Good Friday and Easter 2019

Lamb is a Lion: Henderson ISD hires Duncanville ISD administrator to lead district

“We’ve learned a lot from him, so we just wanted to honor him,” Duncanville ISD Director of State and Federal Programs Mari Zamora said, shortly before Henderson trustees voted unanimously to hire Thurston Lamb to lead the Lions as superintendent. view article  

Superintendent Search: Fairfield ISD Hires New Superintendent

Fairfield ISD Board of Trustees voted to hire Dr. Jason Adams, Superintendent of North Lamar ISD, as the district’s new superintendent for Fairfield ISD. Details and updates will appear on our search page.

Superintendent Search: Nursery ISD is Searching for A New Superintendent

Nursery ISD is searching for an outstanding, qualified administrator to lead the school district. Details and updates will appear on our search page as things progress.

Superintendent Search: Petersburg ISD has announced a Lone Finalist

Petersburg ISD Board of Trustees has chosen Dr. Brian Bibb, High School Principal of Seymour ISD, as Lone Finalist for Petersburg ISD Superintendent of Schools. Details and updates will continue to appear on our search page as things progress. 

Superintendent Search: George West ISD has announced a Lone Finalist

George West ISD Board of Trustees has chosen Dr. Jim Rosebrock, Chief Academic Officer of Corpus Christi ISD, as Lone Finalist for George West ISD Superintendent of Schools. Details and updates will continue to appear on our search page as things progress. 

Superintendent Search: Oakwood ISD is Searching for A New Superintendent

Oakwood ISD is searching for an outstanding, qualified administrator to lead the school district. Details and updates will appear on our search page as things progress.

Power outages prompt school cancellations and delays

LEON COUNTY, Tex. (KBTX) - Due to power outages caused by overnight storms, some Brazos Valley school districts have announced delays and cancellations for Thursday morning. Centerville ISD is closed all day Thursday due to the outages.  Normangee ISD is delaying classes by two hours.  Buffalo ISD is delaying classes by two hours. view article  

Severe weather leads to school closures

ELYSIAN FIELDS, Texas - Classes have been canceled at Elysian Fields ISD Thursday in the wake of severe weather.  The district's website has limited information, but does say that EFISD is closed 4/18/19 due to road flooding. view article  

With a Possible Update to the Texas Open Meetings Act, Former Council Members Recall Local Scandal - How a TOMA misunderstanding changed Austin politics

Sometime soon this session, the Legis­lat­ure will send to Gov. Greg Abbott an update to the Texas Open Meetings Act (TOMA) to reinstate provisions, struck down by the state's highest criminal court, governing "walking quorums" – serial private meetings of public officials that allow them to make decisions that should by law be done in public. Lawmakers will be proud of themselves for having done so, for "government transparency" is a sacred shibboleth among reporters and politicians alike – even (or especially) among those who routinely meet privately, make political and policy agreements privately, and reflexively count votes privately. "Hypocrisy," as La Rochefoucauld mused centuries ago, "is the tribute vice pays to virtue." view article  

Bloomington superintendent resigns

The Bloomington school superintendent has resigned, according to the school board.  Barnett was placed on paid administrative leave during a specially called meeting April 2. Board and school district officials have not commented about why Barnett was placed on administrative leave, citing personnel issues.  The resignation is effective July 2, 2019. Barnett is still on paid administrative leave, Ellsworth said.  Elvis Whaley, a district administrator, is still the temporary acting superintendent.  Ellsworth said the board will discuss whether to hire a superintendent search firm to find Barnett’s replacement at the next board meeting, which is scheduled Monday. view article  

Lee to take helm at Buna ISD

After two years as the Oakwood Independent School District Superintendent Donny Lee is resigning to take the same position with the Buna Independent School District, 35 miles north of Beaumont.  Lee, who was hired by the Oakwood ISD in June of 2017, will start work in Buna June 1. His last day in Oakwood will be May 31. view article  

UPDATE: Alto schools to reopen Monday

Alto ISD posted on its Facebook that classes will resume Monday, April 22, pending final building inspections. According to the post, building inspections were completed Monday. view article  

Alto ISD District Need

Superintendents,- As you all know, one of our Region 7 districts received severe damage due to last weekend’s storms. Alto ISD is in need of several portable buildings while their facilities are under repair. If your district is able to help, please contact Kelly West, Alto ISD Superintendent at kwest@alto.esc7.net.

Equity Center Template

This is a very easy revenue template that compares FY19 Current Law Revenue to FY20 CSHB 3. It includes a tax collection calculator and a minimum salary schedule based on the basic allotment of CSHB 3. Adam Pierce from Equity Center is the contact person for questions; his email is adam@equitycenter.org view article  

New Updated Template from Omar (Release 2)

Omar Garcia with BOK Financial Securities has a new release (Release 2 dated 04/15/2019) that is now available for download.  This new release is only for the purpose of comparing 2019-20 current law to most of the 2019-20 school finance provisions in HB 3, with some corrections from Release 1 (see Notes tab).  As always, please stay tuned for any new developments. - You should move data over to this release - js

Texas Senate gives local governments more breathing room for property tax revenue growth

Repost!  After a key Republican holdout agreed to bring a priority bill to the floor, the upper chamber increased an election trigger on revenue increases from 2.5% to 3.5%. But now both chambers must reconcile how they want to tackle rising school district taxes.  The Texas Senate broke a logjam Monday that had paralyzed a piece of priority legislation for weeks — blunting a controversial provision in a property tax reform package and then advancing the bill, without having to deploy a procedural “nuclear option" to move it.  A vote on Senate Bill 2, a top imperative for state leaders, had been expected last week. But an apparent lack of support stalled the vote in the upper chamber, where the backing of 19 senators is generally required to bring a bill up for debate. After Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick threatened to blow past decades of tradition and bring the measure to a vote with a simple majority, state Sen. Kel Seliger, a vocal dissenter, relented Monday, allowing the bill onto the floor. He did not support its passage. view article  

Preventive Law: We’re From the Government and We’re Here to Help

This Spring, several districts across the country have received letters from the OCR concerning their Civil Rights Data Collection (“CRDC”).  The CRDC is a data collection conducted every other year, and per Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos’ January 2019 announcement is part of “a new initiative to address the inappropriate use of restraint and seclusion in order to protect children with disabilities.”  A critical component to the initiative requires data quality reviews of 2015-2016 data submissions regarding instances of restraint or seclusion.

May 2019 Bond List

Bond Election Data collected by TexasISD.com for public school bonds in the upcoming May 2019 election cycle.

New From TEA

• Statewide Birth-Five Needs Assessment Survey (3-25-2018)
• 2019–2020 Testing Calendar 2/1
• State Board of Education UpdateState Board of Education hosts free conference Jan. 30 1/15
• 2017-2018 Federal Report Cards are now available 1/10
• TEA releases 2017-2018 Texas Academic Performance Report
• 2019–2020 and 2020–2021 Testing Calendars 12/13
• TEA releases final 2018 academic accountability ratings 12/13
• Applications Open for Joining the System of Great Schools Network 12/7

Action Alert: Please Contact Your House Member on HB 281

Action Alert: Please Contact Your House Member on HB 281  HB 281 by Rep. Mayes Middleton is in the House Calendar Committee, and we expect it to be set for floor debate very soon. This bill would have a negative impact on how administrators and TASA employees could represent you at the Texas Capitol. HB 281 would prohibit public money from being spent on lobbyists or associations that have lobbyists. This would result in the elimination of governmental relations for TASA and other similar organizations.  Some legislators do not think you should have representation at the Capitol. The bill currently has 53 joint and co-authors. See which House members have signed onto the bill. These individuals need to hear your opposition!  Talking points on the impact of HB 281:

Texas’ retired teachers served our children. They deserve a pension that serves them. [Opinion]

Retired Texas educators dedicated their lives to educating our children. Now many are facing a financial crisis, since most have not seen any cost-of-living increase to their monthly pension in more than a decade, while their health care premiums are eating away at what little money they do get. The Texas Legislature has made clear this session that it wants to address this crisis by strengthening the Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS), the 17th-largest pension system in the world. A bill in the Texas House by Rep. Greg Bonnen, R-Friendswood, is a thoughtful approach that sends an important message to Texas educators — our work matters. view article  

Proposed law would eliminate STAAR test passing requirement for Texas students

Two Texas lawmakers are working to pass a state law that would eliminate standardized test passing requirements to pass students to the next grade. House Bill 1480 (HB 1480), co-authored by Representative Ray Lopez (D-San Antonio) and Rep. Van Deaver (R-Bowie County), would remove requirements for students to pass standardized tests like the STAAR for grade promotion. Social studies and United States history assessments would be eliminated entirely if the bill passes, accelerated learning communities would replace grade placement committees and some state agency responsibilities would be rejiggered instead of standardized testing. view article  

Senator Cruz pitches education plan on Texas tour

On the heels of a close November election, Senator Ted Cruz returns to Texas after filing an education reform bill. The Education Freedom Scholarships and Opportunity Act would allow new federal tax credits for businesses and people to donate to scholarships to send kids to a variety of different schools. view article  

Killeen: Area’s largest district opens situation room when weather threatens

When bad weather threatens, Killeen ISD has some major decisions to make to keep kids safe, and it all happens in the situation room, where the director of school safety, the transportation director, and the deputy superintendent work on emergency operations planning in case bad weather takes a turn for the worse. “We were monitoring yesterday and last night,” Director of School Safety John Dye said Wednesday. “What is the status? What's going to be happening?” view article  

San Antonio: New program would allow high school students to graduate with an associates degree

Some local students interested in a career in nursing will have an opportunity to earn an associate's degree while in high school. The proposed program in the works at Fox Tech High School and would be the second within the San Antonio Independent School District. view article  

San Jacinto College offers high school students path to degree

For high school students who are looking to get a jump on their college education, the San Jacinto College Dual Credit program may be a good fit for them. It allows students to enroll and take college courses while they're still in high school.  Channelview High School senior Diojni Valle is getting ready to graduate with a high school diploma. She'll also receive an associate's degree from San Jac as well. She did it by doubling up classes during her junior and senior years of high school.  view article  

Top student robotics teams in the world compete for championship at GRB

The best student robotics teams from across the world will compete for the championship in Houston. The Space City is hosting the 28th annual FIRST Championship from Wednesday, April 17th through Saturday, April 20th.  The main competitions will happen inside the George R. Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston. Other activities will be held across the street from the GRB at Discovery Green and the final round and awards ceremony at Minute Maid Park. view article  

School districts assess bus driver shortage

Maintaining enough school bus drivers is an issue schools not just in Texoma but across the nation face regularly. Even when schools are properly staffed, having enough drivers for extracurricular activities can be a challenge and having those drivers maintain their certification has become difficult. While school district officials needing bus drivers is a common issue, it's not one folk with WFISD are having to deal with right now. view article  

Thorndale Baseball helps Franklin with tornado clean-up

A Central Texas baseball team is helping storm survivors. The Thorndale High School Baseball team took the day off to volunteer in Robertson County Wednesday. view article  

Brazos Valley students attend HYPE Career Expo in Bryan

Workforce Solutions Brazos Valley hosted its 7th annual HYPE – Career Expo on Wednesday in Bryan. The event was held at the Brazos County Expo Center. view article  

Cypress-Fairbanks ISD Asks for Record-Breaking $1.76 Billion

On May 4, 2019, Texas’ third largest school district will ask voters to approve the largest school bond debt package in state history. Cypress-Fairbanks ISD, located northwest of Houston, reports a student enrollment of 116,249for 2018-19. The district has grown significantly over the past few decades, although growth has slowed recently, with an increase of about 3,000 since the district’s last bond election in 2014. CFISD officials predict the district will grow by another 3,000 to 4,000 students by 2025. view article  

Beaumont ISD veteran Allen to take over as superintendent

Educator Shannon Allen, a Beaumont native who came up through the ranks of its public schools, on Wednesday was announced as the new superintendent of Beaumont ISD. Allen will be the first woman to hold the position when she takes over July 1. She will replace John Frossard, who retired. view article