- New trustees sworn into office
Ashley Vann, Courtney Doyle and William "Bill" Lacy were sworn into their roles as trustees for positions 3, 4 and 5, respectively. Vann and Doyle were reelected while Lacy defeated Position 5 incumbent Henry Dibrell by 858 votes. Vann was elected to president of the board, Doyle was elected to vice president and trustee Charles Griffin was elected to secretary.
"Henry, really I just want to say thank you. Thank you for your past years—six years of service on this board," trustee Bryan Michalsky said. "I believe this district has come a long way during that, and you have been very instrumental [to] that."
2. District buying back nearby bank building
Trustees approved the $2.4 million purchase of Brazos Valley Schools Credit Union's Katy location at 438 FM 1463. The school district is floating possible uses for the nearly 15,000-square-foot building. The land was previously owned by the district before the credit union acquired it, said KISD Chief Operations Officer Lee Crews.
Crews and Superintendent Lance Hindt said potential uses include human resources or payroll offices, early childhood programs and a space for the Katy ISD Education Foundation.
“I can guarantee you we’ll put it to good use, and before we occupy the space with any department or program, we’ll bring it back to the board so that you guys are [informed]," Hindt said to the board.
Brazos Valley Schools Credit Union is constructing a new Katy branch and multiple KISD employees are members of the credit union, according to the company's 2017 annual meeting report and KISD spokesperson Maria DiPetta.
3. Financial transparency website updated
District staff highlighted new information on its financial transparency website. The financial transparency website has been updated piecemeal since 2007, DiPetta said, but its information must be updated for the public according to requirements by the Office of the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts.
New additions include most of the website's section on debt, as well as new links to the comptroller's and to the Teacher Retirement System of Texas' websites. DiPetta said that pages with information regarding expenditures, revenue, personnel counts and the district tax rate were also updated with new visual aides.
KISD announced May 9 that it was recognized by the comptroller's Transparency Stars program in the category of "Traditional Finances."
*Editor's note: This story has been corrected to clarify that Katy ISD previously owned the land on which Brazos Valley Schools Credit Union built its Katy branch, not the building itself.
