Memorial Day Holiday

In observance of Memorial Day, TexasISD.com will not publish on Monday, May 25. Posting will resume on Tuesday, May 26. 

Dallas County Schools Legislation Will Create Chaos, Cost Increases for Districts: Interim Superintendent

Dallas County Schools Interim Superintendent Leatha Mullins says if proposed legislation to dissolve the agency passes it will create chaos for the families of 76,000 students who depend on them each day to get to and from school.  In a statement released to the media Wednesday, Mullins said if the agency is shuttered "it would cost school districts in Dallas County over $262 million to provide their own transportation and that the legislation will make efficient, effective transportation unfeasible." view article  

Government Capital finances energy conservation project for Wills Point ISD

Government Capital Corporation, a leading provider of financing for Texas school districts, announced today the funding of a $2.8 million energy conservation project financing for Wills Point Independent School District. The structure utilized energy savings as the primary source of repayment and did not require a bond election. view article  

Hilda Rendon named interim San Benito superintendent

The appointment becomes effective on Friday, June 9 after current Superintendent Dr. Adrian Vega leaves office that same day. When Vega resigned in April he said his new job is in the private sector and will take him out of the area.  In the meantime, the district will be using McShan Consulting Firm of Harlingen to find their next permanent leader. view article  

Statement of Commissioner Morath regarding signing of SB 7

AUSTIN – Governor Greg Abbott today signed Senate Bill 7, relating to improper relationships between educators and students and the reporting of educator misconduct. Commissioner of Education Mike Morath issued the following statement:  “Parents should be confident that our schools are places of learning and trust for all students. When violations of that trust occur, there should be consequences. Senate Bill 7 provides the Texas Education Agency, law enforcement and local school districts with additional tools to continue our work in combatting educator misconduct.”  Authored by Sen. Paul Bettencourt and passed by the 85th Texas Legislature, Senate Bill 7 requires principals to notify their superintendents if a teacher is terminated or resigns following allegations of serious misconduct.  view article  

Area Superintendents Warn About Consequences Of Failed School Finance Bill

For numerous years many school districts across Texas have seen the state’s portion of their funding steadily decrease.  House Bill 21 this legislative session was an effort to begin turning that trend around by rewriting what’s referred to as “the formulas”- the equations used for determining how much state funding is appropriated. But House Bill 21 was declared dead Wednesday after a voucher measure was attached to it.  Texas Public Radio reporters talked with two San Antonio area superintendents about how the lack of new state funding will affect their districts. view article  

Texas Senate approves bill tweaking A-F school grades

The Texas Senate early Thursday approved a bill that would tweak a plan to grade school districts — two and a half hours after a midnight legislative deadline.  The Senate voted 29-2 to pass its version of House Bill 22, which would make changes to a plan for grading school districts on an A-F scale. Sen. Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood, the bill's sponsor, made some compromises to appease educators but did not include several of the provisions they want the most — including a delay to the start date of the rating system from 2018 to 2019 and a limit on how much of their grades depend on standardized tests. view article  

Kirbyville HS principal commits suicide in parking lot after resigning

KIRBYVILLE — Kirbyville High School principal Dennis Reeves fatally shot himself Tuesday afternoon after notifying the district superintendent of his resignation, 6 News has learned.  Police found Reeves' body shortly after 5 p.m., inside of his running vehicle.  They also found a .380-caliber semi automatic pistol believed to be the weapon used in the suicide, according to Kirbyville Police Chief Paul Brister. view article  

House, Senate disagreement on ‘vouchers’ kills school funding bill

The prospect of Texas public schools getting any additional money over the next two years is gone.  The Texas House on Wednesday took yet another overwhelming vote against so-called school choice, which would redirect state money to help students pay for private school tuition. Senate Education Chairman Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood, said the move killed House Bill 21, which over the last few weeks has turned from the Legislature’s most promising school finance bill into a school choice measure.  “I’m sorry they chose to kill House Bill 21, but that’s the choice they’ve made,” Taylor said. view article  

Texas school finance reform dies over voucher impasse

AUSTIN — The Texas Senate let a major effort at school finance reform die Wednesday, deadlocked with the House over a relatively small-scale proposal to allow public money to go to private schools.  Senate Education Committee Chairman Larry Taylor said the upper chamber would not appoint members to a conference committee to work out differences between the two versions of House Bill 21, legislation that sought to change the state’s school funding formula and pump up to $1.9 billion into schools.  “I think it's just dead,” said Taylor, R-Friendswood, who blamed the House's order to its negotiators to refuse any so-called voucher program. “A very quiet ending.” view article  

Education leader in House extends fight with Senate for school finance bill

State Rep. Dan Huberty said Wednesday that he would not accept the Senate's changes to his school finance bill, launching a last-ditch effort to hammer out a compromise with less than a week left in the session. After a passionate speech railing on the Senate for gutting his bill, Huberty, a Houston Republican who is chairman of the House Public Education Committee, announced he has decided to request a conference committee with the Senate on House Bill 21.   view article  

New From TEA

• 2017 Summer School Program for English Language Learners (ELLs) 5/18
• 2015-2016 Final Summary of Finances  5/17
• TEA launches new professional development pilot
• Update on Teacher Evaluations in Texas 5/11
• Indirect Cost Rates Available for School Year 2017–2018 (Fiscal Year 2018) 5/3
• 2017-2018 Optional Flexible School Day Program (OFSDP)
• TEA announces early college high school designations
• Introducing the New Confidential Student Report (CSR) - 4/27

Preventive Law: Pick Your Method of Delivery; Don’t Let it Pick You

In just one week Superintendents and School Boards will hold their collective breath in anticipation of the results of their bond elections. Will it be the result they dreaded? Or will the measure fail? That’s just a joke. Yes, of course, Superintendents and School Boards prefer the win to the loss, but if there were any game where the prize was the chance to make a 70 million dollar high school fit in a fifty million dollar budget and double your workload it would probably be named “What did I do?”

2016 Tax Ratification Elections/Results

Election information related to all Tax Ratification Elections in 2016

Researchers create database highlighting educator discipline after improper relationship accusations

SAN ANTONIO - Two researchers from the University of Texas at San Antonio are creating a database highlighting educator discipline after they are accused of improper relationships.  The researchers hope to get a deeper understanding of the epidemic of these allegations in the state of Texas.  "There are 222 kids from last year and their families whose lives have been turned upside down," said Dr. David Thompson, a professor of educational leadership at UTSA. The Texas Education Agency opened 222 investigations in the fiscal year 2015-2016 alone that involved inappropriate relationships between educators and students. view article  

KXAN: One-on-one: Gov. Abbott on future of school finance

Texas Schools Likely Stuck With ‘Byzantine’ Finance System After 85th Legislative Session

After months of back and forth over how to fix what ails funding for Texas schools, lawmakers argued late into the night, Wednesday over a bill that would pump more state money into school budgets statewide. In the end, members of the House and Senate couldn't see eye to eye on what to leave in the bill to make school financing more equitable statewide.  view article  

Are you ready for hurricanes? Above-average Atlantic season is in store

June 1 marks the start of the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs through November. While hurricanes can occur at any time of year, they are most frequent in August, September and October – not surprising, since they derive their energy from warm ocean waters. An above-average hurricane season is in store, forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Climate Prediction Center said Thursday as they updated their outlook for the 2017 Atlantic season. view article  

Hearne ISD getting second chance from TEA

The Hearne Independent School District is getting a second chance. Wednesday the Texas Education Agency reversed its decision to completely take over the struggling district. "One of the things we want the parents to know is that this district is entering a level of stability. I think it will be important to improve the educational process for our students. So now the work, we have to work on the work. That work is improving student performance throughout the district. So we will begin next week with our summer school program. We're going to run an extensive summer school program this year," said Dr. Adrain Johnson, Hearne ISD Superintendent. view article  

Amarillo ISD could lose $1M under Trump budget

Amarillo Independent School District could lose more than $1 million per year under President Trump’s 2018 full budget proposal, according to district officials.  Trump’s budget, released Tuesday, eliminates the federal government’s $2.3 billion Title II grant program for the 2018-19 school year, which helps with teacher recruitment and retention. At Amarillo ISD, the funds are used for teacher training and to hire teachers to reduce class sizes, district Chief Financial Officer Pati Buchenau said. view article  

Abbott insists lawmakers can still avoid a special session

Gov. Greg Abbott said Thursday it’s still possible for lawmakers to avoid a special session, and pressed lawmakers to send him bills that put “real constraints” on local property taxes and afford students “privacy, safety and security” with a bill that would restrict the public restrooms that can be used by transgender people. “There’s still work that needs to be done. The good news is we still have time to get it done,” Abbott said, just days before the regular session ends Monday. view article  

Gov. Abbott says he is focused on getting things done in regular session

As the regular legislative session nears an end, the threat of a special session still looms. Thursday, in a one-on-one interview with CBS Austin Reporter Sarah Navoy, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said he is confident the House and Senate can work out their differences. "When we are still in a regular session, I don't think about special sessions," said Gov. Abbott. "I think about taking care of business during the regular session." view article  

No changes to Houston ISD magnet programs

Houston ISD Superintendent Richard Carranza this week withdrew a plan to deeply cut funding for the district’s magnet programs over the next three years, shelving a proposal that had angered parents and some school board members who consider the specialized academic programs to be jewels in an oft-troubled school system. The proposed cuts, outlined in a presentation to the HISD board last week, would have eliminated all extra funding per student to many of the district’s 121 magnet programs by the 2019-2020 school year while cutting funding to many of the other programs by hundreds of dollars per student. Only funding for secondary-language and early-college programs were spared. view article  

Local superintendents share reaction to signing of Senate Bill 7

A senate bill was signed into law Thursday aiming at cracking down on inappropriate teacher-student relationships across Texas schools. Gov. Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 7 into law Thursday. The law would increase punishment and fines for the misconduct. “We obviously entrust are children to be safe in their school environment anything that compromises that is unacceptable,” says Alex Pruitt, a concerned parent in the San Antonio area. view article  

Mike Floyd’s first job after graduating high school? Helping run a school district

As Pearland seniors celebrate graduation this week, 18-year-old Democrat Mike Floyd is preparing for his first term in elected office.  In early May, the Dawson High School senior beat two-term incumbent Rusty DeBorde for a seat on Pearland ISD’s school board. DeBorde had served as school board president for four years and earned an endorsement from Republican U.S. Rep. Pete Olson.  view article  

ESC Region 12 Staff Publishes Article in National Journal

Education Service Center Region 12 Executive Director, Dr. Jerry Maze and Director of Customer & Marketing Services, Jennifer Marshall-Higgins co-authored an article that was recently published in the 2017 edition of "Perspectives," the annual journal of the Association of Educational Service Agencies (AESA). Their article covers the Learning Experience Laboratories - LEx Labs at the Baylor Research & Innovation Collaborative (BRIC) and the unique collaboration between ESC Region 12, Baylor University and Huckabee that is exploring the next generation of classroom innovations.  Dr. Maze has served as the President of AESA for the last year.   Read the full article from AESA here: https://goo.gl/YeVJjt view article  

Houston ISD Order May 24 2017

Commissioner Mike Morath has issued the following notice and order rescinding the previous order and notice of detachment of property from Houston Independent School District and annexation to Aldine Independent School District dated February 23, 2017.  view article  

Denton school board contemplates tax ratification election

If an election is called, voters would be asked to approve an increase in the district's maintenance and operations tax rate, bringing it from $1.04 per $100 valuation to $1.06. The tax money goes into the district's operating budget that pays for salaries, supplies and other daily expenditures.  If that measure passes, the board would lower the interest and sinking tax rate from 50 cents to 48 cents. Those taxes can only be used to pay off bond debts on facilities.  Superintendent Jamie Wilson stressed that the overall tax rate of $1.54 would not change. view article  

85 (R) HB 3976

An act relating to the administration of and benefits payable under the Texas Public School Retired Employees Group Benefits Act. Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Texas: Section 1.  Section 1575.002, Insurance Code, is amended by amending Subdivision (5) and adding Subdivisions (5-a) and (5-b) to read as follows: view article  

Metcalf bill to allow property appraisal appeals by phone signed into law

Homeowners who want to appeal their property appraisals will soon be able to do so by phone instead of having to go into a district office. The change comes after a bill authored by state Rep. Will Metcalf, R-Conroe, was signed into law by the governor.  After passing both the House and the Senate unanimously earlier this month, Gov. Greg Abbott signed House Bill 445 on Tuesday. The new rules go into effect on Sept. 1.  Previously, the only options a property owner had in appealing a property appraisal was to appear in person at a hearing at a district office or to file an affidavit. view article  

House helps keep public schools strong

Thank God for the Texas House of Representatives. Given the general mischief made by the Texas Legislature every two years, that was a hard sentence to write. But it's true. The Texas House has steadfastly rejected any attempt to spend taxpayer money on voucher programs that would decrease state government support for public school districts. view article  

Say cheese! Guide dog joins high school senior in yearbook photo

I like this article- js - CYPRESS, Texas (KTRK) -- A Cy-Fair High School senior spent the past year side-by-side with man's best friend.  Julia Smith decided she wanted to train a guide dog for the blind. After much research and work, she took on the project last year. The dog named Nyland even went with her to classes. view article  

Abbott signs bill cracking down on Texas’ ‘statewide plague’ of improper student-teacher relationships

Texas has cracked down on teachers who have sex and other inappropriate relationships with students. On Thursday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law a measure that could make — among other things — school superintendents and principals who fail to report such conduct subject to criminal charges. He said the measure would lead to restored trust in teachers. "Unfortunately, a small number of teachers are tarnishing the image of some of our best and brightest teachers," Abbott said. The bill by state Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, and co-authored by all 30 senators is an attempt to stop what Bettencourt has called a "statewide plague." It goes into effect Sept. 1. view article