TSTA asks Abbott, Morath to begin planning education services for immigrant children

The Texas State Teachers Association today called on Gov. Greg Abbott and state Education Commissioner Mike Morath to begin developing and funding a plan for evaluating and providing education services to the growing number of immigrant children who are being separated from their families and detained on the Texas-Mexico border.

New From TEA

• Reminder - 2017-2018 Gun Free Schools District and Campus Reports Due June 28 6/15
• 2018-2019 Fund Code Deletions for Actual and Shared Services (SSA) Actual Reporting 6/14
• Zika Virus Protection and Prevention 6/11
• Abbott’s School Safety Plan - Immediate Opportunities to Improve Campus Security Through Available School Safety Supports 6/11
• Provision of Services for Students with Dyslexia and Related Disorders - Revised June 6, 2018
• 2018 Tax Information Survey open for data submission June 1, 2018, and will close at midnight on August 31, 2018 6/7
• Provision of Services for Students with Dyslexia and Related Disorders 6/6
• Required Data Collection: General Application of Assurances (GAA), Updated for ESSA 5/30
• Required Data Collection: General Application of Assurances (GAA), Updated for ESSA 5/23
• P-TECH and Industry Cluster Innovative Academy Planning and Designation Applications Open 5/14
• Public Comments on Proposed Rulemaking
• Adequate and Appropriate School Safety Measures
• Hurricane Relief Grants Part 1 5/8

Preventive Law: The $100,000 Mistake Your Sped Teachers Could Be Making!

Special education teachers are the heart and soul of special education programs. They are among the most talented and hard-working educators in our state. Ask any special education teacher about the amount of data generated on individual students, and she will tell you that it is staggering. If that data is focused on the right things, it can go a long way toward proving that a school district provided a student with a free, appropriate public education (FAPE) as required by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). If the data focused on the wrong things, all that effort was for naught.

UPDATE: School delays continue Thursday due to rain

Edinburg school district officials announced a delay in the start of summer classes for Thursday as the Valley expects more rain.The district will begin summer school programs at 9:30 a.m. and buses will being student pickups at 8 a.m.  District staff is scheduled to report to work at 9 a.m., but some might be asked to arrive earlier if needed. "Campus and District administration will make any any necessary arrangements with designated staff to arrive earlier than 9 A.M. if necessary," states a notification sent by Superintendent Rene Gutierrez Wednesday evening.  view article  

Dallas:  DISD trustee asks Dallas City Council for help in fight with charter schools

Joyce Foreman has seen how public charter school growth has affected Dallas ISD in recent years, how a new campus can starve an existing neighborhood school, and how the spread of charters has withered the district's student enrollment.  Now, the DISD trustee wants the city to do something about it.  At a Dallas City Council committee meeting this week, Foreman asked the council for help, requesting a city-commissioned study on the overall impacts of charter schools on their communities. She also asked for a moratorium on new charters in her trustee district, which covers southwest Dallas. view article  

Aledo ISD to get less state, local revenue

Despite a projected 7 percent increase in student enrollment and an expected increase in the amount of property tax collected, Aledo ISD is likely to receive less state and local operating revenue next year. That is due to Texas’ school finance system, CFO Earl Husfeld told the Aledo ISD board Monday evening. “The one thing that I will mention is that even with the anticipated cost savings and things that we’re examining, both from a utilities standpoint, we know we’re going to have a deficit budget this year as we’ve explained to you,” Husfeld said. view article  

After 33 days, Santa Fe ISD Officer John Barnes heads home from the hospital

John Barnes was rushed to the emergency room on a gurney, barely alive, in the chaos and blood that came with the Santa Fe High School shooting on May 18. Thirty-three days later, on Wednesday, he walked out of TIRR Memorial Hermann in Houston, ready to go home. “I just want to sit on the porch and smoke a cigar,” Barnes said, chuckling. A whiskey sounded good, too. But the 49-year old Santa Fe ISD police officer won’t get either for quite some time. A formidable recovery looms. view article  

School board extends superintendent’s contract with pay raise

The Santa Fe school board has added a year to Superintendent Veronica García’s contract, which includes a 2.5 percent pay raise, increasing her salary to $184,500 a year from $180,000 when it goes into effect July 1. The board’s 5-0 vote Wednesday evening, following a closed-door discussion, means García will serve the school district until June 30, 2020. She stepped into the position on an interim basis in 2016, after the resignation of Joel Boyd. A past superintendent of the district, García was quickly hired by the board to fill the position on a long-term basis. view article  

After failed tax election, Klein ISD superintendent says district will decide on $30M in needed cuts

On Wednesday, Klein ISD Superintendent Bret Champion told district staff and families the district will spend the next two months trimming $30.2 million from the 2018-19 budget in light of the unsuccessful Tax Ratification Election on June 16. KISD had asked voters to approve a 9 cent tax rate increase to bolster its reserves, support existing programs and provide additional security features. About 55 percent of voters opposed the measure, sending the board back to discussions on how to make necessary cuts. view article  

Maypearl ISD plans ALICE active-shooter program, invites community to October training

Maypearl ISD will host ALICE Trainer of Trainers Course for all businesses, local schools and churches Oct. 1 — 2. Maypearl ISD Superintendent Richie Bowling advised, “Seats will go fast.” ALICE stands for alert, lockdown, inform, counter, and evacuate and is a useful strategy for everyone: law enforcement, schools, universities, hospitals, businesses and places of worship. Upon completion of the ALICE training, an instructor certification course provides individuals with certification in ALICE and allows them the opportunity to bring the strategies back to their places of work. Additionally, registrants will gain access to exclusive ALICE resources. view article  

WHAT’S THE USE OF A FLAWED SYSTEM

In Texas, the state’s accountability gurus and minders, when pressed, will admit that the state’s accountability system is MORE accurate for schools serving the lower ends of the economic scale than at schools serving the higher ends of the economic scale. Let that sink in for a minute.  What that means is that schools serving poor students are measured based on what they actually add.  And schools serving rich students can coast on the fact that their students are rich kids. view article  

New Van Vleck ISD elementary school a million over-budget

The cost for the $18 million new elementary school will be over-budget by one million dollars, an architectural firm told the Van Vleck Independent School Board’s trustees on Monday. And the costs could go up further. The drawing and rendering of the new Van Vleck Elementary School were released at the VVISD monthly board meeting on Monday, as Ron Bailey from architectural firm RBK announced that the new structure will be located on the intersection of Avene J and Sixth Street, across from where the current school stands. view article  

Jan Resseger: Charters Suck Money Out of Public Schools

Jan Resseger writes that ECOT—the $1 Billion black hole of Ohio charters—has collapsed, but charters continue to defund public schools that most children attend. “Because of the way Ohio funds charter schools, not only the state but also the local school district loses money when a student leaves for a charter school. In Ohio the money follows the child to the charter right out of the general fund of the school district in which the child resides. Many districts lose more money to charters than they receive in state aid. As the Columbus Dispatch‘s Jim Siegel reports: “Ohio does not directly fund charter schools, instead subtracting the money from individual districts based on where a charter student lives.  view article  

Edgewood ISD approves new superintendent hire

The Edgewood Independent School District board voted Tuesday to formally hire Eduardo Hernandez as its new superintendent. Hernandez is the chief academic officer at Duncanville ISD, a small district south of Dallas. view article  

Ex-Harleton ISD chief took 40% pay cut for Longview ISD job

A former Harleton ISD superintendent whose board placed him on administrative leave before he resigned earlier this year took a 40 percent pay cut to run Longview ISD’s magnet school program.  J. Craig Coleman has been hired as LISD’s magnet grant director. The new position will be paid for through a five-year, $14.8 million U.S. Department of Education grant the district is using to help expand science, technology, engineering and math initiatives, according to the district. view article  

Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD board censures fellow trustee

In a 6-0 vote, the Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City Independent School District board Tuesday censured indicted trustee Gary Inmon and issued a statement calling it “the strongest possible action we are allowed.” Read by board president Robert Westbrook, the statement said trustees “felt it necessary … to let our community and employeees know that the allegations brought forth against Mr. Inmon reflect neither the board’s standard of conduct nor the district’s stated mission, vision, values and belief statements.” view article  

Summer Food Service Program offers free meals in Lewisville ISD this summer

The Summer Nutrition Programs are serving free meals to children 18 years and younger at several schools in Lewisville ISD throughout the summer. Meals are first come, first serve, and the children do not have to be a student of Lewisville ISD to receive a free meal. The meals will be served Monday-Friday during the following scheduled times: view article  

Humble ISD’s 2018-19 budget includes 153 new staff positions

Although the storm has passed and district facilities are in repair, Hurricane Harvey continues to have a lasting impact on Humble ISD. The storm caused a dip in property values that equated to about an $8 million loss of revenue from Humble ISD’s $455.8 million 2018-19 budget, according to Mike Seale, the district’s chief financial officer. Humble ISD is a school districts that typically sees property value growth, on average the district expects to have about 6 percent growth year-over-year, Seale said. However, Seale estimates the growth this year was about 2 percent. view article  

Walton Family Foundation Unveils New $100M Effort to Support School Diversity, Inclusion and Innovation

The Walton Family Foundation pledged $100 million Tuesday to support racially diverse teachers and school leaders, integrated classrooms, innovative curriculum models like Montessori, district and charter school partnerships, and schools that serve special education students. Those priorities signal a new phase in the foundation’s 20-year philanthropic efforts to increase access to high-quality schools for children across the United States, mainly by funding public charter schools. view article  

Voter rejection of tax hike could mean mass layoffs in Klein ISD

Klein ISD could cut hundreds of teacher and staff jobs to offset a $30 million budget deficit after voters last week rejected a nine-cent property tax hike. The district's board of trustees will hold meetings Friday to discuss the looming budget crisis. The property tax hike would have given Klein ISD an additional $29 million, offsetting most of a budget deficit of more than $30 million. District officials had planned to cut about $8 million from its upcoming budget if they tax increase had passed. Now, officials say they must cut an additional $22 million in spending. view article  

Bryan ISD bus app to help bring peace of mind to parents

The Bryan Independent School District is set to roll out a new school bus tracking system this fall. It’ll allow parents and the school district officials to know where all buses are at all times. This comes after the district overhauled its bus route plan last year because of constant delays and confusion. "The bus situation last year was a joke," said Malory Espitia, a mother of two Bryan ISD students. view article  

Moody grants given to Galveston ISD will help our students

Galveston Independent School District is pleased to announce the generous funding of five grants from The Moody Foundation. The five grants consist of the following: Tor Kids/Tor Prep After School Program, Safe and Civil Schools CHAMPS, Ready, Set, Read Above!, Causeway Galveston and Galveston Career Connect. Having the opportunity to provide additional resources to our students is crucial in our pursuit to serving the whole child. We are enormously grateful to The Moody Foundation for making these opportunities possible. Generation Moody is a refocus by The Moody Foundation to address and provide exceptional educational experiences for students and staff.  view article  

Killeen ISD board continues work on budget at workshop

The Killeen Independent School District board of trustees continued development of the 2018-2019 fiscal year budget at its workshop Tuesday. The preliminary projections for fiscal year 2019 show a balanced budget with $389.8 million in revenues and expenditures — up from $382.9 million in the current budget. Next year’s student population projection was presented at 44,891, a 1.29 percent growth rate over the current school year. Estimated property tax revenue is based on a 7.43 percent growth in value statewide and an estimated 2.3 percent growth above preliminary local property values. view article  

Free school supplies for all Dallas ISD students who attend mayor’s fair

Every Dallas ISD student, regardless of economic status, is eligible for free school supplies this year, as long as they attend the mayor’s Back to School Fair. The offer is a departure from previous years, when only students who could prove they met federal poverty guidelines were eligible for free school supplies at the fair. view article  

Fort Bend ISD considers multiple ideas to improve safety and security

Following the February shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, the Fort Bend ISD administration has formed a safety advisory committee, FBISD Police Chief David Rider said. The committee is composed of over 40 students, staff members, parents, security experts and other members of the community. “The purpose of our committee is to research and reach consensus on ideas that can be added to the existing Safety and Security Master Plan to enhance security measures already in place,” said Debbie Dunlap, the committee’s co-chair and former FBISD educator. view article  

Commentary: Austin ISD prefers to see us appease parents than teach

Austin ISD has adopted an “improved” approach to working with families. In this customer-service model — called AISD Cares — educators will prioritize parent requests regardless of professional judgment. This new focus shifts attention away from student needs to submit to the public. In an age when students are at greater risk than ever, now is not the time to turn efforts away from them for the sake of appeasement. To do so will come at a hefty price. view article  

Boerne ISD approves safety, security coordinator position

After Gov. Greg Abbott revealed his School Safety Plan earlier this month, one San Antonio-area school district is wasting no time in enhancing campus security. School officials for Boerne ISD approved a safety and security coordinator position this week. view article  

Fort Bend ISD adopts budget for 2018-19 school year

The Fort Bend ISD board of trustees voted unanimously to adopt a budget of $634.63 million for the district’s general operations. view article  

Taylor ISD renews focus on safety

About a month ago, 10 people were killed and 13 others wounded in a shooting at Santa Fe High School.That tragedy sent state and school officials scrambling to examine school safety and, within days, Texas Gov. Greg Abbot convened a three-day round table to develop ideas to prevent future incidents and secure school campuses. The result of the discussions was a 40-point list of recommendations, which the governor detailed earlier this month. view article  

Abilene ISD among Big Country districts getting help with internships

Abilene ISD and three other Big Country school districts collected state grant monies Wednesday to help fund internship programs for students interested in career and technical education-related careers Wochit view article  

First-of-its-kind collaboration joins Dallas Cowboys, Baylor Scott & White Health and Frisco ISD

Devin Skinner watched with a critical eye as the Liberty High School wrestler did a series of squats on the indoor turf field. First came basic squats with arms overhead. Then 16-year- old Precious Essien repeated the move with blocks under his heels. The third round — the one-legged squats — is where Skinner saw stability issues: the foot flattening, the knee giving in and trunk twisting and tilting forward. With a few taps on his tablet, Skinner had a series of exercises to help. All Essien has to do is download a mobile app called Fusionetics and follow through with the prescribed movements before his daily workouts.  view article  

Bay City: School board gives three percent raises

Bay City ISD employees will be getting a raise next year. The Bay City School Board passed a budget that gave three percent pay raises to all employee groups, including Superintendent Marshall Scott III at Monday night’s meeting, bringing applause from the audience. view article  

School safety, Hurricane Harvey recovery: 6 takeaways from the Conroe ISD board of trustees meeting, June 19

School safety, Hurricane Harvey recovery and recognition for several students and staff members were just a few items discussed during the Conroe ISD board of trustees meeting on June 19. All board members were present during the meeting. To view the May 19 agenda, click here. view article  

Sodd steps down from Corsicana ISD board

The Corsicana Independent School District School Board on Monday accepted the resignation of Jason Sodd from the board of trustees after four years as a board member. Sodd cited family and work commitments as the reason he chose to step down at this time. He is an attorney at Dawson & Sodd, LLP. “My work and family commitments have become too great for me to be able to fulfill the requirements of my position on the Board,” Sodd said. “I feel it’s best to make room for someone with the time to devote to this important role.” view article  

Brownsville ISD offers help with immigrant children

The Brownsville Independent School District is urging the Texas Education Agency to provide educational services to the immigrant children being housed in temporary centers under the Trump Administration’s hard-line immigration policies. Superintendent Esperanza Zendejas on Tuesday hand delivered a letter to A.J. Crabill, TEA deputy commissioner of governance, to request “intervention regarding the educational services deserved by children being housed in temporary centers because of federal immigration policies.” view article