Good morning!  I hope you had a great weekend and got some rest and relaxation.  This is such a busy time of the year for everyone, and I know the pressures of our day-to-day activities and responsibilities make it important for us to have some time for rest and relaxation.  Most weekends I do try to play golf, ride my bicycle or go to Spectrum, and just do some things I enjoy doing.  These things certainly help to make a break in the normal routine, activities, and pressures of the week, and we all need that.  Of course, NCAA basketball was an important one this weekend.

I want to take this opportunity to thank all the teachers involved in administering the TAKS-Alt test to our special education students who were identified to take this particular assessment.  Previous years have certainly been a challenge for the teachers administering this test, but I do know that TEA and Pearson made some changes to the process that helped.  Yet it is still a lot of work and it takes a lot of time to assess and enter all the data in the system.  Thanks to all the teachers that have been involved in this process, and thanks to Robin Fields, ALE Coordinator, and Edith Rivera and Laura Scripter, ALE Support Teachers, for all of the individualized support that was provided to the campus teachers.  Northside has completed all requirements for all TAKS-Alt students.  Thanks to the administrators for their support in ensuring that their teachers had the time to complete these testing requirements.  We are still hoping and providing input for some additional changes that would allow more than one teacher to provide all subject entries for a student.  The TAKS-Alt is completed and thanks to all who had a part in making this such a successful venture this year.

We continue to work very diligently following legislation that would affect our schools.  This last week we were successful in getting S.B. 1818 passed out of the Senate Education Committee.  This is a companion bill to H.B. 1263 in which the unschooled refugee students in our schools would have a five-year exemption from TAKS rather than the three-year exemption.  I, along with Sonya Kirkham, principal at Colonies North Elementary, testified before the Senate Education Committee in support of S.B. 1818.  Sonya did a great job, as she did in the House Education Committee, and the bill passed out of Committee unanimously.  Many individuals and organizations registered in support of the bill and I thank Senator Van de Putte for authoring the bill and providing such wonderful support for the passage of this piece of legislation out of committee.

Also, the Senate Finance Committee, as well as the full Senate, passed out S.B. 1 which is the Senate version of the appropriations bill for the next biennium.  There is funding in the bill to pay for student growth and an additional $1.9 billion for public education.  It is still to be determined how the funding would be distributed to school districts, but at least there is some additional funding for public schools.  Looking at the various distribution bills I do not see this funding providing great long-term financial relief to school districts, but certainly it will help.

One concern I do have is how the state is using the stimulus funding from the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund.  This fund provides $3.9 billion to Texas of which $3.2 billion is to be used to provide fiscal relief to states to prevent cutbacks in education.  I have said that the state is looking at using $1.2 billion to fund textbooks and technology which would leave $2 billion to be used for public schools and higher education.  As far as I can determine this funding is being used as a method of funding the Foundation School Program, or in other words it is being used to fund the state budget.  The $1.9 billion for public education was being talked about prior to the knowledge that the state would receive stimulus funding.  We were hoping the state would fund the $1.9 billion and then flow a proportionate amount of the Stabilization Fund to school districts.  These stabilization funds are the only stimulus funds school districts could receive that are not earmarked for a particular purpose such as the Title I and IDEA funding.  Dick Levine, senior fiscal analyst with the Center for Public Policy Priorities, said "But if the state soaks up all the federal stimulus money, there will not be an additional investment in education, which is what Congress wanted.  The federal money is going to pay for what we would have paid for anyway, for the primary purpose of maintaining the rainy day fund."  It is my understanding that Stabilization Fund dollars are not to be used to supplant state funding but to increase support and provide additional dollars to public schools.  And, it is also my understanding that the Rainy Day Fund will have almost $9 billion.  The question is whether the state can use stimulus funding for its budget while there are funds available in the Rainy Day Fund.  I am sure there will be many discussions surrounding this question.  I would think our legislators would want to provide the $1.9 billion from state funds and then send the stimulus funds to the school districts to provide support for the education of our children.

Over 900 GT 7th grade students filled Paul Taylor Field House on April 2 for the annual district-wide Mentathlon event.  Where the gym is usually filled with athletes, that day it was filled with Mentathletes exercising the brain.  There were approximately 100 different activities which required these Mentathletes to apply mathematical, scientific, verbal, and non-verbal reasoning skills.  The event could not have taken place without the cooperation of the Northside ALPHA middle school staff, middle school administration, and approximately 230 parent volunteers.  Mentathlon and the 6th grade Nature Venture event are Northside institutes that have withstood the test of time despite our tremendous growth.  The dedication of all involved has allowed these events to only grow and improve year after year.  Thanks to Priscilla Lurz, Coordinator of Gifted and Enrichment Programs, and all the middle school GT program teachers for their work in making this event such a great success.

Also, I want to congratulate Monica Faulkenbery, Assistant Director of Communications, on receiving the Tex Taylor Lifetime Achievement Award from the Public Relations Society of America, San Antonio Chapter.  Monica works very closely with public relations professionals across the San Antonio area and has provided great leadership to this organization.  Monica does so much for Northside, many times behind the scenes, and people don't realize the great contribution she makes to the success of our district.  Congratulations Monica!  We are very proud of you!

Also, I want to mention that Northside is conducting a Benefits Longitudinal Study Survey.  NISD is very interested in finding out how employees consider, approach and engage with healthcare decisions.  Beginning April 1 thru April 20 you will have the opportunity to provide feedback through a survey.  I ask you to take a few minutes and to complete the survey.  The survey is short, anonymous and confidential and will help tremendously as we work to continuously tailor and maximize our employee benefits program.  Thank you in advance for your time and honest feedback.

In closing, I would like to ask all of those who have not completed the Ethnicity/Race Survey to please do so.  This is not a Northside ISD requirement, but it is a requirement from the federal government being imposed on school districts through TEA.  The survey can be accessed on the Intranet front page before April 30.  I know that some of you may object to the survey or think that one should not have to respond and I understand.  However, it is a requirement of federal law, and we must comply with the law.  Thanks for your help on this, and it takes less than a minute to complete.

Thanks for all you do and we all need to continue to work to help our students be successful!  Have a great week!