The Katy ISD board of trustees discussed numerous agenda items and identified its legislative priorities during its Sept. 19 work study meeting.[/caption]The Katy ISD board of trustees held its September work study meeting Monday night.
Throughout the nearly two-hour session, the group discussed numerous agenda items to be considered for future board approval. Eleven items have been moved to the consent agenda for next Monday’s regular board meeting, while several others will remain as discussion and action items that call for further deliberation.
1. KISD identifies legislative priorities
The board listened to a report from district officials that detailed KISD’s priorities heading into the next state legislative session that is set to begin in January. These priorities include governance, assessment, accountability and finance.
The board is expected to charter a board advisory subcommittee at its Sept. 26 meeting that would discuss, review and further develop the district’s specific legislative priorities. Sergeant-at-Arms Henry Dibrell and members George Scott and Charles Griffin are expected to be named to the subcommittee. The group will be tasked with conducting a community feedback survey.
“I’m very excited to have had discussion here at the board table about developing our legislative committee and having some board members who will bring us a charter next week to talk about,” said Rebecca Fox, the board’s president. “We’ll be able to proceed with that process and get our community’s feedback on what they believe are educational priorities, and then we can take that to our legislators.”
2. District of Innovation
The board discussed but did not move to next Monday’s consent agenda a resolution that would initiate the process of designating KISD as a District of Innovation under House Bill 1842.
According to the Texas Association of School Boards, a DOI designation affords independent public school districts many of the privileges available to the state’s open-enrollment charter institutions. Benefits of becoming a DOI include local control, customization, autonomy and flexibility.
According to the Texas Education Agency, there are currently 31 Districts of Innovation statewide.
“As a superintendent, I would certainly like to have some flexibility with the start date and how we develop our school year and what we do to best meet the needs of our teachers and our students,” said KISD Superintendent Lance Hindt.
3. Elementary school class size
The board agreed to its future approval of Hindt submitting a waiver application to the State Commissioner of Education regarding KISD’s elementary schools that exceed the state’s class size limit. Texas’ permissible elementary school student-to-teacher ratio is 22:1.
According to KISD officials, seven of the district’s elementary campuses exceed the limit. Schools at risk of violating the ratio during this school year would also be included in the waiver application.
4. Tax rates
The board is expected to adopt the district’s proposed 2016-17 tax rates next Monday. The proposed rates are $1.1266 for Maintenance and Operations and 39 cents for Debt Services for a total of $1.5166 per $100 valuation.
The Debt Services rate dropped 1 cent prior to the 2015-16 school year after remaining at 40 cents since the 2007-08 school year.
5. Designations
The board is considering two proclamations.
Though they will again appear in the discussion and action section of next Monday’s meeting agenda, proclamations adopting the statewide Oct. 12 Texas Education Human Resources Day and October Principals Month are expected to be approved by the board.
