AISD Superintendent highlights challenges, achievements in annual address

Despite challenges, she said the district has made many achievements in the past few years, including:

Districtwide graduation rates reached an all-time high of 82.5 percent in 2012.

AISD achieved its goal of improving attendance by one percentage point, generating $5.3 million in additional state funding for the district.

In the class of 2012, economically disadvantaged, Hispanic and African-American students all saw double-digit graduation rate gains.

There was a 65 percent reduction in the overall number of discretionary removals throughout the district in 2013.

In the first year under the new state standardized testing system, 110 of AISD's 123 schools met the state standard and 55 schools earned academic distinctions, though not all schools met the standards, and AISD is implementing improvement plans at those campuses.

Carstarphen said AISD is also planning to improve its buildings and equipment to facilitate better education for students with the nearly $490 million in voter-approved funds from the May 2013 bond election. She noted that although the bond passed, it is "tied up" in court because of a challenge by the Travis County Taxpayers Union, and unless the judge rules in favor of the district, it cannot use those dollars.

"We're at the mercy of the courts, so what we hope is that there will be a decision sometime during this school year so that we can then use the dollars ... an entire year later, for the 2014–15 school year," she told Community Impact Newspaper. "Until the judge decides, we don't have any influence other than to present our case."

As the district continues to develop its facility master plan, it will look to address areas not supported by the bond program, including career and technical education and athletics.

"As part of good stewardship, it will mean possibly changing transfer policies and practices. School boundary changes are likely to be considered as well as we better utilize our existing school infrastructure," Carstarphen said in her address. "We will be looking at future facilities' needs in the context of changing enrollment patterns. While some schools are overcrowded, the district's overall enrollment has dropped this year."

AISD must work to find a balanced solution to fund its priorities, including maintaining competitive salaries for teachers, she said.

This year, Carstarphen's annual insights came in the form of a 30-minute video highlighting data, students' academic performance and appearances by AISD staff and others. The video will be posted online at www.austinisd.org/sod.

During the video, Michael Marder, executive director of the University of Texas at Austin science program, noted the achievements of low income students and said graduation rates among the group have increased significantly in the past five years. He added Austin graduation rates overall are above those of Houston and Dallas.

Marder noted the state legislature recently made major changes to high school graduation plans, removing chemistry, physics and algebra II from the list of courses every student is required to take.

Passed by the 83rd legislature, HB 5 revises the graduation program for students entering ninth grade in the 2014–15 school year and all subsequent years. As part of the revisions, students will have to choose areas of concentration, or "endorsements," which they will take specific courses to complete.

The SBOE approved algebra II as a required course for some endorsements, such as science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, but not all of them.

"Austin has laid a great foundation for all its students to be ready for real for college and career," Marder said. "If we in Austin pull together and support our public schools, there is no reason they cannot keep pushing forward and set an even better example for the state and for the nation."