Good morning!  I hope you had a great Fiesta Weekend and enjoyed the three-day weekend.  I traveled to Oklahoma for a wedding of the daughter of one of my good friends, and I also got to visit my younger son's family.  This includes two granddaughters and Wyvonna and I sure enjoyed getting to see them.  A quick trip like that sure makes the three-day weekend fly by, but it was a lot of fun.

Also, Thursday evening I was able to attend the Battle of Flowers Band Festival at Alamo Stadium.  Northside bands included Marshall, Taft, Warren, and O'Connor.  O'Connor's band was one of the featured bands that put on a full performance between the two parades of bands.  All of our bands looked great and it was a great performance by O'Connor.  Thanks to James Miculka, Director of Fine Arts, for all his work as one of the producers of the show, our band directors and their work in preparing for the show, and the students for their performances.  It was very enjoyable!

Last week we received the results of the first administration of the Math TAKS test for fifth and eighth graders.  We were so thrilled with the results!  90% of the 5^th graders and 83% of the 8^th graders passed the first administration of the test.  In 2008, the 5^th grade Math scores were also at 90% and 8^th grade was at 81%, an increase of 2% for our 8^th graders.  Those were great scores and we know they will improve after the second administration.

This week is the week of TAKS testing for all our grade levels in Reading/ELA, Math, Science, and Social Studies.  I know that everyone has worked extremely hard preparing our students for these assessments.  This year we have put a special emphasis and focus on mathematics and hopefully we will improve our math scores at all grade levels.  Eighth grade has already shown some improvement as mentioned above, and I believe we will see improvement at all grade levels.  I also know that everyone has worked on improving in all subject areas and I thank you for this work.  There is no doubt our students have been well prepared because of your hard work and focus on instruction, and I wish our students the best this week.  We believe in student success and I know our students will be successful.

I continue to mention to you in Monday Message about my concern and frustration that the Legislature is using federal stimulus dollars to fund the state budget rather than funding it with state dollars and flowing stimulus money intended for school districts to school districts.  As I have mentioned the state has indicated for several months, even prior to knowledge of stimulus funding, that schools could receive approximately $1.9 billion in state funding.  Since the stimulus funding became available, the state Legislature is using the portion of the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund intended for schools to fund the $1.9 billion originally intended to be funded with state dollars.  It is a fact that Northside will receive approximately $11 million in Title I stimulus funding and $17 million in IDEA stimulus funding.  Yet these funds are specifically earmarked for use in schools with high percentages of economically disadvantaged students and for special education students.  The only stimulus money we were to receive that had any flexibility for use was the stabilization stimulus funding.  This past week I learned that if these funds were flowed to school districts as intended, Northside would receive approximately $45.5 million.  So, what should happen is that the state would fund the $1.9 billion from state funds which could send us approximately $10 million the first year of the biennium; Title I stimulus funds the first year would be about $5.5 million; IDEA stimulus funds would be approximately $8 million; and Stabilization stimulus funds would be either the $45.5 million or about $22.7 million the first year of the biennium.  As it stands now we will get the Title I and IDEA , and probably about $10 million from the state, but the $10 million will be funded by the state from the Stabilization stimulus funds, which results in us receiving much less than was intended by the stimulus package.  Three letters have recently been sent to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan expressing the concern about how Texas is using these funds.  One letter was from some members of the Texas Congressional delegation, another from some members of the State Senate, and another from eleven superintendents representing some of the largest school districts in Texas.  I was one of the superintendents and we stated that we "consider the use of these stabilization funds for any purpose other than the one ARRA intended - the improvement of education for America's children - to be unacceptable and a violation of the public trust."  Again, if the state used its own funds to meet its obligation of the $1.9 billion which has been talked about, and the stimulus funds from the three sources flowed to schools as intended, it would help many school districts which are financially strapped at this time because of the economy and the current funding system which was created by the Legislature.

As I stated last week, I know you probably tire of hearing from me about this concern.  But I feel very strongly about this issue, and I want you to be aware of what is happening, and I hope it concerns you.  I mentioned to Cabinet last week that the lack of funding because of the current state system, the new proposed accountability criteria, and how the state is using the stimulus funding have created a tremendous sense of frustration and concern.  I have not had space on a Monday Message to really talk about the testing and accountability concerns, but I plan on doing so soon.

You are the ones that work hard every day to make our system of education in Texas work.  You are the ones that in spite of the lack of funding, increased demands in accountability, and more rigorous standards continue to help all students be successful.  Northside is the great district it is because "We Believe" in the success of our children, and "We Believe" that education is the pathway for the success of our students, our state, and our nation.  Don't we wish all people had the commitment to public education that all of us do!

You are great!  Have a wonderful week and, yes, there is no doubt our students will be successful on the TAKS tests!