Monday - April 20, 2009
Good morning! I hope you had a great weekend and I certainly am glad we got some much needed rain. It continues to be a very busy time of the year and I do not expect it to slow down. I know the next round of TAKS testing begins in a week and that many of you are focused on helping students with minute preparations. I thank you for all your work and I am confident we will do quite well on the tests! Last week the Northside Council of PTAs held their annual Reflections Awards Ceremony. Students from elementary through high school receive awards for their work in literature, photography, visual arts, film production, and musical composition. This is a program that is conducted all over the United States by PTA. I want to say congratulations to all the students who received awards, but I also want to give a big thank you to Deede Goethke, the NISD PTA Council Arts in Education Chair, for the wonderful job she does in the Reflections program. Mr. Lynn Britton, Board Trustee, and I handed out many awards to our students and it was a great evening. Thanks to all our PTAs for their work in this special project. Also, last week the Board of Trustees had a budget work session in which they spent time reviewing information related to compensation and to property values. As you know, it is a very challenging time for school districts all across Texas. Because we are bound by the system of target revenue, school districts are being held to the per student revenue they had in either 2005-06 or 2006-07, whichever is larger. Being held to a target revenue figure and not getting any benefit from property value increases, school districts are at the mercy of the Legislature in terms of receiving any new funding without going to the public for a vote. Many school districts are cutting personnel, cutting other areas of their budget, and not giving salary increases. One superintendent told the Legislature last week that it has two brand new school buildings, but they will have to remain unopened for the 2009-10 school year because they do not have the operational funds to open the much needed buildings. Back in 2006 when the Legislature tried to address the school finance issue because of a Supreme Court ruling, very few superintendents thought their school districts would be worse off financially under a new formula than under the old formula which was declared unconstitutional. This challenge of funding for the 2009-10 school year is occurring all over the state. Also, certainly the economic downturn has not helped. As I have said before, we believe that we are in a lot better financial condition than a lot of districts, but this is due to cuts in our budget of almost $38 million several years ago and also freezing salaries one year. I do not believe we will have to freeze salaries for next year, but certainly we will not be able to give as large a percentage increase as we have given the last few years. A lot will depend on what the Legislature does, and there are several school finance bills being considered. Most of them will be looking at an increase of $1.9 billion, hopefully a little more, but they are basically using federal stimulus funds to fund the $1.9 billion, rather than funding it with state funds and flowing the stimulus funds from the Stabilization Fund to school districts. I have mentioned this in two previous Monday Messages. As a district I am supporting S.B. 982 by Senator Van de Putte and the companion H.B. 1555. These bills will move school districts away from the target revenue system to a more equitable formula system. We feel these bills are a step in the right direction and will improve equity. At some point the Legislature is going to have to address the adequacy of funding for our schools. With so many expectations of schools and very likely moving to a new accountability system, it is imperative that the Legislature look seriously at possible sources of revenue and move in a positive direction of adequately funding public education. As I mentioned above, it could be that the state will be looking at a new accountability system. As the Select Committee on School Accountability traveled the state, they heard testimony for a simpler system, less testing, and don't penalize a district based on the performance of its lowest indicator. I will share more in a later Message, but I still have many concerns about the system they are considering. It does not remove the "rating based on lowest cell performance" and the current version actually increases the number of cells or indicators from 35 to possibly as many as 60 in which measures of college readiness are added to determine the accreditation status as well as the ability to move to the distinction level. I am not sure that what is being considered is what was testified to statewide. In closing I want to congratulate five Northside teachers who will join the workforce at USAA this summer as interns in the Educators in the Work Place Program. The following teachers have been selected:
This is a wonderful program sponsored by USAA and it is a great experience for our teachers. Thanks to USAA and congratulations to these teachers. I want to thank all of you for what you do each day to help this school district be the great district it is. I know you may tire of reading some of the things I say about school finance, accountability, testing, and other legislative issues. Yet I feel so strongly that it is what you do that makes our students successful, and I want the state to support you through proper funding and programs that are meaningful and not punitive or make it more difficult for you. Everyone that works in this district is contributing to the success of public education and our students. Thanks for all you do and let people know how strongly you believe about the great things happening in our school system! Have a great week and enjoy the three-day Fiesta weekend! |
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