Do voucher students’ scores bounce back after initial declines? New research says no

New research on a closely watched school voucher program finds that it hurts students’ math test scores — and that those scores don’t bounce back, even years later.  That’s the grim conclusion of the latest study, released Tuesday, looking at Louisiana students who used a voucher to attend a private school. It echoes research out of Indiana, Ohio, and Washington, D.C. showing that vouchers reduce students’ math test scores and keep them down for two years or more.  Together, they rebut some initial research suggesting that the declines in test scores would be short-lived, diminishing a common talking point for voucher proponents. view article  

Superintendent Search: Ennis ISD has announced a Lone Finalist

According to a post on the Arrow Educational Services Inc. website, Mr. Jay Tullos has been named Lone Finalist for the Ennis ISD superintendent position.  Mr. Tullos has been Superintendent of Canton ISD since 2010. Details and updates will continue to appear on our search page as things progress.  view article  

HB 9 on the calendar for April 24

The Texas House has placed HB 9 on the calendar for April 24. HB 9 relates to the Teacher Retirement System’s (TRS) pension fund and a potential 13th check for retirees. HB 9 is the same bill as SB 12, which was delayed last week, and SB 12 will be eligible for consideration again in the House on April 25.  The finish line for the legislative session is in sight. The House has signaled that it wants to ensure that the TRS pension fund becomes actuarially sound and provides a 13thcheck to retirees.  view article  

Ector County:  Spring Branch chief named lone finalist for ECISD superintendent

In a 7-0 vote Tuesday, the Ector County Independent School District Board of Trustees named Scott Muri as the lone finalist for superintendent.  Muri is currently the superintendent at Spring Branch ISD. By law, the school board must wait 21 days before finalizing a contract with Muri, so details about salary and benefits were not disclosed. The start date is tentatively set for July 1, Board President Doyle Woodall said. view article  

Superintendent Search: Cameron ISD has announced a Lone Finalist

Cameron ISD Board of Trustees has chosen Kevin Sprinkles, Superintendent of Academy ISD, as Lone Finalist for Cameron ISD Superintendent of Schools. Details and updates will continue to appear on our search page as things progress. 

Superintendent Search: Crystal City ISD Hires Walsh Gallegos Trevino Russo & Kyle P.C. to Conduct Search

Crystal City ISD voted to hire Board of Trustees Walsh Gallegos Trevino Russo & Kyle P.C. to conduct a search for a new superintendent. Details and updates will appear on our search page as things progress.

Superintendent Search: Henderson ISD Hires New Superintendent

Henderson ISD Board of Trustees voted to hire Thurston Lamb, Chief of Schools of Duncanville ISD, as the district’s new superintendent for  Henderson ISD. Details and updates will appear on our search page.

Analysis: Teacher pay raises and Robin Hood stall Texas lawmakers

This isn’t going the way you might have expected after that session-starting “Kumbaya” news conference.  The state’s top three leaders — Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dennis Bonnen — along with the governor’s photogenic dog, assembled on the lawn of the Texas Governor’s Mansion in January and declared they were focused this session on school finance and property taxes.  A few days later, joined by Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, and Rep. Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, they said the House and Senate would be filing identical billsdesigned to require voter approval for large local property tax increases. Their starting limit for “large” was 2.5%. view article  

No class for Coleman ISD due to power outages

ABILENE, Texas — Coleman ISD will not have school on Wednesday due to the strong storms that moved across the area overnight.  Those storms caused power outages for the area. view article  

Ector County ISD has named their lone finalist for the superintendent of schools

ECTOR COUNTY, Tx (KOSA) -- ECISD reports that they have named their lone finalist for superintendent of schools. They have named Dr. Scott Muri as the Lone Finalist for the job. Required by law, the board must wait 21 days before finalizing a contract with Dr. Muri. Dr. Muri is currently the superintendent of Spring Branch Independent School District in Houston and has been for four years. view article  

Spring Branch:  Superintendent Muri Going to Odessa

Dear SBISD Families and Community Members, As you have just read in Dr. Muri's message, this afternoon the Ector County ISD Board of Trustees in Odessa, Texas, named Dr. Muri as the sole finalist to be their district's next superintendent.   view article  

Disaster relief ministry sets up field kitchen to help Alto ISD cafeteria staff serve students

ALTO, TX (KTRE) - When the Texas Baptist Men (TBM) learned the Alto School kitchen is non-functional from tornado damage, they went to work to find a solution. A field kitchen was brought in today for the school to use until the end of the school year.  The Texas Baptist Men joke the only difference between the school kitchen and the field kitchen is the latter isn't damaged and it's located in a parking lot.  "This is all industrial grade equipment that we're leaving behind for the kitchen staff to be able to cook the meals for the kids for the rest of the school year," said TBM spokesperson Rand Jenkins.  Ninety percent of the Alto students are on the free meal program. The hot meals are vital to maintaining some kind of stability. view article  

New From TEA

• TEA announces eight school systems named to second Lone Star Governance Exemplar Cohort 4/23
• 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

Academy ISD leader named finalist in Cameron superintendent search

Academy ISD Superintendent Kevin Sprinkles is in line to become head of Cameron public schools after Superintendent Allan Sapp retires.The Cameron Independent School District board of trustees has named Sprinkles as the lone finalist in its superintendent search. The board will not vote to actually hire Sprinkles until May 9, after the completion of a legally required 21-day waiting period.  Board President James Burks said the district had 81 applications for the position. The board interviewed six applicants, and then called three back for a second round of interviews. view article  

State of Texas: Prediction time on property tax reform

AUSTIN (Nexstar) — The Texas Senate passed a bill this week aimed at reining in property taxes. Senate Bill 2 would require local governments to get voter approval to increase tax revenue more than 3.5 percent.  For school districts, the limit is 2.5% Right now, the cap is 8-percent.   It's a sign of progress on an issue that Texas lawmakers have been working on for a long time. Jeremy Wallace from the Houston Chronicle said Texans have heard this story for over 30 years. The story of property tax and lowering rates.   "The complication of our tax system makes the promise of us getting to the finish line on this very difficult," he said. view article  

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

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.

DeSoto ISD cutting nearly 300 staffers, closing an elementary school

Teachers, special education staffers and other employees in DeSoto have been told that their jobs are being cut amid dire finances facing the school district. Trustees voted to temporarily close Northside Elementary School at the end of the school year in order to save money. view article  

Texas House votes to advance bill to shore up teacher pension fund

The Texas House voted Wednesday to advance legislation that would make the Teacher Retirement System pension fund financially healthy and give one-time checks to retired teachers. By a voice vote, House members gave preliminary approval to Senate Bill 12, endorsing a more costly revised version of the teacher pension fixes that was originally proposed in the lower chamber. The House's version of SB 12, sponsored by state Rep. Greg Bonnen, R-Friendswood, would increase the amount the state contributes to the pension fund by 2% over the next five years, and give retirees a one-time check of up to $2,400 by September 2020, in addition to their monthly checks of that amount. view article  

Chapel Hill ISD employee arrested on election fraud charges

The Smith County Sheriff's Office arrested a woman Tuesday in an election fraud investigation. According to the Smith County Sheriff's Office, 68-year-old Carolyn Lewis of Winona allegedly witnessed four absentee ballots in violation of state election codes. The ballots were for a Chapel Hill ISD board election. Smith County Elections Administrator Karen Nelson reported the four ballots in question to the Smith County District Attorney's Office. The investigation found Lewis was a Chapel Hill employee. view article  

LONGVIEW ISD: All pre-k, kindergarten students at Johnston-McQueen Elementary will attend East Texas Montessori Prep Academy starting in August 2019

Starting in the coming 2019-20 school year, all pre-k and kindergarten students at Longview Independent School District's Johnston-McQueen Elementary will attend the East Texas Montessori Prep Academy. Board members unanimously approved the measure during a special meeting Wednesday. Assistant Superintendent Horace Williams recommended the change "in order to facilitate continuity of instruction for the Montessori program and free up classroom space for program expansion at Johnston-McQueen." view article  

Educators voice concerns with Hays CISD turnover, board members

Accusations of micromanagement leading to a high turnover of Hays CISD employees has been levied against a pair of incumbent school board trustees running for reelection. However, Hays CISD Board President Merideth Keller and Vice President Esperanza Orosco, the two trustees at the center of the allegations, said they refute the claims and that they’re based on a “false narrative.”  The issue stems from emails from Taking Back Hays, a group that cites Keller and Orosco allegedly overstepping their roles as trustees. view article  

Texas lawmakers promised to rein in school district property taxes. What do their plans actually do?

Texas lawmakers have given property tax reform top billing this legislative session, and they agree that tamping down school taxes is the best way to lower Texans’ tax bills. That’s because school taxes make up more than half the total property taxes in the state. And the average school district tax rate has slightly and gradually increasedsince 2006, though skyrocketing local property values across the state are the main reason why the average tax bill gets higher and higher. But figuring out how to limit that portion of the tax bill has proven monumentally complicated. Three-quarters of the way through the legislative session, lawmakers agree on how much they want to spend on tax relief but are still juggling several proposals, including some that would not provide any help. And it’s unclear whether some of the people backing certain ideas understand how the school tax system works. view article  

Largent Unfiltered: Season Two / 10 Legislative Updates and Services for Your School Districts

view article  

Lessons in Leadership: Dallas superintendent discusses performance pay buy-in, gaining public trust

Michael Hinojosa is no stranger to the superintendency or the Dallas Independent School District. Not only is he one of the system's former students, but he's also in his second stint as its leader. After a rapid ascent to administration led him to the district the first time around, and facing "two big college tuitions" as his sons headed to Ivy league schools, he left for a job in suburban Atlanta's Cobb County School District. He eventually retired and returned to Texas, doing some consulting as he and his wife cared for their aging parents. But churn in Dallas eventually brought him back to the district's top role. view article  

Amarillo ISD Superintendent responds to complaint filed regarding volleyball coach’s resignation

The Amarillo Independent School District Superintendent Doug Loomis has issued a response to a complaint filed with the Texas Education Agency regarding the resignation of former Amarillo High School volleyball coach Kori Clements. view article  

Understand: School board trustees

School board members are tasked with making policies for the future of our school districts, and about 50 candidates in Bexar County are vying for a chance to do just that. There are 21 open school board seats in the May 4 election.

Midland ISD calls emergency meeting

MIDLAND, Texas (BIG2/FOX24) - Midland I.S.D. called an emergency meeting Tuesday afternoon after reports of on-going threats by an Abell Jr. High student.  Jennifer Carpenter filed a report to the school district last week regarding a student making threats to her daughter and those at Abell Jr. High.  "The students are so desensitized with school shooting and they're thinking that it's a joke, but it's not an okay thing to joke about. My heart stopped," said Carpenter. view article  

Texas This Week: Gov. Abbott plans for property tax reform

The House passed its version of the Born Alive Infant Protection Act. House Bill 16 requires a physician provide appropriate medical treatment to a baby who survives an attempted abortion, creates a third-degree felony offense for providers who don't and establishes a $100,000 civil penalty. The Senate already passed similar legislation. The Senate passed two additional employment practices bills by Conroe Republican Sen. Brandon Creighton. SB 2486 stops cities and counties from passing ordinances regulating how companies schedule employees. SB 2488 states municipalities can't require businesses remove questions about criminal history on job applications. The City of Austin "banned the box," as it's called, back in 2016. Those bills head to the House. view article  

Carthage ISD looks at expanding After School Youth Enrichment Program

Carthage ISD wants to expand its After School Youth Enrichment Program during the summer and hopes to target 100 more students. Superintendent John Wink said it’s one way they hope to help students keep learning while school is out. “One of the things that we do know about research for students of poverty is that over the summer, they regress in their learning,” Wink said. “That’s called the summer slide.” view article  

NAACP hosting forum for Weatherford ISD candidates

Weatherford residents can ask questions of Weatherford ISD school board candidates at a candidates forum on Thursday. Parker County NAACP Branch 6321 is hosting the forum, which is free and open to the public. The event is scheduled to take place at 6:30 p.m. at New Hope Baptist Church, at 107 S. Bowie St. in Weatherford. The races for Place 3 and 5 on the WISD school board are contested. For Place 3, JRJ Construction Co-owner Adam Feriend is running against GMS Mechanical and Budder’s Storage Owner Robert Williams. For Place 5, Counselor Lexie Lee is running against Insurance Agent Weldon “Wally” Wallace. view article  

Ninth Waxahachie ISD elementary school named after former administrator, trustee

Max Simpson entered a specially called session of the Waxahachie ISD Board of Trustees on Tuesday just as he had for four decades before, albeit unaware of why his assistance would be needed with only one action item on the agenda. The lone item in front of the trustees was to officially vote on the name of the ninth elementary school in Waxahachie ISD, commonly referred to as the North Grove campus before Tuesday. view article