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Cy-Fair ISD requests more state funding to keep up with special education demand
The number of students receiving special education services in Cy-Fair ISD has risen nearly 86% since the 2014-15 school year, while the district’s total enrollment increased by less than 5%, according to Texas Education Agency data. CFISD officials attribute this jump to Texas expanding special education qualifications. District administration has hired more staff to keep up with student evaluations and to ensure students receive the services they need, Chief Academic Officer Linda Macias said in an email.
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Lewisville ISD board set to discuss plan to close 5 schools and draw new boundaries
The Lewisville ISD board is meeting Monday night and the "School Retirement and Boundary Adjustment Proposal" is the hot topic up for discussion.
Facing a budget shortage and declining enrollment, the district’s Community Efficiency Committee and board considered possible solutions and put a plan forward.
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Fort Worth ISD trustees OK’d $14M in purchases in November. Here’s what they bought
The Fort Worth ISD school board approved just over $14 million in spending at its Nov. 12 meeting. The two largest purchases were related to campus operations. Trustees approved the district’s school resource officer program for the 2024-25 school year for $5.9 million and the purchase of audio-visual displays for up to $1.78 million. Trustee Kevin Lynch was absent.
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Regional colleges rely more on tuition revenue to operate than flagship campuses. Gov. Greg Abbott’s desire to pause increases could create tight financial conditions. “Texans face significant rising costs due to inflation,” Abbott wrote. “When inflation and other economic pressures burden household budgets, our public universities must take every step possible to ease the financial burden on our students and their families.” But without additional funding from the Legislature, Abbott’s desire to freeze tuition at public universities for another two years could create a tight budget situation for many of them, especially regional institutions that rely more on tuition revenue compared to flagship campuses. That’s because they have smaller budgets and endowments, fewer research grants and fewer deep-pocketed donors to make massive gifts. Faculty and higher education experts say they’re worried the state won’t step up to make up the difference.
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Eight El Paso Independent School District elementary schools will be shut down starting next school year after the Board of Trustees on Tuesday voted in favor of the closures. Carlos Rivera, Lamar, Newman, Putnam, Rusk, and Zavala elementaries will close their doors next school year, with Stanton and Travis elementaries closing in the 2026-27 school year under the approved plan.
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Michael Wilson reports that trustees in the Houston Independent School District are considering selling 19 properties to bridge fiscal gaps.
This comes after 58 percent of voters rejected a massive debt proposal on the November ballot that would have cost taxpayers $9 billion, including interest and principal.
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As enrollment declines, Fort Worth ISD task force looks at which schools to close
Last Thursday evening, Erikah Daley sat in a school cafeteria poring over a map of a large swathe of eastern Fort Worth, trying to figure out which schools to keep and which ones to shut down.
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The Houston Independent School District board is considering selling nearly 20 district properties. The discussions come after voters rejected a massive $4.4 billion school bond proposal on Election Day. It was a long Thursday night for board members as they talked about selling the real estate as well as listening to legal advice in the wake of the failed bond proposal.
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“I will ensure college affordability remains a top priority for the state as we head into the next legislative session,” wrote Abbott.
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Facing budget shortfalls, Victoria ISD didn't have the funds to send band, cheer and dance teams to Friday's football playoff game—until the community stepped in. There was good news and bad news last Saturday. The good news was that the Victoria West football team was going to the playoffs. The bad news was that it would be without its band, cheer or dance teams.
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Gov. Greg Abbott expressed confidence that Texas lawmakers would approve private school vouchers and increase funding for public schools during the 2025 legislative session, which begins Jan. 14.
The details: A voucher program would give families public money to send their children to private schools, which opponents argue would strip public schools of critical funds. Abbott said Nov. 6 that he has the votes to pass such a program after several pro-voucher Republicans ousted incumbents in the March primary election and Republicans flipped two historically Democratic House seats on Election Day.
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Lubbock ISD Superintendent Kathy Rollo said the district and its Future Focus Committee are listening to community feedback amid ongoing discussions about possible campus closures and consolidations. The superintendent sat down with members of local media last week. She told reporters district officials are engaging parents and teachers as the school board and the advisory committee work to find a solution to declining enrollment and stagnant funding.
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La Porte Independent School District has received its 22nd consecutive “A” rating for “Superior Achievement” under Texas’ School FIRST financial accountability rating system. The rating is the state’s highest, demonstrating the quality of La Porte ISD’s financial management and reporting system. The district scored a total of 98 out of 100. This is the 22nd year of School FIRST (Financial Integrity Rating System of Texas), a financial accountability system for Texas school districts developed by the Texas Education Agency in response to Senate Bill 875 of the 76th Texas Legislature in 1999 and amendments under House Bill 5, 83rd Texas Legislature, Regular Session, 2013. The primary goal of School FIRST is to achieve quality performance in the management of school districts’ financial resources, a goal made more significant due to the complexity of accounting associated with Texas’ school finance system. -30-
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Texas lawmakers will have about $20 billion in unspent money going into the 89th legislative session, state Comptroller Glenn Hegar told members of the Austin Chamber on Dec. 12.
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Round Rock ISD adopts FY 2021-22 budget with $17.2M deficit, says gap will be covered by staff turnover
Round Rock ISD board members on June 17 adopted a $467.42 million general operating budget for fiscal year 2021-22. The general operating fund budget includes $444.53 million in revenues and $467.42 million in expenses, creating a deficit in this fund of $17.2 million, RRISD Chief Financial Officer Kenneth Adix said.
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State lawmakers were prepared for a budget crunch, since the COVID-19 pandemic slashed revenues from sales taxes, energy taxes, and other sources. The question they now face is how to close the shortfall without choking off long-term growth. The answer is far from clear, but it’s certain to involve cuts to popular programs. In fact, such cuts are what's expected this session. The state comptroller's office says lawmakers need to close a shortfall of nearly $1 billion in revenues. And Republican state Sen. Brandon Creighton of Conroe, who serves on the Senate Finance Committee, noted that Gov. Greg Abbott has asked state agencies to reduce budgets by 5%.
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Bryan ISD's Board of Trustees have approved a one-time $500 supplement for their salaried employees. Teachers, counselors, librarians, nurses, administrators and professional staff receive their pay bonus on their Dec 15 paycheck.
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Texas pre-K programs are just scraping by after losing millions of dollars last year — and without sustainable funding, they could see greater problems down the line, school officials say. During the 2017 legislative session, lawmakers decided not to fund a $118 million high-quality pre-K grant program that was created in 2015 and championed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott. The money had gone to 573 districts and charter schools that pledged to meet measures such as setting a lower student-teacher ratio, avoiding Common Core curricula and reporting student progress to the state.
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Burnet school district officials were probably expecting to get more than two years from the synthetic turf installed at Bulldog Field in 2015, but that didn’t happen and it’s now set the district back $150,000. Burnet Consolidated Independent School District Superintendent Keith McBurnett, however, said the district is looking to get $105,000 back from one manufacturer. Last year, officials noticed some turf fibers sticking up higher than others, so they took a closer look, McBurnett said. “To most people, it probably wasn’t noticeable,” he said. “We had all the experts look at the field, and they looked at the backside. It needed to be replaced.”
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On Saturday, voters who live within the Houston ISD will go to the polls to determine how - or if - the district will pay the state millions in "recapture" fees. Whatever voters decide on Proposition 1, the Houston ISD will take a financial hit, officials say. Recapture, and school finance, can be difficult to grasp. To help, here are the answers to some questions about the ballot measure.
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The Round Rock school district awarded $1.9 million in grants to 34 campuses to help foster innovation in schools through programs, models or initiatives that enrich learning. The grants range from $7,500 to $100,000 and support the district’s strategic goal of implementing, enhancing and reinforcing innovative teachings and learning models, according to a district news release.
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Fort Bend ISD is going to begin serving up something different for some students who continually fail to pay for their lunches -- a cold cheese sandwich with a side of milk, and that's not sitting well with some parents. We're not talking about students who qualify for free school meals. But apparently, these repeat offenders have gotten so "forgetful" that it's draining the district's budget by hundreds of thousands of dollars.
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The Garland school district’s $453.8 million budget for 2015-16 passed this week. Here are the highlights: Taxes are going up: There’s a 10-cent per $100 valuation tax increase tied to theNovember 2014 passage of a $455 million bond package. Garland ISD previously had the second-lowest tax rate among 16 districts that tax in Dallas County; the bond will bring that closer to the midpoint.
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The Lampasas Independent School District met Monday to discuss the district’s fiscal year 2016 budget and proposed tax rates. “My idea was still to give everyone a tax break, but to make it 1 cent right now, and we could change it in a year if we need to,” board member Sam Walker said. “I think we are jumping the gun by dropping it 2 cents.”
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Marfa ISD is taking a proactive approach toward its potential Chapter 41 status, which would classify the district as a “rich” school. Chief Financial Officer Victoria Sanchez discussed with the board of trustees at the June 15 meeting five different options they could possibly choose for the Chapter 41 status and heavily stressed that the board should consider each option carefully as three of them would have permanent repercussions.
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The Dallas Independent School District presented a draft version of a comprehensive plan for facilities and academic improvement to the board of trustees on Thursday. The long-range plan, which calls for $1.5 billion in funding, would be directed at school choice, pre-k expansion and career readiness, according to DISD officials.
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Duncanville ISD thought it was getting a great deal when, one year ago this month, it switched electric providers and signed on with the State Power Program through the state's General Land Office. Just like that, Duncanville ISD's price-per-kilowatt hour dropped almost 20 percent, from 7.3 cents to a maximum of 6 cents.
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The Comal Independent School District is paying off bond debt early in an effort to save taxpayers money. The district's board of trustees voted Thursday night to pay off $6.5 million in bond debt ahead of schedule.
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