EDUCATION BRIEFS
News from Cy-Fair ISD & Lone Star College System
Cy-Fair ISD board of trustees The next meeting is scheduled for Sept. 12 at 6 p.m. at 10300 Jones Road, Houston, and will be livestreamed at www.cfisd.net. Lone Star College System The next meeting is scheduled for Sept. 8 at 5 p.m. and will be livestreamed via Zoom. www.lonestar.edu/trustees MEETINGS WE COVER SYSTEM The Lone Star College System board of trustees voted to accept the proposed $411.8 million budget for 2022-23, showing increases in both revenue and expenditures with no change to the total tax rate during an Aug. 11 meeting. LSCS Chief Financial Officer Jennifer Mott said there has been an increase in revenue of $25.2 million while maintaining a property tax rate of $0.1078 per $100 of valuation. LSCS Chancellor Stephen Head said the college is down around 2.8% in credit hours going into the fall semester, or around $5 million in revenue. QUOTE OF NOTE “THESE RESULTS SHOW OUR STATE’S SIGNIFICANT INVESTMENT IN THE POST-PANDEMIC ACADEMIC RECOVERY OF TEXAS PUBLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS IS BEARING FRUIT.” TEXAS EDUCATION AGENCY COMMISSIONER MIKE LOCAL HIGHLIGHTS CY-FAIR ISD The Texas Education Agency released the 2021-22 accountability ratings for school districts across the state Aug. 15. Cy-Fair ISD received an A for the 2021-22 school year with 90 out of 100 possible points. According to the TEA, the overall district rating measures whether students are ready for the next grade level and how well the district prepares students for success after high school. Out of the 87 CFISD campuses that received ratings, 30 earned an A; 48 earned a B; and nine earned a C. Districts were not rated for the past two school years due to the impact of COVID-19 on public schools statewide, but CFISD received a B rating in 2018-19. LONE STAR COLLEGE MORATH ON STATEWIDE ACCOUNTABILITY RATINGS
Cy-Fair ISD parents get more input on book access
BY MIKAH BOYD
CY-FAIR ISD An updated policy in Cy-Fair ISD is designed to provide transparency to parents about library books and ensure students access books that are age-appropriate. The board unanimously approved the changes Aug. 8. The new policy allows parents to opt out of allowing their child to check out books from their campus library or prohibit them from checking out books by certain authors. Parents can also access a list of books their child has checked out and communicate to their campus librarian what they will allow their child to read. This policy includes the cataloging of books into juvenile, young adult and adult categories. This applies to all books in libraries, classrooms and the digital book database. “In this recommended policy, parents will make the decision whether they want their students to have access to not just the default level but also maybe the next level,” Chief Academic Officer Linda Macias said at an Aug. 4 work session. “For example, at middle school, the default level would be the juvenile level, but if parents also wanted their kids to have access to the young adult level, they would have to opt in to that.” At the Aug. 8 meeting, parents, teachers and community members expressed their concerns around the timing of this policy as teachers were initially expected to catalog their
classroom libraries by the start of the school year Aug. 22. While cataloging was underway, students would have only been able to access books that were properly cataloged.
“IF THIS DISTRICT WANTS TO EDUCATE KIDS, THEN LET US READ FROM DAY ONE.” VERONIKA SKODA, CY-FAIR ISD SIXTH-GRADER
“There’s always a lot of work at the beginning of the school year, so the labeling of thousands of books adds more work than there should be. That’s why it would make more sense to wait until later in the year to change the library rules,” CFISD sixth-grader Veronika Skoda said. “The fact that only a handful of people who want books banned changes the way that schools read is far from fair. If this district wants to educate kids, then let us read from day one.” Board members ultimately pushed back the rollout date to Nov. 15, allowing teachers more time to catalog books. Under this new timeline, all books are available starting the first day of school.
School board adopts new speaker policies
70% of Texas teachers considered quitting
BY HANNAH NORTON
SURVEY SAYS… A recent survey of Texas educators found many are at risk of leaving the profession due to workload and compensation concerns. 70% OF TEACHERS were “seriously considering” quitting after the 2021-22 school year. 11.5% OF TEACHERS left their jobs at Texas public schools before the 2021- 22 school year. When adjusted for inflation, TEACHERS MADE $2,150 LESS on average in 2022 than in 2012. 1 IN 4 TEXAS EDUCATORS holds a secondary job during the school year, while 55% had jobs during summer break. 85% OF EDUCATORS believe state leaders have a negative view of teachers. SOURCES: TEXAS STATE TEACHERS ASSOCIATION, TEXAS EDUCATION AGENCY, NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION/COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER during the 2023 legislative session. According to Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar, lawmakers will have an extra $27 billion to spend thanks to unexpectedly high state revenue. “We think [lawmakers] should spend a good amount of that money for significant increases in support of public schools,” Robison said.
TEXAS More Texas teachers are considering leaving the field than any time in the last 42 years, according to the Texas State Teachers Association. At the end of the 2021-22 school year, 70% of teachers were “seriously considering” quitting their jobs, according to new survey results from the TSTA. This is an increase from 2018, when 53% of teachers reportedly considered leaving the field. The survey was based on the responses of 688 teachers. Many teachers are still feeling increased stress from the pandemic, but reports showed low salaries and pressure from parents and state officials also hurt teachers. Approximately 11.5% of teach- ers left their jobs at Texas public schools before the 2021-22 school year, according to a report from the Texas Education Agency. That is over 42,000 teachers, which was the highest attrition rate since the 2007- 08 school year, when the TEA began collecting annual data. TSTA Public Affairs Specialist Clay Robison said he believes lawmakers should focus on funding schools
BY MIKAH BOYD
CY-FAIR ISD District officials unveiled new policies for public comments at board meetings with the Aug. 1 release of the August meeting agenda. Previous guidance allowed community members to sign up for a chance to speak between 5:30-5:50 p.m. on the day of the meeting. The updated policy requires patrons to register online by noon on the day of the meeting. Registration opens the day board agendas are posted online. To comment on agenda items, patrons must click the “Register to Speak” link listed under the agenda item of interest and complete the form. Meeting attendees may speak about topics not included in the agenda by registering for “Citizen Participation,” but this portion of the meeting is capped at 30 speakers. Public comments are still limited to two minutes when there are 15 or fewer speakers per agenda item or during citizen participation. When 16 or more speakers are reg- istered, comments will be limited to one minute.
21
CYPRESS EDITION • SEPTEMBER 2022
Powered by FlippingBook