To absolutely no one's surprise, the Houston ISD Board of Managers Thursday night unanimously approved putting a $4.4 billion bond issue on the November 5 ballot, leaving it up to voters to decide which they dislike more: the sad shape of many of the district's schools or Superintendent Mike Miles and his administration.

The public speaking session before the vote was only distinctive because of the number of the people addressing the board who argued in favor of the bond. These included HISD principals, community leaders and members of the Citizens Advisory Committee who had worked on the bond proposal.

Those arguing against the bond zeroed in on their continuing complaints: Miles' removal of libraries from most of the HISD schools, replacement of wraparound specialists in the schools with Sunrise Centers that they say are difficult for people to get to, and a curriculum that whatever the improvement in the state's standardized test scores is dominated by daily testing and work sheets.

They point to the mass exodus of teachers in June — with more than 4,500 leaving during the entire school year — as more proof that something is seriously wrong with HISD. Miles, for his part, has always said that if teachers are unable or unwilling to adapt to his academic approach — dominated by the New Education System  — they should leave.

"Libraries are gone. No more books. No more disability accommodations. A third of teachers are gone. Half of principals are gone. They are experimenting on our kids using untested curriculum," said parent Jesse Dugan. "Now they want more money? I'm sorry, I'm not buying what any of you are selling."

Houston's business community showed up with Bob Eury, a longtime business development leader and former president and CEO of Central Houston, who said HISD should have had a bond referendum every four to six years. Bob Harvey, former president of the Greater Houston Partnership called for bond issue support and endorsed the proposal to have four Career and Technical Education centers in the district.

"So let's invest in our students, support career and technical education and  build a brighter future for our community and not let adult politics stand in the way."

"HISD has to continue to invest constantly in its campuses. We have over 270 campuses. You can't shut off the money to it to continue to make it work," Eury said. 

The district has not held a bond vote since 2012 and that was for high schools. This bond proposal, split into Proposition A for building renovation and Proposition B for $440 million in technology, would also involve the "co-locations" of some schools which critics have said is just another term for closing down schools.

"Hiding a school closure in a bond vote is deceptive, cruel and divisive," said parent Don Mccune.

Miles' statement that there are only 47 open teaching positions as they head into the start of the school year next Monday comes with the qualifier that there are 750 fewer teaching positions than last year. Miles has said this is a result of declining enrollment and they are adjusting the teacher population to match that. There will be 10,640 teaching positions this school year as compared to 11,388 last.

The unmowed state of several HISD campuses was a topic of criticism as well. Speakers said parents at some schools had been asked to help tidy up before next Monday's start date. In a press conference after the board meeting, Miles said he didn't know about the calls tor aid but didn't think there was anything wrong with them.

After Hurricane Beryl and the several days of intense rain that followed, it shouldn't surprise anyone that the normal mowing scheduled was interrupted, Miles said.

Miles also presented an overview of his instructional overhaul of the district in the first year as well as the district's preliminary accountability ratings.

Dismissing opposition to Miles' policy as "noise," Board member Ric Campo spoke in favor of Miles' extensive reform efforts in the first school year, calling Miles' talking points a "perfect model for any business. Very simple, it's all about quality, it's all about training, it's all about capacity, it's all about leadership.

"The challenge that urban school districts including ours have is it's really hard to put this in place because of the adult politics," Campo contended.

So, to sum up, at Thursday night's meeting on one side we heard  "No Trust, No Bond" and a smattering of "No Taxation Without Representation." And from the other side we got "Noise" and "politics."  Now it's up to the voters to decide whose argument carries the most weight.