Board members also discussed adding items related to equal funding and accountability to the list.
The overview
Ahead of the legislative session beginning in January, PISD officials and board members reviewed and discussed legislative priorities they want the state to consider.
Along with reviewing priorities with officials, the list was curated by a number of listening circles held since May, in which parents, community members, a special programs parent group and the District Educational Improvement Committee discussed priorities for the district ahead of the legislative session, according to district documents.
According to district documents, the following four items are listed as priorities for PISD:
- Teacher retention, support and policy involvement: Advocate for state policies such as increased compensation, lower health care costs and professional growth opportunities. The priority also emphasizes giving a voice to teacher concerns with proposed curriculum changes. Other changes include helping the Teacher Retirement System reduce health care costs.
- School safety, behavioral support and parental involvement: Advocate for increased funding to match safety mandates passed in recent years, increased student behavioral support with certain policy adjustments, teacher training on effective classroom management and access to immediate behavioral intervention resources. Changes include establishing a funding stream for school safety and student management, as well as support hiring more school resource officers, among other additions.
- Adequate funding to enhanced student support systems: Advocate for increased state funding to ensure smaller class sizes, especially for students with higher needs, and expanded early childhood supports to address learning gaps early. Officials will also push for access to quality instructional materials, technology and extracurricular programs, regardless of location or size of the school. Items include increasing the basic student allotment of $6,160.
- Curriculum flexibility and reform of high-stakes State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, or STAAR, testing: Support legislation that reduces the emphasis on high-stakes STAAR testing, allowing for greater flexibility in curriculum design and implementation. Empower teachers to work on lessons that go beyond test preparation and emphasize college and careers. Changes include evaluating students and schools in metrics such as student growth, teacher retention, extracurricular and school climate, among other metrics.
A few trustees, including trustee Kris Schoeffler, recommended adding language about equal funding and accountability for school vouchers.
“Our costs go up just like your household costs go up, but we rely on the government every two years to decide if we get more money or not; we can’t just ask for a raise,” Schoeffler said at the meeting. “I do believe that public schools can out-compete a lot of private entities if given equal funding for an equal number of kids.”
Superintendent Larry Berger said while vouchers have been discussed when going over legislative priorities, he didn’t want to include language on it to prevent “being difficult with what is going on in the legislative session, and go head on with the vouchers.” However, he agreed to add a statement in the action list noting the district wants equal funding if vouchers are approved.
While board President Crystal Carbone said she didn’t have any opposition to adding language regarding vouchers and accountability, she noted the community members within the listening circles didn’t have concerns on school vouchers.
“Really the concern of the community is not about [vouchers] at all; it’s about being as prepared as possible, having the best amount of school safety, behavioral support and enhanced funding to further the benefit of Pearland ISD,” Carbone said at the meeting.
