES.” I suspect the 1,800 plus registered voters who signed this petition probably didn’t understand what they were signing and relied on the comments of the supporters carrying the petition. It is no secret, Austin Community College, is the agency seeking the taxing district within the Bastrop Independent School District. ACC is seeking similar taxing authority in other cities and counties in Central Texas as well. If the petition language is the same as the one I have enclosed, in my opinion, the voters of those districts are signing documents they probably don’t understand. I am requesting you sponsor future legislation to compel those seeking taxing districts, and etc., word their petition and ballot information, so it is easily understood by the vast majority of the affected population. 2. In addition, those seeking Community College Taxing Districts are the ones certifying the petitions AND conducting the election. Somehow this seems inappropriate. In our case (Bastrop County vs Austin Community College – ACC) ACC has claimed they have certified the petition to hold an election concerning a venue which would benefit them if the referendum passed. Shouldn’t the district to be annexed and taxed have some role in certifying petitions? Yours for Texas and the USA, SIGNED Vic Vreeland PO Box 217 Cedar Creek, Texas – 78612 512 303 1020 info@railroadingbastrop.com This is the actual petition: INSERTED JPG IMAGE OF ACTUAL PETITION HERE—SENATOR HEGAR HAS THE ACTUAL PETITION This is the petition, copied into Microsoft Word for Flesch Evaluation; Petition calling for an election on enlarging and extending the boundaries of the Austin community college district to include the territory comprising the Bastrop independent school district. We the undersigned together with the signatories to the multiple counterparts of this petition, bring more than five percent of the registered voters in the Bastrop Independent School District (the Territory), hereby respectfully petition and request that an election be called and held within the boundaries of the Bastrop Independent School District, (the “District”), and in support of such petition and request, we would show as follows: That the Territory proposed to be annexed to and included within the District comprises all of the territory now contained within the boundaries of the Bastrop Independent School District within the Service Area of Austin Community College District, and is therefore properly includable therein under the authority of Subchapter D, Chapter 130, Texas Education Code, as amended, including particularly, 130.063 and 130.065 thereof, as amended. That a full, complete and legally sufficient description of the Territory accompanies this petition and is incorporated herein for all purposes. That this petition has been duly and properly executed in multiple original counterparts, but together constituting only on instrument. Wherefore, the undersigned respectfully petition and request that this petition be duly and timely verified and considered, that the requests herein contained be granted in all respects, and that said contact be authorized as herein requested and as provided by law. Respectfully submitted, Bastrop County Friends of Higher Education – Bastrop ISD Area Steering Committee Imitative. The above has a Flesch score of 20.9 - considered easily understood by college graduates. The Flesch Reading Ease Readability Formula

The specific mathematical formula is:

RE = 206.835 – (1.015 x ASL) – (84.6 x ASW)

RE = Readability Ease

ASL = Average Sentence Length (i.e., the number of words divided by the number of sentences)

ASW = Average number of syllables per word (i.e., the number of syllables divided by the number of words)

The output, i.e., RE is a number ranging from 0 to 100. The higher the number, the easier the text is to read.

Scores between 90.0 and 100.0 are considered easily understandable by an average 5th grader.

Scores between 60.0 and 70.0 are considered easily understood by 8th and 9th graders.

Scores between 0.0 and 30.0 are considered easily understood by college graduates. Senator Hegar’s Response—Click Here

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