School board OKs pay increases for teachers

After more than two years of budget cuts, staff reductions and no pay increases for teachers, Georgetown ISD can loosen its purse strings a bit.

"The last two years have really been very difficult with the budget reductions and staff reductions that we had to make," Superintendent Joe Dan Lee said. "So this has been a little bit more pleasant spring as we get into the planning process for next year."

Lee said the district will spend the summer planning for the next school year, including looking at campus policies and procedures, new programs, continued construction projects and the budget.

Board of trustees President Scott Alarcon said the board would begin strategic planning in the fall and spring.

"You're going to see the school board begin to really dive into [creating the] district of choice and what that would mean," Alarcon said. "I think we are finally back to a place where we can start looking forward, meaning beyond what is right in front of us. We are not having to be as reactionary. Our funding has stabilized."

Budget

In mid-June the board of trustees will approve the district's more than $81 million general fund budget, which includes additional state revenue that had been cut in the previous two years, Lee said.

"I think a part of the issue that people need to know is even though it appears [there is] some significant improvement in the dollars put into the funding mechanism at the state level, it's not going to make a significant difference at GISD," he said. "The good news is we are going to be able to maintain everything we are doing and move forward without any further reductions, but the bad news is we are not going to be able to add back any of the positions that were reduced, simply because there's not adequate resources to do so."

Interim Chief Financial Officer Steve West said the district will be getting back about $1.3 million of the more than $7.2 million in funding cuts from the past biennium. The Texas Legislature approved its budget May 27 that included the additional funding for GISD; however, additional revenue from local tax dollars raised through increased property values will actually decrease state funding from the previous year, West said.

"Preliminary taxable values grew by over $330 million since last year to just over $6.2 billion," West said. "Property value growth generates more taxes; however, the district's general fund does not benefit from the additional tax collections because of lost state aid."

West said the state's equalization formula basically means every dollar raised in local taxes means a dollar less in state aid.

For instance, in the 2012–13 budget, Georgetown raised about $59 million in local taxes and received nearly $15 million in state aid. With its projected taxable values increasing, West estimates the district could raise more than $62 million in taxes and receive about $13.3 million in state aid in 2013–14. Without the additional funds from the Legislature, West said he estimates the district would have gotten about $12 million in state aid for the 2013–14 budget.

At the board's May 20 meeting, West presented a proposed budget, which included a 3 percent salary increase for nonadministrative staff, a 1 percent increase for administrative staff, $50,000 for library books and resources, and $50,000 to restart the district's drug testing program.

Lee said some of the funding for the budget increases comes from the 4 cent tax ratification election, or TRE, that was approved by voters in October.

"The TRE has allowed us to do what we said we were going to do. This is the first [pay] increase they've received in four years," he said. "That's less than 1 percent per year when you average it out, but it's all the resources that we have available. We were permitted to get our classroom teachers an increase in compensation, and we are going to be able to do that within the framework of this budget."

Campus improvements

Lee said the district also plans to break ground on its 11th elementary school campus in spring 2014 in the expanded Teravista neighborhood north of Westinghouse Road.

The school would likely open for the 2015–16 school year, and funding for its construction would come from the 2010 bond and should have no effect on the district's tax rate, he said.

Improvements and renovations at Georgetown High School are also expected to be completed this summer.

Construction began in 2011 to enlarge the cafeteria and library as well as add science labs, classroom space and reconfigure the campus's hexagonal hallway.

GISD spokesman Brad Domitrovich said a rededication ceremony for the school could be held in early August.

"It's been a great three-year project," Lee said. "We're nearing the end, and we're excited about that."

With the renovations, GISD will be moving Richarte High School, a self-paced academic alternative school, to the GHS annex.

Lee said the alternative program will occupy a quadrant of the building, which will give the school more classrooms, science labs and access to the gym and cafeterias.

College and career readiness

While still focusing on four-year college preparedness, the district has also made moves to expand the career-readiness model that would allow students not interested in attending a four-year college to receive training in a variety of career and technical education, or CTE, programs, Lee said.

In 2012, the district expanded its science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, program through a grant from the Georgetown Economic Development Corp.

"[Students] can walk out of either one of our high schools with some kind of license or certification that makes them employable," Lee said. "Even if they are going to seek further certifications or even go to a four-year college, it gives them a skill to use to earn money while going to college."

The district also plans for the first time to offer 10 students at each high school the chance to earn an EMT certification in the 2013–14 school year, Lee said.

"I call it career exploration. It gives them an opportunity to decide if that's what they want to do for the rest of their lives," Lee said. "[Our] No. 1 goal is to prepare graduates. My definition of a prepared graduate is a student that when they graduate from one of our high schools, they can walk down any path they choose within their capabilities."

Georgetown ISD incorporates technology in the classroom

Georgetown ISD began a program in February to equip all instruction staff members, including teachers, librarians and some other staff, with iPads for use with students and in the classroom. Since February more than 550 iPads have been given out and about 100 more are expected to be given in July, Educational Technology Coordinator Kim Garcia said.

"That will complete our iPad initiative for the instructional staff," she said.

The program is expected to help increase student engagement, Garcia said.

"That's our No. 1 goal. So by purchasing and distributing iPads to each teacher, we want them to come up with new, innovative and effective ways to teach and learn using technology," she said. "We know that students have a lot of mobile devices outside of the classroom, so they are using smartphones and tablets in their personal learning. By bringing that into the classroom, we hope to engage them with the tools they are already using in their own lives."

Garcia said teachers have used the iPad to download applications that allow students interact with teachers using their own devices.

"The iPad has free apps to engage the students to interact and ask questions," she said.

The district had previously used Title 1 funds, which are provided to give financial assistance to schools with high percentages of economically disadvantaged students, to purchase iPads for intervention specialists, who step in to help children who are in danger of falling behind, she said.

BYOD initiative

Beginning in the 2013–14 school year, middle and high school students will be allowed to bring their own smartphones and tablets to school for certain classes.

The Bring Your Own Device initiative will bring more technology into the classroom, GISD Educational Technology Coordinator Kim Garcia said, and allow students to use things with which they are already comfortable.

"We will be training our teachers on that throughout the summer so they will be ready to engage the students," she said. "The teacher decides when it is appropriate to use those devices in the classroom."