The overview
One position will be for the Pearland Essential and Academic Readiness Skills program, or PEARS, which provides support for students who require direct, explicit instruction on an alternative curriculum, according to the district’s website.
The new PEARS position will be at Barbara Cockrell Elementary. In total, the school has two PEARS classes with 16 students—one of whom requires one-on-one attention, documents show.
The new position will “provide better coverage of student needs,” according to district documents.
What else?
The other position approved is a new resource or inclusion teacher at Silverlake Elementary.
The teacher-to-student caseload is 1:28, with eight additional students in the process of initial evaluation. This addition of students will exceed the recommended ratio, according to district documents.
The cost
The two new positions will cost the district nearly $108,000 and will come from its general fund for fiscal year 2025-26, district documents note.
The resource or inclusion teacher will cost nearly $76,000, and the PEARS aide will cost over $32,000, according to district documents.
