Monday - October 19, 2009
Good morning!  What a great weekend!  I hope you enjoyed the wonderful weather, and to all the Texas Longhorn fans I say congratulations.  I thought OU played them a good game, but Texas prevailed.  Again, I will say "maybe next year!"

Also I want to congratulate all of the Northside bands on a wonderful showing at the UIL Marching Competition.  I was told all of our bands received a Division 1 Superior rating, which is outstanding.  To all the band directors and the students, I know you worked very hard and I am proud of you!  Great job!

This past week we began the dedications of the schools which we open this year.  On Wednesday night we had the dedication of Dr. Hector P. Garcia Middle School.  I want to congratulate Principal Eric Tobias, the faculty, staff, and students of this school on a great dedication ceremony.  Garcia Middle School was named for Dr. Hector P. Garcia who was a civil rights pioneer who dedicated his life to fighting for justice and equality for Mexican Americans.  Dr. Garcia was a medical doctor who became frustrated by a lack of health care and financial resources for Mexican American veterans and substandard schools for Mexican American children.  In 1948, Dr. Garcia founded the American GI Forum, whose motto was "Education is our freedom, and freedom should be everybody's business."  In 1984 he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom which is the highest civilian honor given by a U.S. President.  Dr. Hector P. Garcia Middle School is the 17th middle school in Northside.  Congratulations to the Garcia Gladiators on a great dedication, and a special congratulations to all the students who did such a great job in their performance.  Welcome, Garcia Middle School!

At our last Cabinet meeting George Torres gave us some information about the school breakfast and school lunch program that was very interesting.  The staff in our Child Nutrition Department has done many things to increase participation in the breakfast and lunch program, develop new menu items, market the program with students, and improve the presentation of the food.  In comparing September of 2008 to September of 2009 the participation in the breakfast program has increased from 20.35% to 25.14%.  The participation in the school lunch program has increased from 81.77% to 84.91%.  In looking at actual meals the number of breakfasts has increased from 376,919 to 420,420, and the number of lunches has increased from 1,152,289 to 1,251,936.  Note that this is the number of meals served in one month.  I appreciate the hard work of Thomas Wherry, Director of Child Nutrition, his staff, the Cafeteria Managers, and all our food service workers for the wonderful job they are doing in preparing and serving meals to our students.  To have almost 85% of our students participating in our school lunch is great!  Wonderful job, cafeteria staff!

Also, Jim Miller, Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources, shared that Northside ISD now stands at 13,003 total employees.  In terms of new teaching staff this year we are now at 551.  This is still considerably less than we have had in past years, and of this 551, 282 are secondary teachers and 269 are elementary teachers.  We hire many of our first year teachers from several universities, but many of them come from UTSA.  He also provided information on the employees' age distribution, which in my case was a little depressing.  I am definitely on the downhill side!

Last week I talked about our base day enrollment of 91,578 students.  I am in my eighth year as superintendent of Northside and our growth each year has been 3369, 2421, 2511, 4086, 3777, 3665, 2854, and 3178 students this year.  That is a growth of 25,861 students, which is a 39.4% growth in eight years.  We have grown from 65,717 students to 91,578 students in these eight years.  This growth is phenomenal and certainly qualifies us as a fast-growth school district.

Enrollment in Texas has grown 382,686 students over the last five years.  The 112 school districts in the state that qualify as fast-growth districts have increased their enrollment by 391,897 students during the same five-year period, which is more than the next enrollment gain in the state over that period.  This has created tremendous financial challenges on fast-growth districts related to facilities, operating costs, and need for more bond programs.

In previous years the Legislature has provided help to districts that have to pass bond issues to address growth in terms of providing funds to offset the increases in the debt service tax rate.  The help remains, but the Legislature has not increased the yield per student since 1999-2000 nor have they increased the 29 cent limit on eligibility.  Because the yield has not been changed and property value per student in Northside has increased, the amount of money paid by the state to help Northside retire debt has dropped from about $.34 on the dollar to zero cents on the dollar.  When a district such as Northside and the other fast-growth districts are growing at such a rapid place, then property values will certainly increase.  Yet if the state does not increase the yield or raise the limit on eligibility then these districts will not qualify for the help from the state.  And these are the very districts that need the help the most!  As I look at the state funding formula I see small-school weights, mid-size school weights, and that is fine, yet I see no help in terms of formula weights to help operational funding for fast-growth schools, and now there is little help if any for fast-growth schools from the state in terms of addressing the tax rate to pay off bonds.  This is a critical need for fast-growth schools and something the Legislature must address!  This past year the Legislature provided no new state money for education, only federal stimulus dollars, and no new money to help fast-growth districts.  One certainly has to ask if education is a priority in this state.

Lastly, on Friday, October 9, Major Julian Castro visited Rayburn Middle School and spoke to the students.  He did an excellent job talking to the students about setting goals, staying in school, believing in oneself, and accomplishing one's dreams.  He certainly emphasized the importance of education to success.  I appreciate Scott McKenzie, Principal of Rayburn Middle School, and Daniel Applegate, eighth grade math teacher, for inviting the Mayor to speak.  It was a wonderful visit and I appreciate the Mayor taking his time to visit Rayburn.

Student success is what all of us work for every day.  Thanks for all you do, and have a great week!