The Fort Bend ISD Board of Trustees approved the principal terms of an Interlocal Agreement that will transfer ownership of an abandoned and historic cemetery to Fort Bend County, following the passage of legislation that amended state law permitting the county to own and operate a cemetery. view article

Boys may now wear earrings, and some tattoos will be allowed to show on students after Kilgore ISD trustees made changes to the district dress code. At Monday’s board meeting, trustees took up the issue of dress code changes, which were first introduced at the May board meeting. view article

School districts across Texas will likely see an increase in pre-K enrollment now that the state has set aside funding for full-day pre-K, experts say. “We’re going to see more children opt into this free pre-K program across the state and we’re going to see enrollment jump from about 11 to 20 percent, depending on the district,” said Laura Koenig, senior director of community relations with E3 Alliance. Funding for full-day pre-K was part of House Bill 3, the school finance bill that Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law last week. The state previously only funded half-day pre-K for low-income students and English language learners.  view article

With the signing of House Bill 3 into law, the Bryan school district is preparing to expand its full-day pre-kindergarten services. The school funding bill passed by the Texas Legislature and signed by Gov. Greg Abbott last week extends funding from half-day pre-kindergarten to full-day programs. Students who had qualified for free half-day pre-kindergarten at Bryan schools will now receive free full-day pre-kindergarten services. The district currently serves 690 students in its half-day program at six sites, Associate Superintendent of Teaching and Learning Barbara Ybarra told the school board at its Monday meeting. With those six sites, the district tries to keep an 11:1 student-to-teacher ratio in pre-K classrooms. view article

As another school year comes to a close, allaround improvementsare in store for the district. During recent school board meetings, San Benito CISD administration discussed its recent academic achievements and future structural remodeling. view article

The San Antonio Independent School District (SAISD) Board of Trustees approved a compensation plan Monady for the 2019-20 school year, including pay increases for all permanent full-time employees and an increase in the minimum hourly pay rate for non-exempt, permanent full-time employees. SAISD Superintendent Pedro Martinez said the district is raising the minimum entry hourly rate up to $15. The district is increasing the number of teachers at the Master Teacher level with up to 197 more teachers in this category who will earn an additional $15,000 stipend on top of the new pay increase. view article

Amarillo Independent School District employees will see an increase in pay after board members approved a $316 million budget. On Monday evening, Amarillo School Board members voted to approve a budget that includes raises for employees. view article

The Texas Education Agency (TEA) is working towards transitioning Beaumont ISD back to being under the control of local elected officials. Johnny Brown, former Port Arthur ISD superintendent who resigned in 2013, was appointed by the TEA as Beaumont ISD's conservator for the transition. The non-elected board of manager's authority is set to expire on February 6, 2020.  view article

In April, parents of students at Cedar Park Middle School received an email that one of their children’s classmates had contracted pertussis, commonly known as whooping cough. The highly contagious respiratory disease is on the rise nationwide, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. While the email did not specify whether the sick student was vaccinated against whooping cough, it emphasized the importance of administering immunizations to Leander ISD students. view article

The Austin school board Monday night adopted a $1.6 billion general budget that gives all employees a minimum pay increase of 6%, thought to be the largest single-year pay bump in the district's history. District teachers, counselors and librarians who have more than five years of experience will get a 7% bump in pay. Other employees, including bilingual and special education educators, also will receive a boost in their annual stipends. The pay increases, which total $48.6 million, will become effective July 1. view article

Carroll ISD is preparing its budget for fiscal year 2019-20 under House Bill 3, which Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law June 11. HB 3 is lauded by lawmakers as a monumental step in school finance reform, according to The Texas Tribune, Community Impact Newpsaper’s reporting partner. It includes about $6.5 billion in new public education spending, plus about $5.1 billion devoted to lowering Texans’ property tax bills. Under the new law, CISD would have to lower its maintenance and operations tax rate by $0.07, said Scott Wrehe, the assistant superintendent for financial services. Based on HB 3, the district’s tax rate would decrease from $1.38 per $100 taxable value to $1.31 per taxable value. view article

It may just be the most controversial home in North Texas. Now the place where Grand Prairie’s Superintendent Susan Hull used to live is under construction once again. The 4-bedroom, 3-bath home is about 2,700 square feet and was last appraised for $413,000 by the Dallas County Appraisal District. view article

The Texas Education Agency (TEA) is working towards transitioning Beaumont ISD back to being under the control of local elected officials. Johnny Brown, former Port Arthur ISD superintendent who resigned in 2013, was appointed by the TEA as Beaumont ISD's conservator for the transition. view article

The Amarillo ISD Board of Trustees is hosting a regular meeting tonight. Tonight they are hosting a public hearing on the proposed 2019-2020 district budget. view article

All precincts are reporting for the El Paso Independent School District's runoff elections for districts three and six. view article

Harlandale Independent School District trustees emerged from a closed-door meeting Thursday to say they would fight a Texas Education Agency report calling for a state takeover of the district. view article

In the wake of a pair of Board of Trustees resignations within the last month, Amarillo Independent School District officials have some decisions to make with regard to filling the vacancies. During last week's special meeting, the AISD board accepted the resignation of Trustee Renee McCown, while Trustee John Ben Blanchard's resignation was accepted last month. The current board consists of President Robin Malone, Vice President Cristy Wilkinson and Trustees Kimberly Anderson, Alonzo Everhart and Dick Ford. Anderson, Everhart and Ford were elected to four-year terms on May 4, while Malone was unopposed in the May 4 election and garnered a two-year term. According to the AISD Board Policy Manual regarding vacancies, if a vacancy occurs on the board, the remaining board members may fill the vacancy by appointment until the next trustee election or may order a special election to fill the vacancy. view article

Weatherford ISD board of trustees meets Monday for a special meeting. Trustees are scheduled to consider a compensation increase for employees for the 2019-20 school year. They tabled the vote to raise compensation by 3 percent from the pay grade midpoint for all employees at their meeting last week. view article

A regular meeting of the Carthage ISD Board of Trustees will take place Monday, June 17 at 6:30 p.m. in the Carthage ISD administration building, No. 1 Bulldog Drive in Carthage. view article

A.B. Bernard, the sole remaining member of the original Board of Managers appointed by the state to run Beaumont ISD after ousting its former elected board in 2014, said Wednesday that he will resign but won’t say why until after the June 20 board meeting. Bernard, who took his seat as a manager five years ago, ran for the District 1 seat in May and won with 61 percent of the vote. He declined to elaborate on why he would abruptly leave so soon afterward. view article

Parents are raising concerns before a Thursday Harlandale ISD School Board meeting. A recent Texas Education Agency report recommends lowering Harlandale ISD’s accreditation and appointing a conservator to replace the current board of trustees with appointed managers. Despite it being summer break this is still an active campus with kids involved in sports camps as well as getting free lunches. view article

Students in Richardson ISD will start the fall semester a few days earlier and go on summer break a few days later in the 2020-21 school year. The calendar was approved by a June 10 board of trustees vote. The board solidifies dates this far in advance to allow families time to plan for vacations and other events, Deputy Superintendent Tabitha Branum said. The 2020-21 school year will begin Aug. 10 and end May 28. This is slightly different from the 2019-20 calendar, which begins Aug. 15 and ends May 22. view article

Soon to become Cy-Fair ISD’s newest school board member, Julie Hinaman aims to be a bridge between the board and the community. “I have a passion for public education and believe that educating all children is important to the future of our society and our economy,” she said. During a special-called meeting held on June 3, the school board unanimously selected Hinaman to fill position 2 on the CFISD board of trustees, which Christine Hartley vacated at the end of May. Hinaman will serve the remainder of the term until November and will have the option of running for position 2 in the Nov. 5 election. view article

Waxahachie emergency officials met Thursday to discuss response protocol to an active school shooter scenario as a way to prepare in case a real-life incident like it were to occur. Emergency Management Coordinator Rob Best planned and facilitated the table-top scenario at the Waxahachie Police Department, which began with him detailing a shooter that had entered a Waxahachie ISD campus around 8 a.m. Thursday morning. The scenario was fake and used strictly for training purposes. Best said he and the Emergency Management department have been planning the scenario for six months before it was brought to WISD officials, police, fire, EMS services and city and county officials. view article

The Pine Tree ISD board of trustees approved an amendment to its district of innovation plan at Monday’s meeting that will allow for fewer days in teacher contracts. After a separate public meeting presented no objections, the trustees approved an amendment that will reduce contract length from 187 days to around 183 days. Pine Tree ISD adopted its district of innovation plan in May 2017. According to the Texas Education Agency, districts of innovation can be exempt from teacher certifications and contracts, class size regulations, school calendar and some purchasing requirements. view article

Texas Education Agency officials delivered a final report to Harlandale Independent School District on Friday after months of investigations into claims of nepotism, violations of state law and local policy, and board overreach. The final report recommends lowering the accreditation of the district, installing a conservator, and appointing a board of managers to replace the elected board of trustees.  Commissioner of Education Mike Morath has the authority to enact these sanctions. A TEA spokeswoman said there is no determined timeline for when he will decide how to proceed.  The state first began investigating Harlandale in August 2017 because of multiple complaints about contract procurement and governance. view article

On the surface, newly appointed Waco Independent School District trustees Robin Houston and Jose Vidana appear monumentally different. Vidana, 41, is a bilingual mail carrier who immigrated to Waco from Mexico at a young age. He became a U.S. citizen at 18 years old and has worked for the U.S. Postal Service for 15 years. Houston, 48, is an assistant district attorney in the juvenile division of the McLennan County District Attorney’s Office, where she has worked for more than a decade. She was born in the Netherlands, while her parents were stationed in Germany during their Air Force service. She grew up in Waco, South Dakota and Wyoming. view article

After sitting empty since February, Dallas ISD's District 4 trustee seat will be filled by a 22-year-old recent college graduate. Karla Garcia comfortably defeated Camile White, a real estate agent, in a runoff election Saturday night. "I don't see my age as being a liability; if anything I am the story of District 4," said Garcia, who works at Dallas County Promise. "I am the graduate of DISD. I am the student who is now walking in my footsteps through the hallways of our schools, and I now get to make and inform decisions that will affect them and those to come." The seat has been vacant for four months, since former trustee Jaime Resendez stepped down after moving out of the far southeast Dallas district. Resendez was already planning to leave at the end of his term because he was seeking a Dallas City Council seat. He won that seat in May. view article

Today, Midland’s secondary schools are outdated, overcrowded and underequipped. view article

The Killeen Independent School District board of trustees will discuss a wide array of topics, including more on the 2018 bond sale, as well as the installation of newly elected trustees, when it meets for a regular meeting Tuesday. Among the discussion items on the agenda are awarding contracts and proposals for Education Service Center Region 10 purchasing cooperative for school nutrition for the 2019-2020 school year and a resolution authorizing the use of school buses for a community-related activity. view article

School board trustees will meet Monday evening in the Troup ISD board room, 201 N. Carolina, for back-to-back meetings beginning with a 6 p.m. special meeting. The board will hold a budget workshop during that session, then move into regular session at 6:30 p.m., according to meeting agendas. view article

Shane Goswick proved to be the victor in Saturday’s Hallsville ISD trustee runoff election in a tight race against opponent Larry Ward, results show. view article

The Spring Branch ISD Board of Trustees will conduct a Workshop Meeting beginning at 6 p.m. on Monday, June 10. This meeting will be held in the Board Meeting Room of the Wayne Schaper Leadership Center located at 955 Campbell Road. This workshop includes an executive session for routine personnel matters and for consultation with the Board's attorney on matters allowed by Texas law.This workshop meeting's agenda includes the following topics: read more

Third-grade teacher Rachel Velotas has been one of the few constants at Goodman Elementary School the past 23 years. Throughout her tenure, she has watched a revolving door of teachers and administrators move through the school as the student population changed from predominantly African American to majority Hispanic, with nearly 55 percent now listed as English language learners. Meanwhile, the percentage of students considered economically disadvantaged grew from about 86 percent in 2012-2013 to around 93 percent last year. view article

The Amarillo ISD Board of Trustees has voted to accept Renee McCown's resignation from the board. You can see McCown's full resignation letter here: view article