District to order. Today is Monday, February 27, 2023, and the time is 4.59 p.m.
Katy ISD · Regular Board Meeting Agenda
Katy ISD Regular Board Meeting, February 27, 2023
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In this meeting
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- 0:01 to 5:12 1. Call to Order
- 5:12 to 9:27 3. Recognitions
- 9:27 to 37:17 4. Public Comment/Citizen Participation
- 37:17 to 37:43 5. Closed Meeting
- 37:43 to 38:59 6. Reconvene from Closed Meeting
- 38:59 to 46:55 7.1 Community Bond Advisory Committee Update
- 46:55 to 1:03:06 7.2 Strategic Design 1.3 Elementary Literacy Update
- 1:03:06 to 1:26:29 7.3 Elementary STAAR Testing
- 1:26:29 to 1:46:23 7.4 2023-2024 Budget Update
- 1:46:23 to 1:49:57 8.1 Discuss and consider Board approval of an Order Authorizing the Issuance of Katy Independent School District Unlimited Tax School Building and/or Refunding Bonds as Fixed Rate Bonds in one or more series; setting certain parameters for the bonds; authorizing a Pricing Officer to approve the amount, the interest rate, price, including the terms thereof and certain other procedures and provisions related thereto.
- 1:49:57 to 1:51:03 8.2 Discuss and consider Board approval of a Resolution Expressing Intent to Defease/Redeem Certain of the District's Outstanding Bonds.
- 1:51:03 to 1:53:17 8.3 Discuss and consider Board approval of the Resolution Declaring Intention to Reimburse Project Expenditures.
- 1:53:17 to 1:55:45 8.4 Discuss and consider Board approval of Amendment One to the Stewart Builders, Inc. contract related to the renovations at Hutsell Elementary School.
- 1:55:45 to 2:01:30 8.5 Discuss and consider Board approval of the renewal of the Texas Association of School Boards (TASB) Risk Management Fund Casualty Program for Plan Year 2023-2024.
- 2:01:30 to 2:03:30 8.6 Discuss and consider Board approval of an amendment to the 2022-2023 Instructional Calendar to add a student and staff holiday on April 10, 2023.
- 2:03:30 to 2:08:19 9. Consent
- 2:08:19 to 2:08:28 10.1 Donated Items to Katy Independent School District
- 2:08:28 to 2:10:17 10.2 Recap of Board member requests for Information.
- 2:10:17 to 2:10:38 11. Future Meetings
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1. Call to Order
Dr. Gagorski, will you verify that we are in compliance with the provisions of the Texas Open
Meetings Act with regard to notice of this meeting? Mr. Schulte, I do confirm we are in
compliance with the provisions of the Texas Open Meetings Act for our meeting this evening.
Thank you, and I'll proceed to the Pledges of Allegiance. Dr. Gagorski?
You bet. Thank you. I'm going to go ahead and invite up a special guest. I see him sitting
in the front row there so june park if you come to the podium come on up front i'm going to say
a few things then i'm going to turn it over to you uh so june's a fifth grader over at wilson
principal shea harwell i see his folks over there alex park and jin young kim
student special interests basketball favorite subjects science math and social studies
a couple of notes from his teachers a quote from miss chilton fifth grade teacher so june is an
outstanding student that is self who is self motivated respectful to everyone
and is always eager to learn he is very responsible and likes to tackle
challenging assignments I can always count on him to participate in class he
often likes to demonstrate different ways to solve math problems so June is a
joy to be around and I am so thankful I get to be his teacher this year and from
Miss Fox student council lead he is a thoughtful and kind person who lights up
up a room with his smile.
So thank you for joining us.
If we'll all please stand, and you can go ahead
and lead us in the pledges.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America
and to the republic for which it stands, one nation,
under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all.
honor the Texas flag I pledge allegiance to the taxes one state under God one indivisible
Good evening, President Schultz, board members, and Superintendent Gregorski.
My name is Sejun Park, and I'm president of the Wilson Elementary Student Council.
My hobbies are playing basketball and reading.
My favorite subject is math. It's my first year of living in Katy and I'm new to
Wilson Elementary too. Since it's my first year I can tell you about good
things at Wilson Elementary in newcomers perspective. First, teachers are kind and
they really help us to fit into our spaces at school. They also help us when
when we are troubled on something.
Secondly, there are so many good friends.
They're honest, kind, and do their best at everything.
Least and most important, I mean, last and most importantly,
school lunches are awesome.
Cafeteria staffs are always so nice to us.
Because of these reasons, I think
I'm super lucky to be here at Wilson Elementary.
elementary. Thank you for listening.
You get a special gift.
So there's only about eight or nine kids who get to do this per year. So you're one of those very special
students who gets to do this and here's your certificate and I love it that you've had a great year and I think Wilson is
also very privileged to have you as their student also.
So congratulations for achieving this and being picked to do this,
and you represented your school very well.
Thank you.
Congratulations.
Great job.
Before we move on to the recognition portion of the evening, do we have any scouts present?
I thought I might have saw one.
Do we have any scouts present?
Can you please come up?
There we go.
Yes, please come up.
Can you introduce yourself? What troop you are and what badges that you're working on? What rank you are?
Yeah. My name is Caden Rivera. I am a life scout and I am working on citizenship in the community,
communications, and personal fitness. What troop are you from? 424. Excellent. Thank you very much.
You're welcome.
3. Recognitions
We'll now proceed to the recognition portion of the evening.
Dr. Grigorski.
At this time, I'd like to introduce Maria DiPetta, General Manager for Media Relations
for the recognitions portion of our meeting.
Good evening, President Schulte, trustees, and Superintendent Grigorski.
We begin tonight with the University Interscholastic League, which has a long and exciting history
of academic and athletic excellence through competition. Seven Lakes High
School junior and congressional debate squad captain Fethiel Lawal earned the
honor of becoming the 6A UIL Congress state champion. He spent numerous hours
at UT Austin and the Texas State Capitol modeling a session of the US House of
Representatives debating various items of legislature across a wide array of
topics his this victory is the second state championship in congressional
debate and the third UIL speech and debate championship in the past three
years for Seven Lakes High School at this time I'd like to ask him as well as
his coaches Bryce Petrowski and Caitlin Kavler to please come forward in honor
of this accomplishment
Let's give them a round of applause.
Congratulations.
Let's give them one more round of applause.
There it is.
Ray?
Ray Cortes, can you come?
The certificate appeared.
This concludes the recognitions portion of this evening's meeting.
I'm going to go ahead and as is customary when we hire some new principals, we always
bring them into the board meeting and introduce those folks.
And I'm going to do that this evening and recognize a few new principals we have with
us.
like to first ask Jason Souders to go ahead and please stand and be recognized
new principal of Leonard Elementary where's Jason there you go
Jason did you bring any guests with you this evening
Awesome. Thank you, Jason.
I also see over in that same area over there Brent Youngblood, who is our new principal at Haskett Junior High. Brent, you'd stand to be recognized.
Brent, who do you have with you today?
Awesome. All right. Thank you, Brent. Appreciate that. And lastly, in the same area over there,
you will find, if Dr. David Paz would please stand up, the new principal at Pato High School.
David, who do you got with you over there?
well my wife Elizabeth, my son Hayden, who's a student that has to be juniorized, and then my daughter, who's going to be doing it in fourth grade, is more branched.
Awesome. Thank you all for coming out. I appreciate that.
Thank you. Congratulations. We'll now proceed into the public comment and citizen participation portion of the meeting.
4. Public Comment/Citizen Participation
The public participation section includes two categories.
Category 1 is for speakers that sign up to speak on posted agenda items.
And Category 2 is for speakers signing up to speak on non-posted agenda items.
Speakers who sign up to speak on posted agenda items will be allowed three minutes to speak.
For speakers who sign up to speak on non-posted agenda items,
a maximum of 30 minutes has been allocated,
with the dime divided equally among all those who have signed up.
However, the maximum amount of time any one speaker is allocated is three minutes.
If the speaker is not finished speaking at the end of your three minutes, the audio will turn off.
If the speaker's wish to share written material with the board,
you must provide ten copies to the Secretary for Board Services before the meeting begins for board members,
the superintendent, the chief communications officer, and permanent record. If the speaker has not attempted to solve a matter
administratively through proper channels as stated in board policy, the presiding officer's designee shall advise the speaker to seek resolution through the appropriate policy.
Finally, pursuant to the Texas Government Code Section 551074 and 5510821, the Board will not permit the presentation of personally identifiable information regarding a student and will not discuss the appointment, employment, evaluation, reassignment, duties, discipline, or dismissal of a public officer or employee or hear a complaint or charge against an officer or employee.
Should a speaker wish to address one of these issues, they must do so through the appropriate local grievance policies, FNG local, DGBA local, CKE local, or GF local.
We had no speakers sign up to speak on posted agenda items tonight, so we're going to move on to category two, which is speakers who sign up to speak on non-posted agenda items.
By policy, a maximum of 30 minutes has been allocated with the time divided equally among those who signed up.
Each speaker will have two minutes and nine seconds to speak the first speaker tonight is Philip Haddad
And the second speaker tonight is John Oh here Oh Hearn
Is Philip Haddad yes, good evening
Thank you for allowing me to speak tonight I've spoken now I think this is my fourth or fifth time about the Morton Ranch High School
band program and
Please everyone in the audience write this number down. It's 832
515-5115. That's 832-515-5115. This is for a non-KDICT employee, second mention his name,
is for Gabe Mucella, who is assistant music director at the UIL. On December
22nd, I had a conversation with Mr. Mucella, who told me the practices of the Katy
Morton Ranch High School, their band program, and their booster club are
illegal. And I've never, and I've sought, I have sought to go through the
channels here nobody does anything so for all you who have students who are being um
non-exempt for their test or are not allowed to take part in their um school activities 832-515-5115
it's gabe mucilla um hopefully i pray that either fort bend isd or harris county isd district
attorney will take my cause as I've turned over to them because you continue
to not address the problem of breaking the law on how you do exemptions I thank
you very much for your time have a good day thank you the next speaker tonight
is John O'Hearn apologize if I'm saying that long and the speaker after that is
Daxos Niosi good evening good evening and thank you my name is John O'Hearn I
am the head swim coach at Pato High School I'm also a US history teacher
there. Pato High School is an incredible school. It is filled with many diverse
ethnic backgrounds that are different from different parts of KDISD. And
today I'm here to talk about the removal of Mindy Dickerson as president or
president sorry principal of Pato High School. KDISD is a diverse district
filled with lots of different kids and each kid needs something different. But I
I think above all, they need belief that they can actually
grow and do better.
The lack of social-emotional learning,
the lack of opportunities for our students
to grow through many different struggles and fights
we've had this year has unfortunately
been reflected on one of our leaders, who I believe firmly
and deeply believed in the growth of our students.
I don't ask for any sort of explanation.
I don't believe that I am due that as a regular employee.
All I ask is for a chance for our former principal to say goodbye and for our
students to have a chance to move on from a leader that was so impactful to
our school because that was not given to us and again I'm not asking for any sort
of reasoning I don't believe that's fair or needed what I'm asking for is a
chance for a former leader who believed deeply in the growth of our students and
somebody that I believe was a very big part of our community have a chance to
help us move forward. I believe in Dr. Paz, I believe in what he's going to be
doing for our school. I'm thankful for his presence there and I fully believe
that Pato has a lot of great things in his future. I just want to honor the past
that has already happened. Thank you. Thank you.
The next speaker tonight is Daxis Nasosi and the speaker after that is
Harshol Dikotty. Good evening. Good evening to the board and thank you for
this opportunity to speak tonight. My name is Daxis Nasosi. I'm a teacher at
at Pato High School and also your current secondary teacher
of the year for KDISD.
I come before you this evening to ask you
to please restore Mrs. Mindy Dickerson's reputation
and her legacy.
For more than 24 years, Mrs. Dickerson
has dedicated her life to the district.
She has built a legacy.
After all, isn't that our motto?
Be the legacy?
Pato High School is not that school.
school. We do not have the tick tock fights that you see the bathroom haircuts or the vaping or the drug use any more than any other school does in this district or around the Houston area. It's just that we have right social media that is out there that is defining what our school is as a former military man. I understand leadership changes and I eagerly look forward to working with our new principal Dr. David Paz. His leadership and resume are invaluable. So my critique is not
not about Dr. Paz.
I welcome his leadership, but on how
this transition was handled.
For KDISD, optics is everything.
Optics here were not good.
KDISD says they put students first,
but this decision did not have our students' interest
at heart.
They're sitting behind me now.
In fact, Mrs. Dickerson will miss Senior Awards Night,
induction, prom, and senior sunset, and graduation,
just to name a few.
And we are left to explain to our students why.
We still don't have answers.
And as Mr. O'Hearn says, we won't get them.
It seems as if policy in this district is being run by a few keyboard commandos on Facebook
rather than the stakeholders that are in the school building itself.
Tonight I stand to lift up the reputation of Pato and to lift up the reputation and
legacy of Mrs. Dickerson.
She has led this school with greatness and I hope for the future that KDISD will think
through the timing of leadership changes.
In the summer, great, that's fine.
Just not in the middle of the fourth six weeks and leave us to clean it up.
So tonight I ask you to allow Mrs. Dickerson to return to Pato for a formal send-off, for a clap-out or a rally.
She deserves that.
You owe this to her and her 24 years in this district.
You owe this to her.
Thank you.
Time is up.
Thank you.
Thank you.
The next speaker is, is this, are you Harshal Ducati?
Harshal Ducati.
Okay, thank you.
And the speaker after that is Adai Ducati.
Good evening.
Hi, I'm Harshal Ducati.
Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you all and contribute towards the ongoing introduction of water polo in KTISD.
I have led my state and national and university level water polo in India for more than 10 years.
I was very surprised when I came to KTISD with an expectation of providing exemplary education and opportunities for my kids that none of the schools offered water polo.
Knowing from my water polo friends around the states, not only many states such as California, Georgia, our neighboring cities such as Austin, Dallas, San Antonio, our neighboring towns such as Houston, Pureland, Cypress, but also our neighboring ISDs have successfully introduced this awesome game of water polo.
In this competitive environment, we need to provide opportunities to kids to explore sports that may not be common to many.
KDISD students are and will be found all around the world carrying the flag of great education system they come from.
Let's not lack them an opportunity to also excel in sports that are so common in other parts of the world as well as other parts of the United States.
I request you all to strongly consider introducing water polo to KT ISD.
What's interesting is there are already numerous kids within KT ISD who play at or above the level of all other ISD players, neighboring ISD players.
These KT students athletes are top ranked at Junior Olympics, a national event run by USA Water Polo.
They are also members of the Regional Olympic Development Zone team.
These are great players with a very promising future.
They are also kids hoping for a chance to achieve excellence as student athletes.
Many of them stand a chance at college scholarship or to get into a better college or a better situation if they are allowed to play at a UIL level.
Without the district support, they are not be able to...
Thank you. Thank you. Time's up. Thank you. Thank you.
The next speaker tonight is Adi Ducati, and the speaker after that is Arad Ducati.
Good evening.
Hello.
I'm Adi Ducati, and I'm a ninth grade student at Katy High School.
I've been doing competitive swimming for many years now,
and I was recently introduced to water polo by my dad, as he previously discussed.
There were no locations close to Katy to practice the sport,
but eventually we joined the West Houston Water Polo Club.
It's a 30 minute commute daily, which is a bit, but the sport is still worth it.
And now that I'm in high school, I wish that my high school would have water polo so I
can play for my school team.
Because many other districts and areas in Texas have water polo and compete in state
competitions such as UIL.
And many of our swim coaches in Katy ISD have played water polo, like the swim coach at
Katy High School, Coach Sifran, and Coach Slay.
I'm improving every day and I believe having a team to play in high school will be very beneficial and valuable to everyone's development.
And I know so many of my friends who like swimming but also wish to be in a team sport.
Water polo is a great sport for kids like me and them.
And even if you don't know the sport or competitively swim, it's easy to pick up and definitely worth it.
And time is running out for me and many others to play water polo in high school and get that advancement in college.
so I humbly request you to provide this opportunity for me and my friends by
introducing the sport in KDISD. Thank you. Thank you.
The next speaker tonight is Arav Ducati and speaker after that is Jason Asnar.
Good evening. Hello my name is Arav Ducati. I'm a sixth grade student in KDISD.
I've been a swimmer from a very young age. When my dad introduced me to water
polo it made being in water more exciting the game needs a player to be on a constant move
it's a test for both physical and mental agility i have realized how well i do in my school pe
since i started playing water polo i'm fortunate to have been introduced to this game way earlier
than my brother did i'm aspiring to be a key water polo player in high school and carry that on in my
college. All my swimmer friends that I talked to seem amazed with the game and
now I bet if they had the chance to try the game they will. Unfortunately since
it's not offered in KDISD yet it seems to be so unknown. I know friends who were
good swimmers but decided to quit because they got bored. If water polo was
an option I'm sure they would have taken the chance to learn and excel. It is my
sincere request to the board to consider starting water polo in KDISD schools.
Thank you.
The next speaker tonight is Jason Asnar. The speaker after that is Chloe Meyer.
Good evening. Good evening. Thank you for having me speak. My name is Jason Asnar.
I'm from a representative body known as the KDISD Robotics Alliance. I'm here
tonight to talk about an issue that a lot of people might not know about that
exists in our district and that's a lack of access in space at the Robert R. Schaaf Center.
Now while I'm very grateful for the Robert R. Schaaf Center being built, it's a very
great tool that everyone in the district uses, unfortunately there is not enough space.
Despite the fact the building is active on average 14 hours every single day, it serves every single
elementary district, it serves every single middle school district, and unfortunately only serves
some of the high schools in Katy ISD. The reasoning being is because, well put simply, there's eight
CLASSROOM SPACES OR BASE AND THERE'S ONLY SEVEN OF THEM BEING USED FOR ACTUAL
HIGH SCHOOLS AND ONE OF THEM IS BEING SHARED IN A SPACE. WELL WE HAVE WE'RE
OUGHT TO HAVE TEN HIGH SCHOOLS SO THAT MEANS WE HAVE THREE OF THEM THAT REALLY
DON'T HAVE FULL ACCESS AND EQUITABLE ACCESS TO THE RABBAH R. SHAW CENTER. SO I
ASK THIS PLEASE PUT OR CONSIDER PUTTING THE EXPANSION FOR THE RABBAH R. SHAW
CENTER ON THE NEXT K-DAS DEEP BOND. AS FAR AS I'VE BEEN MADE AWARE
may have been made aware there is plans already drawn up probably existing
somewhere in someone's filing cabinet for an expansion of the Robert R. Shaw
Center. So once again I ask that we put this issue on our next bond and give our
students, let us fund their future today so that we may expand tomorrow. Thank you.
Have a good day. Thank you. The next speaker tonight is Chloe Meyer and the
And the speaker after that is Mike Jones.
Good evening.
Good evening.
My name is Chloe Meyer, and I'm a senior at Tompkins and a Girl Scout ambassador.
My gold award is dedicated to those with chronic illnesses and invisible disabilities,
which cannot be seen by simply looking at someone, such as arthritis, type 1 diabetes, and epilepsy.
KDISD violates ADA Section 504 and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act,
which is a federal law that aims to provide equitable education for students with disabilities.
The homebound program in KDISD is designed for students with chronic or terminal illnesses that are hospitalized or homebound for over four weeks.
Students on this program have no peers and a support system is one of the most important aspects of recovery.
The district prohibits students on this program from engaging in any extracurricular activities.
This means no football games, no clubs, no prom.
This program is a last resort and I guarantee no student wants to be on a
program where you have 1 tenth the amount of instructional time as everyone
else and don't get to see your friends in classes because there are no peers or
classes. The isolation of being entirely alone at home or in the hospital
definitely takes a toll on your mental well-being and I missed out on endless
opportunities that ultimately hampered not only my social and mental well-being
but my applications for college. The district must revise this policy in
in order to support the academic and social journey
that KDISD promises to provide for students with disabilities
by allowing students to engage in extracurricular activity.
Just even sitting at a football game or a club meeting
once a month can help these students
maintain a sense of normalcy and facilitate
social involvement, which is a key factor in preventing
mental health issues while in treatment
for physical illnesses.
I propose that KDISD must provide an equitable
environment for disabled students
and give them a place to excel both academically and socially.
This way, KDIC can be the legacy for every student, not just abled ones.
Thank you for your time.
Thank you.
The next speaker is Mike Jones, and the speaker after that is Luther Mahler.
Good evening. My name is Mike Jones.
I'm an AP World History teacher at Pato High School.
I'm here to speak on Mindy Dickerson's removal from Pato High School.
Major changes in community culture have made educational expectations untenable
and directly led to Mindy's dismissal.
Dr. Ernest Trevino, an educational policy researcher,
recently wrote that schools have a limited capacity to enhance or change campus culture.
If this is true, why does the education system still expect teachers and administrators
to alter the attitudes and culture of the students?
Parents and social media are the most influential shapers of student attitudes and culture.
Raising a child is tough, and more often schools are required to foster student development.
If you want PHS to have a specific culture, we need the tools and support to implement it.
I suggest changes to combat the cultural challenges PAYTO has dealt with the last few years.
These changes come from Dr. Richard Greaves from the Brookings Institute.
Number one, boys should start a year later than girls.
This will allow boys another year to mature.
Two, the district should put special emphasis on hiring more male teachers.
Research shows that having more men in elementary schools leads to better behavior and academic achievement for all students.
Three, we can put more emphasis on dads on campus programs that increase exposure for successful male role models.
Number four, I would like to see the district create a new administrative position, the Chief Advocate Officer.
The CAO's purpose is to advocate for legislative changes that support students' and parents' development in specific capabilities.
If teachers and administrators are to effectively improve campus culture, we need help from parents and district leadership.
Until more support is provided, the removal of teachers or administrators is misguided and inappropriate.
appropriate. Thank you for your time and attention and go Panthers.
Thank you.
The next speaker tonight is Luther Mahler and the speaker after that is Kamiya Miller.
Good evening. You're next, Luther. Yeah.
Luther Mahler, you're next. I'm Jack Mahler, live in
Katy, Texas. Granddad, it
does me proud to see so many young students stand up and tell you what they think, teach them how to
work in the process of making changes and keeping things the way they like it.
Thank you for your great support for fine arts. The send-off of so many students going to
State UIL was wonderful. I'll be real short. I think we need to do a better job in public
relations. Please read what I wrote. I have 45 years K through college and we need to improve.
Superintendent Merrill gave me a book when I first met him.
Good, it should not be in the way of better.
I suggest that you read it.
We're good, but we can be better.
So please read it.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
The next speaker is Kamiya Miller.
The speaker after that is Ayaka Gokturk.
Good evening.
Good evening.
My name is Kamiya Miller and I'm a student at Pato High School and the Miller Career
and Technology Center.
I'm a class officer at Pato High School and thank you for this opportunity to speak tonight.
Mrs. Mindy Dickerson has been with the district for over 20 years.
In fact, she was the 2017-2018 School District Principal of the Year.
at Pato High School, which she opened.
Mrs. Dickerson has taken on more than a role as a principal.
We even call her Mama D.
Being a principal at an extremely diverse school
has not been easy for her and her staff to take on.
They have instructed and gave us discipline when we needed it.
Even going back to freshman year when they took away power hour,
they definitely did what they needed to do.
on behalf of class of 2023 i'm asking that mrs mindy dickerson gets to be on stage alongside
with dr david pause to hand off diplomas and shake our hands she's been with our community
for years and years and that's the least that we can ask for mrs dickerson has students at
our school and she's also taken on the role of being some of our parents mrs dickerson
did not need to do that and as Mr. Dickerson would lead and end her
conversations go Panthers thank you
thank you the next speaker is Aika Gokturk and apologize if I'm saying that
incorrectly no that's fine it's Aika thank you speaker tonight is Mary Ellen
Cuzela okay first of all thank you for giving us this opportunity my name is
Ayka Göktürk. As a water polo mom, I want to share my humble opinion with you
about KDISD not having water polo in our high schools. My son is now 13 years
old and he has been playing water polo since he's 8 years old. For us, KDISD
not having water polo in high schools means that his 8 years of efforts are
disappearing soon when he goes to high school. My son is a seventh grader at
Wood Creek Junior High. He goes to school at 6 45 a.m. for track, comes back home
around 5 p.m. After that he leaves. We leave for Water Polo at 6 30 p.m. and we
have to drive 30 minutes to Lamar ISD's high school and we're back home around
9 30 p.m. four days a week. This is just our journey and there are so many
journeys like ours. Please don't let everyone's efforts disappear for this
support and let water pull a girl in K diocese high schools thank you
good evening good evening hi my name is Mary Ellen Cuzela and I want to speak
about the online testing topic that some families and teachers have recently
brought to light first I want to applaud trustee Victor Perez and Don Champagne
for setting aside time to sit with elementary school parents and listen to
to their struggles and suggestions
to make the online testing situation better.
And thanks to Trustee Fox for being
willing to participate any other trustee involved
in this process.
I understand from the group of parents
that a student now has the option
to request a paper copy of a test.
But I'd like to ask that this be communicated to all parents
and staff and implemented in a consistent way
for all elementary campuses.
I'd like to ask that you also consider the option be made
made available to junior high.
I completely understand we need to help students navigate
in a digital world.
I also understand the district went
in the direction of online testing
because of the online STAAR Test requirements set by the state.
Still, I think we need to re-look at how digital testing
is rolled out in our classroom by speaking more with parents
and including teachers in the discussion.
I'd like to share a teacher's perspective.
This is straight from a junior high math teacher in KDISD,
and I share with her their permission.
students overwhelmingly breathe an audible sigh of relief every time I
announce that this test is on paper we have requested to have half of our tests
on paper because students have always had higher scores when they're on paper
the tests are on paper it's so easy to make mistakes when transcribing problems
to paper and answers to computers in a limited amount of time they make silly
mistakes and only have 45 minutes to take the test as opposed to star which
gives them unlimited time we often have connectivity issues during our fall exam
students could not connect to aware or it took 15 minutes or more to do so
which wasted valuable time and only increased their anxiety I had to end up
printing paper copies of the test we don't have enough computers for every
student so we're constantly needing to check out carts or borrow from other
teachers there should be a test should not be a testing requirement when we
don't have the computers or bandwidth to have so many students online I learned
far more about what my individual students do and don't understand by hand
grading their papers I'll have to stop thank you
and I apologize I think I skipped over a speaker it looks like I've been notified
is Jacob Johnson here I apologize good evening appreciate the opportunity to
address the board I'd like to speak in favor of water polo adopting water polo
is a sport for the district. When my son Luke was a freshman, he came home one day
and he had been cut from the basketball team and was just absolutely devastated.
Fortunately for him and us, he was, yeah he was crying, it was, I don't wish
that on anyone. He had done a little bit of summer swim team growing up and our,
the school that he was attending offered water polo, so he decided to give it a
try even though he had never played the sport before. He instantly loved it. It was just a
fantastic experience. Made friends very, very quickly. Liked his coach. Had a great experience
that freshman year. Decided to continue on with the West Houston Water Polo Club, which Scott Slay,
Jordan High School coach, runs and just really, really enjoyed the sport.
sport. Learned a lot that summer. Coach Slade brought in a three-time Olympic coach to help
with the kids and the coaches. And by Luke's sophomore year, he was starting on the varsity.
The captain on that team was an All-American who would later go on to play for an East Coast
Division I program in water polo. And he had also been cut his freshman year of high school,
cut from the basketball team his freshman year of high school, and had picked up water polo
after the fact. And I kind of tell this story to highlight the fact that
offering a sport like water polo can literally change the trajectory of a
kid's life. I mean they go from feeling like a failure because they you know
didn't make the volleyball team, didn't make the basketball team, didn't make the
baseball team, to finding a sport that they can literally play the rest of
their life. Builds confidence, builds self-esteem. KISD is fantastically
positioned with great facilities a bunch of kids that already playing really
courageous kids to to get up here and speak I was impressed with that and one
of the best high school water polo coaches in the US Scott Slay I mean he's
seven time All-State and I'm out of time but I highly recommend that you
you. Thank you very much. This concludes the open forum portion of our meeting. The board will now
5. Closed Meeting
convene and close meeting as authorized under section 551001 of the Texas Government Code for
the following purposes. Texas Government Code 551071, 551074, 551076, and 551129. Thank you.
6. Reconvene from Closed Meeting
Good evening, everyone.
The board will now reconvene.
An open meeting today is Monday, February 27, 2023, and the time is 7.04.
On behalf of my colleagues, I welcome everyone to this evening's regular board meeting.
Each board member received the agenda and documentation for this meeting on Friday, February 24, 2023.
The board will receive information and recommendations from staff, administration, and the superintendent on these agenda items at tonight's meeting.
Board members will be able to ask questions, receive answers, and should be prepared to take action.
The board has just reconvened from closed meeting.
In accordance with Chapter 551 of the Texas Government Code, any action arising from discussions in a closed meeting must be taken in open meeting.
Well, now to proceed to Agenda Item 6.1, which is consider board approval for staff member term contracts.
Mr. President?
Yes.
I move that the Board of Trustees approves for employees who are being recommended to receive administrative, probationary, administrative term, staff probationary, and staff member term contracts.
Second.
We have a motion by Mr. Redmond, a second by Mrs. Vann.
We'll now proceed to vote.
Board members, please record your vote on the screen via your keypad.
The motion passes 7-0.
7.1 Community Bond Advisory Committee Update
We'll now proceed to agenda item 7.1, Community Bond Advisory Committee Update.
The presenter tonight is Dr. Andrea Groom, Chief Communications Officer.
Good evening.
And trustees and Superintendent Ken Grigorski.
Again, I'm here to provide an update on the Community Bond Advisory Committee process.
I'm going to try to pull up this slide real quick.
Oh, here we go.
Okay, what you see in front of you is a timeline for the CBAC, again, the Community Bond Advisory
Committee.
As you know, this board authorized the formation of a bond committee at the January meeting.
That was followed by an application process that was open to every member of the Katy
community.
We received over 300 applicants from community members who are representative of our parents, our senior citizens, even some students, some staff, business owners.
And then on February 17th, a selection committee came together and selected about 170 individuals to participate on the committee.
Now, as you know, that charter says that we want at least 150 people to participate.
Historically, we invite a bit more than that because we know that some people, once we
come close to the first committee date, will often tell us they're no longer available
because of some conflicts that might come up.
Then February 21st through 24th, the bond committee was notified.
So that was this past week.
We reached out to those 170 individuals.
Some next steps.
We do have a community bond advisory committee webpage, on that webpage.
page you will see information pertaining to some of the discussions that will come up over the
course of those four weeks where the bond committee will meet you'll also see our annual demographic
report that was provided to this board in november 2022 and on this next page a screenshot of some
video libraries we're asking all of our committee members to do some pre-meeting prep work so that
that they can have some information as they walk into that first meeting together on March 29th.
In these videos, they're all subject-based.
First video is about finance.
First library video is about school finance.
Second library is about classroom technology.
You also see school construction and school maintenance and operations.
And if you're on this webpage, if you click on that little play button,
you'll see all of the video links under that library selection.
And so again, we are asking all of our committee members to review all these videos which range from 30 seconds to 60 seconds each
Prior to the first meeting on March 29th
So we can kind of prime those for prime those individuals for those discussions that will happen that day
And this is the bond committee schedule which you are already familiar with for meeting dates March 29th through April 18th
I'm now going to talk about our bond committee chair
This school district has historically selected a bond committee chairperson to lead our bond committees.
That chairperson is responsible for being available at every single meeting, attending every meeting, helping to guide some of those conversations,
being the liaison between district administration, the bond committee facilitator, and also the board,
and ensuring that that committee stays on focus, on topic, and meets their charge as a committee.
And an individual who has been selected as the Bond Committee Chair is with us this evening.
His name is Alejandro Avenado.
He is a parent in KDISD, also has two children who are students in KDISD schools.
He's lived in the Houston area for over two decades, specifically within Katy for eight years.
And he is with us this evening, and I'm going to ask him to stand to please be recognized.
He's back there in the back, Mr. Alejandro Avenado.
He has stepped up to volunteer to take on this job.
It's quite a task.
We appreciate the work that he's going to do for us in representing the committee
and being that peer for all those other parents and neighbors and community members who are going to be serving on that group.
Are there any questions about the update?
Mr. President?
Dr. Groom, thank you for the presentation.
I'm just wondering if somebody has a recommendation for a bond, something to be put on the bond,
How does a person or a company, whoever, submit that recommendation and to whom?
Are you referring to somebody who's not already serving on the bond committee?
Yes, just in general, if somebody had a recommendation, where do I?
Sure. So we have an email address, bond at kdic.org, where we will be taking questions throughout the whole bond committee process.
process. Also, the general public is allowed to visit each of the bond committee meetings
rather and sit and observe the process. And we have question cards available to those
folks who are in this area we call the gallery where they sit to observe and they can leave
their questions and those will be addressed by administration.
Okay. And if they are a bond committee member, they could just do it during the
DARA, DO YOU WANT IT BEFOREHAND OR?
IT WILL BE PART OF THEIR DISCUSSION PROCESS.
SO AS THEY HEAR ABOUT SOME OF THE NEEDS, THEY CAN PUT FORTH OTHER CONCERNS OR IDEAS OR THOUGHTS
THEY HAVE DURING THOSE DISCUSSIONS.
ANY OTHER QUESTIONS, BOARD MEMBERS?
I HAVE ONE, PLEASE.
THANK YOU, MR.
PRESIDENT.
DR.
GREAMS, I HAVE ONE QUESTION.
I KNOW ONE OF THE THINGS I NOTICED IN OUR LAST BRIEFING AND I SAW IT AGAIN HERE IS WE
We just have a really short bond meetings window.
Having served on the 2017 bond, I feel like I spent three months participating with this.
With that being said, one of the things I know I found to be most advantageous was when we got on the buses and we went to, I'll talk about the 2017 bond because that's where I served.
I went to Golbo.
and i got to see golbo and what the things were that it really needed and then you got to go see
bethke elementary because it was just getting ready to open and you really got to see that
juxtaposition so if i were not knowing anything that's on here but let me just say if i saw
katie high school's band hall and then i go and i saw jordan high school's band hall i'm going
going to see two very different things. And it really, I think, leaves this really strong impact
as a person who was serving there on, oh, I get what the district is saying because I'm looking
at it, I'm touching, I'm smelling, I'm feeling it, all the senses. Are we still doing that
with this shortened? Yeah. So you remember those long board meet or bond committee meetings that
we had in probably 2014, 2017, 12 to 16 meetings at least, right? And we did have the opportunity
to get on buses and go see in person these facilities, which I think was a wonderful
experience just for the reasons that you described. When COVID happened, we had to change that model a
bit and we had to move some of those experiences to video, which is some of the model we're
continuing to utilize. But getting back on those buses, seeing those in person, those facilities
in person, if that's something the committee wishes to do, I'm sure that's something we could also make happen.
Any other questions?
Thank you, Dr. Grooms.
7.2 Strategic Design 1.3 Elementary Literacy Update
And I'll proceed to agenda item 7.2, which is a literacy update.
To the presenters tonight is Dr. Bell, Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning.
Good evening, Dr. Bell.
Good evening, President Schulte, board members, and Dr. Gagorski.
I AM HERE TO PROVIDE THE BOARD WITH AN UPDATE OF SPECIFIC RESULT 1.3, ELEMENTARY LITERACY.
AND JUST TO RECAP, THIS SPECIFIC RESULT FOCUSES ON CREATING A DISTRICT LITERACY FRAMEWORK ALIGNED
WITH THE TEKS AND SCIENCE OF READING THAT WILL OUTLINE THE DISTRICT'S LITERACY VISION,
BELIEFS, AND INSTRUCTIONAL PRACTICES, AS WELL AS SERVE AS A GUIDE FOR LITERACY CURRICULUM
INSTRUCTION AND MATERIALS DECISIONS.
This slide, again, is an overview of the phases of implementation, which include big buckets
that encompass many tasks.
We currently are in phase two, bucket three, which involves the rewriting of the Reading
Language Arts Curriculum and instructional guidance documents.
Since the January 23rd board meeting, a number of activities have taken place centered around
the procurement of materials, launching of the instructional framework, and building
a comprehensive plan for campus support.
The new core instructional materials have been ordered.
Principals and instructional coaches have received a list of materials they will be
receiving with the new resource.
And space at the warehouse is being cleared so that new materials can be stored once they
arrive.
A plan to collect current literacy materials is being developed and will be communicated
to campus staff in March.
CROSS COLLABORATION OF MANY DEPARTMENTS IS NECESSARY FOR THIS TRANSITION TO BE EFFICIENT
AND EFFECTIVE.
THE FOLLOWING DEPARTMENTS HAVE WORKED TOGETHER TO DEVELOP A LITERACY IMPLEMENTATION TIMELINE.
ELEMENTARY C&I, THE OFFICES OF OTHER LANGUAGES, SPECIAL EDUCATION, INTERVENTIONS, GIFTED AND
TALENTED INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGY, ASSESSMENT, LIBRARY SERVICES, PROFESSIONAL LEARNING, COMMUNICATIONS,
school leadership and support, federal programs and purchasing.
During this meeting, approximately 50 tasks were outlined that must be completed prior to the start of the school year
to ensure a successful rollout.
This timeline will draw the work of each department as well as it will draw the work of each department
as it relates to the implementation.
Two task force meetings have been held, January 25th and February 24th.
Some of the activities conducted during those task force meetings included exploring the literacy framework, engaging in learning centered on structured literacy, and diving into the science of reading components within the HMH resource.
A third grade foundational skills lesson was also modeled, and ICs were given the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the HMH materials.
The February Principal PLC, which occurred last week, focused on introducing the literacy
framework to principals and facilitating a collective learning activity around managing
complex change as well as the components necessary to make a shift towards the science of teaching
reading practices.
Feedback from principals and instructional coaches has been gathered to identify areas
where central office support will be needed.
Assistant principals will be introduced to the literacy framework at the upcoming assistant principal toolbox meeting.
The elementary CNI department, interventions, and offices of other language department have participated in learning sessions with HMH to help them explore the materials,
review the instructional supports available, and clearly outline how the resource supports the five components of the science of reading.
In addition, members of the CNI team have participated in learning sessions with TEA
about the procurement, distribution, and implementation of high-quality instructional
materials.
The outlines for the curriculum writing process, instructional guidance documents, and summer
and ongoing training plans for teachers, instructional coaches, and administrators are currently
being developed.
Although phase three will begin in the next few months, there are many tasks in process
now that are connected to the outcomes from phase three. The two biggest tasks
that will occur during the late spring and summer months involve developing
curriculum unit plans, instructional guidance, scope and sequence, and
assessment overview, as well as providing training throughout the summer on the
new instructional materials. During the school year, ongoing training
opportunities around reading development and instructional strategies aligned to
House Bill 3 reading academies will be provided. Training plans are being
being developed in collaborative partnership
with Dr. Theo Woodruff, our literacy specialist, HMH,
instruction partners, and the KDISD teaching and learning
teams.
These are just some of the highlights
of the many moving parts that are actively
in progress at the moment.
I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have.
I have a few questions.
Yes.
One is, I know we've been waiting and waiting on the TEA
to come out with the phonics list.
Is that still not done?
I wish I could tell you otherwise. It is not. However, and Dr. G, feel free to jump in on this, but we did receive an update from the commissioner indicating that March, in the next couple weeks, we should have that list available.
He has done some communication about what is allowable in terms of what it means for phonics instruction in the state of Texas and what's not.
And then he followed that up by saying that we would be receiving that final list sometime this month.
Are we at risk of not having the materials that we need for the start of the next school year if we don't get that list until March or so?
Still time to get the list, make a decision, or the materials integrated into our curriculum planning?
Is there still time to do all that?
I think that we are in a critical time, but I think there's still time.
I will probably be in the same situation as a lot of other districts across the state
trying to order materials.
We're all chomping at the bits waiting for that.
My hope is that we have something in March and that we can quickly narrow down the selection
by having a list that's been vetted by TEA that hopefully gives us a great launching
point so it takes a lot of the guesswork out but then we can look to see what our
needs are and identify the resources as quickly as we can that is going to meet
the needs of the district do we have a backup plan in case it's not March or do
we just keep waiting well I think our backup plan is to then evaluate what
we're receiving with the current resource that we have and see what lift
we would have to do if we don't have an alternative would be probably our best
That's bad.
Okay, now two more questions.
One is, it sounds like we're, I know you've got a lot to get done before August of next year,
but you guys feel like you're on track to meet the impossible task we've given you?
It's a possible task.
We're going to be on track to make it happen.
Yes.
Yeah, I like it.
I like it.
And then the last thing, and I ask you this every time we get together,
anything else you need from us, from the board, to help you summit that?
I think once last month when we received the go ahead to move forward, the approval to move forward, we've been able to really make a lot of progress.
It's been a fast train, but as long as we continue to pull in, as I mentioned, all of the different departments that are critical in ensuring an effective and efficient implementation, I think we're moving in the right direction.
So right now we have everything that we need to keep moving forward, and it's going.
But it's good work and the team is energized and excited to get what we need done so that our teachers
Can be successful so that our students can be successful. I appreciate everything that you're doing any other board members have questions president
Yes, so the foundational skills piece that we're talking about that's pending still is that something that will that will come to the board?
When when you identify it?
That I think is a question that I want to kind of turn to dr.
Dr. Gagorski in terms of how often the board would like to receive an update and at what point.
I would assume that anything that you guys want to receive an update about, we can definitely do that.
But I would assume, since this is a topic that's been discussed a lot publicly,
that that may be one time that we are providing update to the board.
I was just wondering if there's going to be a list that you're looking at,
and then you're going to make a recommendation to the board that that would be the process.
What I would say about that is, Mr. President, we don't, when we buy instructional resources, like for an adoption, it always comes to the board.
We haven't always brought to this board all the supplemental purchases.
And we do supplemental purchases in probably every core area and maybe even some of the elective areas as well, but mostly cores.
But if the board would like us to bring this one, we can.
It just hasn't been our general practice.
It's a pretty key piece, I think, in this whole thing.
It's the fundamental, it's the K-3 piece, correct?
Correct.
The fundamental skills?
Yes.
And then one other question I had is we ordered materials, approximately how much have we
spent so far on materials?
I do have that figure.
We have the first PO which was generated on February 29th was for $5,626,651.
dollars and that was created for all the print materials and the the one-year digital subscription
and that's from hmh correct thank you any other questions yes on that dr bell if i may on that
purchase price did that also include and why i can't think of the name of it though like
amira thank you did it all assessment tool yes assessment tool yes it did thank you and dr
Dr. Woodruff still involved?
Yes, she is.
Excellent.
Spoke with her today.
Mr. President?
Okay.
Dr. Bell, thank you for your presentation.
Can you tell me the grade levels that this affects?
Is it K through 5?
K through 5.
K through 5.
So I've always kind of wondered this.
So let's say you're already in fifth grade when this gets implemented,
and you've already learned how you've learned K through 4.
WHAT ABOUT THOSE KIND OF CHILDREN WHO ARE ALREADY HAVE FIVE YEARS OF ANOTHER WAY OF
LEARNING?
I MEAN, DO YOU ALL HAVE A PLAN HOW TO LIKE INTEGRATE THOSE OLDER CHILDREN INTO THE PROGRAM?
SO THE STUDENTS, THE TEKS ARE THE TEKS.
THOSE HAVE NOT CHANGED.
AND THEY WON'T CHANGE.
SO THE STUDENTS, THAT'S WHAT TEACHERS ARE TEACHING.
THEY'VE JUST UTILIZED A DIFFERENT RESOURCE.
So our fifth grade students will continue to access the TEKS. They'll
continue to learn the TEKS. We'll continue to have structures to help them
master those TEKS. So that hasn't changed. Just the resource that they use, the
structure of the literacy block will be different for those students, but the
TEKS are still intact and in place. But will that be an adjustment to them? You
know, that they were learning one way and now they're learning another way or will
or will they just go along?
I think that students are resilient.
And so the way teachers teach in terms
of ensuring that students are prepared and ready
for the next grade level is not going to be different per se
because of the teaks.
But the structure of the literacy block
will be different.
There will probably be some different activities,
some different foundational things
that for our fifth grade students, word work
has always been in place.
more explicit I would say is is what will maybe be different for those
students when it comes to what the foundational skills look like in fourth
and fifth grade but in terms of what they have been learning the state drives
that and so we've not veered from that and we'll continue to ensure that we're
teaching the teaks at the level in which they're written and then one last have
you looked I'm sure you that's not a very smart question to coming to go into
to you because I know you've already looked at this, but can you tell us what it looks
like for a teacher who needs to be trained on how to do this over the summer?
What does that look like?
How many hours is this and all of that?
That's kind of what I'm interested in.
So we are actually, I can kind of give you a skeleton of what that potentially looks
like.
There's a day, a full day of training that is focused on the resource and really all
all the components, all of the parts that make up the resource,
how to teach those particular pieces, what's available, what supports are available.
Like it's a full-day training there,
and then there is another training that is focused on the assessment piece
and not just giving the assessment but then how you utilize that.
However, we are meeting with HMH, and when I say we, it's special ed department, CNI department, all department, all of those departments that are going to touch teachers in many different ways on Monday, March 6th, along with our consultants, so that we can really outline a deep training plan because we need to get that in the hands of our principals and teachers as quickly as possible.
So if we come back for a different update, I'll be able to give you a little bit more information about the specifics of the training.
But right now we're looking at potentially two days of training for teachers over the summer.
I'm sorry, are the teachers prepared for that?
I mean, do they know this is coming?
I mean, have they been, are they all in the loop of this?
I would believe so.
So we've been communicating this for quite some time with campus principals and instructional coaches.
And then we are always encouraging our staff members to watch the board meeting so that they can stay informed.
Thank you, Dr. Bell. Appreciate it.
Mr. President.
Yes, I'm sorry.
Just a couple things.
I was going to ask the same question that Mrs. Champagne had.
And so I will tie that together with my agreement with Mr. Perez, Dr. Gorgorski, that because this is new, because we've talked about it so much, and because it's different than other things where we do look at an original resource, we haven't ever really changed an entire thing before like this.
So more updates, and then we can be like, it's enough, it's enough.
Please stop bringing Mrs. Bell to see us, Dr. Bell to see us.
So more.
of that just anything you think is kind of new and different like the resource the what the training
once you know what the training is going to look like for teachers you know how i like that you
know it's probably going to be two days i know they know it's coming because they're all talking
about it and so this is a big ask and so just more knowledge for us um and a lot of people learn you
know like you said they watch the meetings so i appreciate it when you said possible
I respect that so much because we know it's also going to be painful.
So thank you for all that you're doing.
Ms. Shelty, I'll go ahead and add to that.
Ms. Fox, we can go ahead, and what I'm hearing is as soon as Dr. Bell's team makes a selection of the resource once that's released,
I'm pretty confident that I was on a call with the commissioner, and he said those would be available during March.
He said about mid-march. I believe they're gonna hit that target through TA and we'll be able to evaluate those resources
We'll bring the resource in for board approval and board can look at that and then we will keep a
Standing item of a literacy update monthly that dr
Bell will tell you where they're at on that and we'll just keep that on there until the board tells me to take it off
You bet
I agree.
All right.
Thank you very much.
I don't know why my watch started to start talking there.
7.3 Elementary STAAR Testing
Okay, well, now proceed to Agenda Item 7.3, Elementary STAAR testing.
The presenter tonight is Natalie Martinez, Executive Director of School Improvement.
Good evening.
Good evening, President Schulte, Board Members, Dr. Gagorski.
Tonight, I will share information with you regarding online testing in elementary for
our KDISDU.
Online testing has been a topic of discussion for TEA for a few years now.
In December of 2020, TEA published a feasibility study.
This study began with a bigger purpose of acknowledging the rapid development and new
technologies in our daily lives.
Educational organizations, researchers, and policymakers have recognized the need for policies and practices that support the development of 21st century skills for all students.
The study also reported that 70% of states currently use online testing for their primary state-level summative assessments.
They also pointed out that in 2015-16, the number of online tests surpassed the number of paper-based tests for the first time.
There have been two House bills to support this transition.
In 2019, House Bill 3906 outlined an online transition plan that also include new item types and cross-curricular passages.
In 2022, House Bill 3261 also required the online assessments by 2223 and the new redesign to be implemented and released.
least. The feasibility study and these two house bills referenced are for our state assessment,
which is STAR and EOC. In KDISD, we have a variety of assessments, including STAR.
STAR is mandated to be online for the 22-22 school year. This is the end-of-year assessment,
so students see this at the end of year, one per content. We also have district learning
assessments, which are required to be online. DLAs are given twice a year by content by grade level
typically once in the fall and once in the spring.
Each campus also has campus-based assessments.
These are highly recommended to be online.
They are similar to an end-of-unit assessment.
Both DLAs and CBAs provide students an opportunity to practice the online tools
and opportunities to use their online accommodations if they qualified.
While these assessments are mainly online, the day-to-day activities in the classroom vary.
You will still see exit tickets, checks for understanding, projects, manipulatives, paper, and online.
That is where we get the variety for students.
Since 2020-2021, KDISD has given online assessments, state online assessments.
In December of this year, 70% of our high schools administered online.
online. The following year, which was last year, all high schools and all junior highs tested all
content in all grade levels online. Elementary was 100% online for reading, and some of our
campuses also chose to give math and science online as well. This year, as mandated by the
state, we will be 100% online. There are rare circumstances when a child meets the special
special paper administration of the online test based on eligibility criteria by TEA,
and we do acknowledge that. Our DLE model has also transitioned from assessing virtual students
during COVID to all students in star content grade levels this year. CBAs also support this
transition. It is highly recommended that CBAs are also given online. These various tools in the
the online system support students testing in this way. I would like to show you a couple of
online pieces just for your knowledge. Students who need a bigger font are able to zoom in with
this feature and you'll notice that the font and the answer questions do get larger. They also have
this scroll bar on the right hand side for them to scroll down to see additional answer choices.
similar to highlighting on paper students can also highlight on screen they have this option
here with the four choices the screens that I'm showing you are from our aware system which is
our local in our local system for MTA lays and CBS many students eliminate answer choices as
they think through the problems this feature is also available in the online system
Although students have scratch paper, they also have access to the scratch pad online.
The scratch paper can be made transparent and placed over the graphics so students do
not have to recreate the question on their own paper.
The students can write with a stylus, a mouse, or their finger directly on the screen.
Before students begin the test, they may also choose a cover overlay or a font color.
For some students, the different color overlays is helpful as they read through the assessment.
assessment.
Technology enhanced items are new for our students.
They have been practicing them with DLAs, but they will see them on state assessments
as well.
This is an example of a drag and drop.
No longer is everything a multiple choice.
They will interact with the questions in this way.
Here's an example of another TEI.
It's called text entry.
Students have to write the answer without a word bank.
With online assessments, it is helpful to be familiar with the keyboard.
KDISD includes technology TEKS in their unit plans.
Students and parents have access to these free typing resources on the top right-hand side of the screen,
And they also have access to devices through their campus should a student need to take one home.
STAR is on time, so students have until the end of the school day to work on their assessments.
Guidance has been given to our principals to ensure a balanced approach to classroom instruction.
More specific guidance has been given regarding campus-based assessments.
Parents may request a paper version of the CBA.
campuses are working on a transition plan and a timeline for implementation
there is additional work for campus teachers and leadership teams for this
adjustment so they are working on that piece now at this time I take any
questions that you may have any questions president yes I think you know
that there's been a lot of frustration on the part of parents and an anxiety
for the kids as a result of the online assessments.
And my understanding is that now,
based on some meetings that you've had with parents,
and really appreciate
Ms. Hack and Dr. Washington especially
in taking the initiative and tweaking some of the things
so there's flexibility.
So my understanding is now that a parent can opt in
to have their child take paper and pencil math tests, for example,
and they still have to put, I guess, the answers on the computer,
but yet they have the flexibility to use paper and pencil.
Is that correct?
Correct.
Is that being communicated and rolled out to the entire district,
to all the campuses?
Principals have received guidance on this.
ICs have also received guidance on this.
but there is work behind all of that.
It is not a press of a button
to turn an online test into a paper version.
So we do ask for your patience as we transition,
but yes, there have been meetings scheduled already
for the guidance to take place.
And might some principal decide not to do any of that?
Is it a campus-by-campus decision?
The guidance was district-wide.
Okay.
Okay. So it's guidance, but can a principal decide they don't want to do any paper and pencil testing?
They're only going to do online.
Mr. Perez, elementary principals have been provided the guidance, the recommended practices.
If parents were to request for a paper assessment,
our instructional coaches received the information on Friday,
and the expectation is that the principals would adhere to the recommended guidance that was provided.
Great. Thanks so much. I think it's a big step,
up and I know appreciated by a lot of parents thank you thank you mr. president
I have some questions um and thank you for you know the adjustments that were
made you know since the last couple weeks I think so so what we're saying is
they said there can be a paper test and then they can do the test on the paper
but they sell the input it into the computer so actually I was going to ask
this and this is not a question that you can probably answer but I'm wondering
I'm wondering why can't the STAAR Test be like that also, you know, where they would have
a paper test and they could, especially in the elementary age, and they could do the
test on the paper and then just input the answers because, you know, if that seems to
be the problem, you know, that a lot of children have doing that, then I think that would solve
a lot of problems for a lot of people.
But like I say, I know that that's not your thing.
I'm just saying that on behalf of probably many other parents who probably feel the same
way I do.
I wanted to go back to page in the presentation that you gave, page six of that.
And as you're giving an example of a teacher bought markers at a cost of $3 per set.
I was shown something by a parent where you'd have something like this with the chart on it,
and then they'd have to answer a question with the other numbers from below,
but they would be on different screens.
And so it was very difficult for the child to navigate, you know, from this, like, they're 8 years old.
You know, they're trying to navigate this and then move down to here and then look back up to here.
you know is there anything that we can do to try to fix those kind of issues we have looked at
questions like that on three different devices and that is how the questions appear so we practice
with our students i would say many of them as i walk campuses on a weekly basis many kids are
doing well and so when a student struggles we encourage teachers to watch them do their cbas
and help them navigate through the tools that we do have and that is why also on cbas they will
have that paper option but they have the online version that they're still exposed to because we
need that exposure and opportunity for online as well i see okay um and then i was also told that
there were some there were some schools that were giving um the extra well not extra credit but the
credit for the work that they were shown you know you might be working through a problem working the
problem correctly but then you know adding the numbers incorrectly and coming up with the wrong
answer but you did all the steps correctly and I know that when my kids
were in school they would get the credit for the work that they showed on the
piece of paper and then they would miss the problem but they wouldn't miss the
whole you know they would they wouldn't get the whole ten points off they get
five points off or whatever it was and there seems to be some disparity between
different schools you know some schools tend to give the partial credit I don't
know if it's different schools or different teachers or what it is but it
It doesn't seem to be the same across the board.
Yes, it does vary from campus by the principal and the ICs and the grade level teams.
That was a discussion point with the principals last week with the ones that we met with,
as well as with instructional coaches on Friday.
It was shared with some campuses that do do partial credit, what they call.
The teacher will take the paper copy, look at it, see where steps were missed,
some will give partial credit some do not but that is something that we have
given back to them to have to discuss and as part of the recommended practices
okay so now it's because because when my when one of my kids was in junior high
that happened and she missed the whole thing when she missed the the end but
she did all the work and and the principal at that school said that it
was a district policy that they you're supposed to give the extra the the
partial credit if the work was correct so i don't know if that changed or if that no it's not
regulated by our grading reporting handbook okay but it is something that they can um discuss
internally with the campus team and then also can um when my children were in school and they learn
how to do math differently than we learn how to do math you know we're in little kids we had parent
you know, parent classes, you know, at the schools or, I don't know, maybe even at the ESC,
where the parents could come in and take a class on how to learn how to teach math again.
Have we thought about doing anything like that for parents to try to help their children?
This is what they're, we have to do this.
I understand that.
But, you know, some kind of support for the parents who are at home so that they can help
their kids at home with this?
I have not done a parent training in that way.
However, I believe early fall we had communication about the online transition in the STAR World.
Texasassessment.org is a website from TEA where parents can go online and log in and
do a practice test.
They can do it alongside their child.
They can do it on their own to see all the features.
You can turn on accommodations, turn them off,
so you can get a feel of what does this assessment actually look like in the new version.
So Texasassessment.org is where I would recommend parents go and try it out for themselves.
And are parents told about this?
We can do another communication about that because it was early fall,
so we can certainly do that coming up in the next couple of weeks, definitely.
Because, you know, and then one other last question, and this may not be anything that you can do anything about either, but I have a daughter, I'm just going to use her as an example.
She's actually studying for her CPA exam, and she was saying, what about word problems?
Because are we doing word problems on here also?
Because there's a lot of dissecting of a word problem, you know.
you know, our children were taught, you know,
underline certain things and pull certain things out
and, you know, you kind of dissect it all and everything.
How can a child do that on this format?
So if you'll notice the question on screen,
the actual circle is part of the question.
The paper, which is called the scratch pad,
notice how it moves back and forth.
When you have a Chromebook and you fold it all the way back, it lays flat on the desk as if it's a piece of paper.
Is it different?
Yes.
But it mirrors a piece of paper.
You can have a stylus, a mouse, a finger, so if I want to underline, scratch out, circle, all the things, I need to practice how to do that.
So I don't have to redraw this circle and the radius on another sheet of paper, but I have to be taught how to do it on a Chromebook and flatten it out.
It is different.
So we do recommend to our campuses that kids are taught how to do this.
They are taught all of these skills.
And when they struggle, then teachers go in and they help them with that piece as well.
With all the colors that children can turn this, we encourage them to go play.
It's similar to getting a new phone.
You want to play with all the buttons.
We want kids to go play.
And when they struggle, it is our job to go in and help them.
And so that's what we plan to do.
Well, Mrs. Martinez, I really, really appreciate your presentation because you've answered
all of my questions.
Thank you.
And I really appreciate that.
Thank you.
Mr. President.
Thank you.
How do parents, so I understand principals know that they can do a paper.
How do parents know they can request it?
You know, some of the, because the people we hear from are from the same campus.
They're probably talking to each other.
How do parents know they can request that?
It's kind of a transition.
So principals are responsible for communicating with their parents,
and they've been guided by our assistant superiors on how to do that.
To do it.
Okay.
How is STAR different from what we're providing?
Because the parents request that, and they have the paper, that kind of thing.
But is STAR changing, or is it all going to be online?
STAR this year is online with the TEIs, so it is definitely all online.
And parents know that to help them get past that.
So I'm glad you're on the scratch pad, if you can go back to that.
Sure.
I have a question.
So this is guided by the legislators.
Who decided it was all going to be online, TEA or legislators?
Legislators did, and the TEA followed guidance.
So I would like each of them, knowing kind of that they're my age and maybe more, to
do this one problem.
Just give them the Chromebook and say do that.
Right, like they can't do transparency slider, they don't know a grid, whatever, and a color palette icon.
They wouldn't be able to do this and they're asking eight-year-olds to change from written to this.
It's no wonder parents are upset.
No wonder eight-year-olds are feeling terrible because their grades are dropping because this is completely different language.
So I'm really, really frustrated with people who make rules and then don't understand how that looks when it comes down to that classroom desk where teachers are giving incredible face-to-face instruction and giving children every tool they can.
But now we're teaching them another language on top of math, especially math and science.
It's so frustrated about the whole thing, and I know it's nothing we can do, but I just wanted to say, legislators, try what you're doing before you ask us to do it.
I respectfully might remind you that we disagreed with a full multiple choice question as well, so they were listening to feedback.
And these questions do require a higher rigor of thinking, which we do want in the classroom.
It does change instruction. It does change child practice. And so we do want to expose and provide opportunity for our kids to reach that level
So while I hear you know that it was it was stemming from other feedback that said we don't want multiple choice
We want something more rigorous. Well now they gave it to us and so we're trying to reach that bar paper
Paper has to be I'm guessing paper has to be a cost savings
Well, if you go that's intensive and this is fine for upper grades
Let's go fifth grade and on you can hear you have eight-year-olds
To do a grid drop down a transparency slider a color palette icon draw with a pointer a dot line or freehand or undo
Or clear your writing
Excuse me eight years old. I would not be happy either
I I don't disagree with you that some children will struggle and our job is to help them through but I will also tell you
That walking the buildings. There are a lot of students who do this with ease
So we're going to balance that with our instruction and providing opportunity for kids to have access to this.
The online tools, when you think about content language supports, which are incredible for students who have that need,
when there's a difficult word and they qualify for this accommodation, they can roll over it and get simplified language or get a picture.
There are a lot of things in the online system that we need to be proud of and use because it supports our students with a higher level of thinking.
And there's a big and. And we train our kids to use this just the way we trained
them to use paper. It will be a challenging transition, but we believe
that we are doing that with our CBAs, our DLAs, and they will be ready for the
STAR-IN and they will be ready for the 21st century skills that they are
expected to know in the workforce place. I appreciate so much your positivity and
and how you all problem-solve, right? You guys are really helping so much and I
I know our students will be ready because they have incredible people helping them.
And the pain is more us trying to help them and understand it and help them be prepared.
It just seems a stretch for an 8-year-old for me.
But you're right.
You'll get them there.
And I appreciate that.
And we will help those that struggle.
Thank you.
Ms. President?
I think the concern of a lot of parents is that the actual math learning is lagging because of the focus on the online.
and that also there's a gap between which how computer literate you think
they are versus what the parents are seeing in terms of the kids computer
literacy and also they're not crazy about the kids spending more time on the
screen and I think that's the TA thing and hopefully I can get changed but you
know to have these they're trying to get them off screens actually but that's
but again I appreciate the change that you're making you know to have allow
allow the parents to opt in paper and pencil.
Because I think it's more positive for the kids
in terms of how they view their work
and how they come home.
And I think they do better with paper and pencil.
Their grades are better.
Thank you.
Any other questions, board members?
Mr. President?
Ms. Martinez, do we happen to have any actual data that
shows that maybe there's been a decrease in math scores
this year with this change?
Or is that something we would be able to compare?
The last data that I had our team pull, well, a couple pieces.
If you remember back during COVID, we had students that were virtual and taking assignments or tests online versus paper.
We saw a slight, slight increase on the virtual scores than the paper scores.
So it wasn't that big of a variance.
When we look at our high schools and our junior highs who have taken it online, again, there's not a big variance in that either.
The scores are still where they should be.
They are still above the state.
So we don't see that variance.
we can start looking at DLA scores, but the variance is minimal.
And there are students that struggle, and we need to focus on that too,
so I appreciate that everyone's come together for that.
But in general, the scores, when you look at them overall,
they're not decreasing the way people are expecting them to.
Any other questions?
Thank you very much.
7.4 2023-2024 Budget Update
Thank you.
We'll now proceed to agenda item 7.4, 2023-2024 budget update.
The presenter tonight is Mr. Chris Smith, Chief Financial Officer, and Jeff Roberts of Hilltop Securities.
Good evening.
Well, good evening, President Schulte, Superintendent Gagorski, and trustees.
Here's our timeline, and we are in February where we're going to talk about our interest in sinking fund or our long-term debt,
debt, which is basically the hardest part of the budget for the debt service fund or
the interest and sinking fund.
And we'll readdress this in July when we have our values and when we're looking at our principal
and interest payment.
But for now, we're going to show you the long-range plan and any future debt that we may have
or that the bond committee may be considering as they move forward.
This is a lot of numbers here. If you look at the far right, you can see percentages. I've taken that and put those on a graph, which shows you percentages. As you can see, we had a 15% increase in values this last year. 15% is astronomical. It's very high. It's not an anomaly, though. It's statewide. It was well in excess of 10%.
I've even heard of some school districts that had 20% increase in values.
We've averaged over the last five years 7.6% in value growth, and over 15 years it's 8.6%.
That's not just new growth.
Yes, it's a lot of new growth because we're a growing district,
but it's also appreciation and values that are properties that are already out there.
So it's a combination of both.
but again I want to point out the five-year average is seven point six
percent you're gonna hear mr. Robert talk about earlier or later about what
we're using as a growth percentage for this next year and it's one percent well
while one percent you've had fifty seven point six percent well Senate bill one
is calling for a almost a doubling of the homestead exemption and so for all
that value that we currently have if that homestead exemption doubles it's
going to wipe out any growth that we've normally had. We'll know as we move in for in April-ish
what that's going to be, but for right now we're being conservative with one percent.
Just as a reminder, we've had two bond sales out of the 2021 authorization. The first of three we
had in November of 2021. It delivered 145 million dollars in proceeds. We spent all that money.
It has a true interest cost of 2.4%, and an average life of those bonds was only 13 years.
Second sale was May of last year.
Remember, we got authorization of $275 million, and we sold $275 million in the Series 22 bond.
It had a true interest cost of 3.86%, a little higher than before.
interest rate environment has been going up, but the average life on that was 15.8 years
seen there. So we're having the third sale that we're going to be working on, as well as the
debt plan that you're going to be seeing tonight, and we're very confident in those being successful.
Just as a reminder, we do have debt management tools that we use to try to reduce our interest
expense and save taxpayer dollars.
We do refundings when they present themselves and we find callable bonds that we can refund
at a savings of 3% or more.
We will refund them.
Bond redemptions and defeasances, that's simply where you just pay off.
Don't refund them or anything.
Just pay them off and get them off the books.
And we've been very successful in that.
Mr. Roberts is going to speak to you about that.
And then fund balance is also a tool that we can use.
We actually used about $3 million in fund balance
this last year.
As a reminder, when we talk about the interest in sinking
fund, we're talking about that yellow portion of the tax rate.
The total tax rate is obviously important.
But we're talking tonight specifically about that $0.39.
It's been 39 or 40 cents for many years now, and that consistent growth and consistent
need to issue bonds because of our growing district has been very much in sync, and we've
been able to maintain that 39-cent tax rate.
We have been able to reduce the total tax rate by 21.2 cents over the last five years,
which is very good.
I'm going to turn it over to Mr. Robert with Hilltop Securities to talk to you about more
details about our debt plan.
Thank you, Mr. Schmidt, President Schulte, Dr. Gorski, members of the board, Jeff Robert
with Hilltop Securities.
On your agenda tonight are a parameter order for a new money and refunding issue as well
as a parameter order for redemptions and defeasances.
So I'll talk a little bit about that information as well as give you kind of a snapshot of
where we are right now and where we think we'll be going forward in terms of tax rate
and even ran a very quick capacity analysis that I'll go over.
On this first page, you're all aware that the financial markets are a bit volatile right now
with inflation being discussed and the Fed trying to do everything they can to slow down inflation,
but you've also got economic data like retail sales, like jobs reports that have been better than expected.
And so as a result here recently, the thought is that the next two,
or excuse me, the next three times the Fed meets, that you'll see a 25 basis point increase.
And so rates have gone up a little bit here recently.
But in addition to that, some of the things that we're keeping our eye on,
Chris had mentioned the SB1 and potential for the homestead exemption increase.
Talk about that in a second, and the state permanent school fund as well.
But right now we have, from the 2021 authorization, $256 million and change remaining.
remaining. The Texas Permanent School Fund, which is the underlying asset, if you will,
for the Permanent School Fund guarantee, recently reached capacity. What we did was prior to all of
the November elections happening, Dr. Gagorski, Mr. Smith, and I talked about going ahead and
applying for the Permanent School Fund guarantee at the end of October to ensure that this last
bit of our authorization would receive that guarantee so we went ahead and did
that we did receive the PSF and as expected in November it did reach its
capacity but we do have that authority to be able to sell the remaining
authorization and close prior to May 20th and receive the triple-a ratings
that are associated with the PSF guarantee down that third the last
bullet just to give you an idea the district has outstanding underlying
ratings you have a double a1 with Moody's which is just one step away from
AAA on a standalone basis and then your AA with S&P, which is two steps away, but there
is definitely a benefit to having that permanent school fund guarantee.
It would be about 10 to 12 basis points, which on this remaining authorization will equal
about $2.5 to $3 million less in interest cost to the district as a result of having
that permanent school fund guarantee.
So that's one thing that maybe we're moving forward a little quicker than what we would
originally plan because we do need to go ahead and close that issue by May 20th.
The other thing, as Mr. Smith mentioned, within this Senate Bill 1, they're talking about raising the homestead exemption again from $40,000 to $70,000.
They just did that from $25,000 to $40,000 based on an election, I believe, in November of 21.
So they're talking about increasing that again.
If they do what they've done in the past, which is to say they increase that homestead exemption,
they will give districts a hold harmless for their bonds that they have outstanding as of September 1.
And that could be a substantial amount because with all the homesteads within Katy, you think about $30,000 per home all of a sudden being wiped away from the tax roll.
It'd be nice to go ahead and get this authorization fully issued so that we can guarantee that we get that hold harmless and at least it won't impact any of your existing bonds.
It will have an impact on bonds to be issued in the future, however.
In terms of assumptions, as Mr. Smith mentioned, I kind of always like to stress test our model a little bit.
So on the left, I don't even want to call these aggressive, but we'll call them growth assumptions one.
There in light blue, you can see for the next year we've assumed 1% growth.
The reason for that, again, is because of the potential and probably the likelihood that you see that homestead exemption increase.
On the right, I used assumptions that are just 1% lower than the ones that you see on the left.
And you can see I have 10.8%.
I think Mr. Smith's presentation had a little bit higher.
He was looking at assessed value, whereas I'm doing some adjustments to the value to come up with an accurate levy amount,
whereas a lot of times he's looking at state funding and other things with the value he's using.
So I made some adjustments to come to that $53.34 billion figure that we have.
But those are the two assumptions that we've used.
And so on this next page, up at the top in column one was the 2021 authorization.
In column two, we did the $145 million initially in 2021, did the $275 last year,
and then we have the remainder there in column four, which is what we'd be discussing tonight.
I'm using 5% for the interest rate assumption.
If we were to issue right now, we'd be under 4.5%.
So I do have some cushion in there to once again try and be conservative.
Again, that projected maximum I&S tax rate is not going to exceed the current I&S tax rate of 39 cents.
And then the graph below, the green line shows what the I&S tax rate would do with the growth assumptions two that you saw on that prior page.
And the blue line shows what the I&S tax rate, the calculated I&S tax rate would do with the growth assumptions one.
And so you can see that we have a large drop off in the tax rate after next year.
And there's a few things that the district could do.
You could have another election and you've got the capacity to do that at 39 cents or whatever figure you decide on.
You could call in bonds early and therefore save interest in doing that, or you could lower the tax rate.
So those are the three different options that you've got.
I did look at a capacity scenario for a $900 million bond election.
So what I did was just make assumptions in terms of columns two through five, how that authorization could be issued.
250 the first year, 300, 200, and then 150.
And you can see the green line using the growth assumptions.
One, that shows you what the INS tax rate would look like for a $900 million perspective,
$900 million bond election.
Again, the INS tax rate would not need to exceed the current 39-cent level.
And again, I feel like we're being very conservative on those tax base assumptions,
even the growth assumptions one.
So even using those conservative assumptions, you've got that kind of capacity at the current INS tax rate.
This is a little bit behind because I'd sent this to the district a while back,
but here recently some of the economic data has come out that's caused rates to increase,
but this is what's called the bond buyer index.
It's an index of 20 different bond issues, and it's their 20-year yield, and it comes out every Thursday.
And in the white large graph in the background, it goes all the way back to the early 80s.
You can see back then that tax-exempt rates, the 20-year rate was above 13%.
And if you go all the way to the right, you can see where we are currently.
And admittedly, yes, rates have come up substantially over and above what I call the COVID rates
because you can see in those years that we were down at 2%.
And those were kind of artificially low.
I don't know that we'll get to those levels again unless we see some sort of pandemic
or catastrophe that were to cause that to happen.
But this index this past week was, I believe, 374.
So it's come up a little bit in early February.
It was at 351.
So it's up almost 25 basis points as a result of some of that economic data that's come out.
But just to give you an idea of the average of where this index has been over the last 15 years, it's at that 374.
So we're right on top of that 15-year average.
It was at 342 over a 10-year period.
And over the last five years, it was 3.02.
But all of those numbers are skewed somewhat by those really low rates that we experienced during COVID.
The parameter refunding and redemption candidates that we've looked at, each year the board has approved or considered approval of a parameter refunding order.
Each year they've done the same with defeasances.
So the candidates listed there are the different issues that we could potentially defease or pay off early if the INS budget has the wherewithal to do that over the next year.
And then the refunding candidates, we do include all of the outstanding debt.
And the reason we do that is to give ourselves as much flexibility as possible in terms of
being able to take advantage of a refunding if the opportunity presents itself.
And for the refundings, we do have to have at least or a minimum of 3% present value
savings in order to even be able to execute the transaction.
At the bottom, you can see there also what the redemptions and defeasances have done
since August of 2017.
We've reduced debt service by $88.6 million, and you can see what that amount was comprised
comprised of, 70.8 in principal and 17.7 in interest.
And just to give you an idea, over the last year, rates have come up, so even though the
board approved a refunding parameter, we weren't able to take advantage of a refunding.
So if for whatever reason rates aren't in a position where we can't achieve a 3% PV
savings, then we just won't execute it.
But this gives us the best flexibility to move quickly in the event that rates were
to become favorable to allow for that.
And that's all the information I have.
I'd be happy to answer any questions.
One thing I did fail to mention is Rick Witte with OREC.
The district's bond attorney did prepare the parameter order,
so if there's any legal questions, I will defer to him.
Thank you.
Any questions from the board?
Mr. President, I have a question.
Thank God for y'all because it's just too much.
But I do have one hopefully kind of simple question.
On page 11 of your presentation where you mentioned SB1, which has been filed, includes
the $30,000.
So when will we know about that?
And also, did your projections, were they based on this information?
Yes, we adjusted.
The first part of your question, we should know hopefully the end of the session is going
to be at the end of May.
So hopefully by then we would know whether or not Senate Bill 1 passed in its current
form.
We did adjust our assumptions, our tax base assumptions to assume, I don't want to say the worst, but assume that the exemption does increase.
And so we lowered our tax base growth assumptions from 4% down to 1% on one of the growth assumptions one, and then we went from 3% to zero on the second set of growth assumptions.
So, yes, we did account for the potential for that taking place in these numbers.
All right, that's the only question I have and I really appreciate you all thank you
Any other questions? Yes
And looking at the the court your graphs about the tax rate I noticed that
Prior to the 900 million possible issue the tax rate goes down. I think in 24 25 something like that
Yeah, Mary 24. I believe that's in fiscal 24. Yes
Okay, and then with the 900 it goes down like 28 or 29, somewhere in there?
Well, the blue line on this graph is the same as, and hopefully you are looking at the same thing I am.
The blue line on this first graph, which is for the existing authorization, is the same as the blue line on this graph here.
Okay.
And then the green line just shows the new authorization would take the total tax rate to those levels that you see there where the green line is.
And I don't know the best way of explaining this, but the green line does include your existing debt as well.
Correct. Right.
And so what metric are you using?
Like how do you know when the tax rate decreases based on what?
Well, we're structuring the payment each year.
We're making sure that we pay off your short-life projects such as technology within their useful lives.
and we're paying off more and more principal if we're able to at that 39
cent level and so when we do that that saves interest for the future which
allows for the capacity that you see there so if we wanted to we could lower
the payment a little bit but all that would do is increase the interest cost
over the life of the of the borrowing for the district so when we have the
ability to pay off extra principal each year and stay at that 39 cent level that
That saves interest for the taxpayer, and it increases future issuance capacity if there's a need for a future authorization.
Or again, on this graph here, the board does have the ability to say if we're not doing an authorization,
we can either lower the tax rate to this calculated level,
or we can decide to keep it at the same level and continue to pay off principal early, which saves money as well.
So that's just a decision that the board makes during the budgeting process.
So based on the expected maturities and the prepayment or calling bonds, that's how you're projecting the rate to go down?
Yes, sir.
The rate would go down if we just made payments on our existing debt structure.
So on our existing debt payments that we have outstanding, and if our tax base assumptions come to fruition, your tax rate could do this.
or you could decide to pay off principal prior to its scheduled maturity and keep
the tax rate at a higher level and in doing so that saves interest to the
taxpayers because we're paying off those bonds prior to their scheduled maturity
okay and do we think that the PSF guarantee will not be replenished
personally I believe it will this has happened believe in oh five oh nine and
and 15.
And in all those instances, there
was an increase in the coverage multiple that's used.
Right now, I believe it's 3 and 1 half times the permanent
school fund amount can be guaranteed in bonds.
The rating agencies have said that that number could go to 5,
and it would still maintain the AAA rating.
However, there's a couple of things that would need to happen.
One of two things that would happen,
either there'd need to be a private letter ruling
from the IRS, which would allow for that multiple go up,
or some sort of federal legislation.
So I don't know what would compel the IRS or the federal legislation,
but in the past it certainly has been rectified.
So the hope is that it will be rectified in the future as well.
The difference, the 10 basis points difference with or without,
it doesn't seem that great.
Well, again, that's for KDISD because you have excellent bond ratings.
Now, if you consider there's districts out there that are very small
that only have an A rating, we're talking about 50 to 60 basis points.
So it's not a great thing for KDISD, but admittedly it's more harmful for those districts that don't have as high of an underlying rating.
And so that's why it's great that the district has those ratings and has continued to maintain high ratings,
and that's why it's important to maintain fund balances and those sorts of things to allow for the impact to not be a huge amount as compared to maybe some other districts might experience.
Thank you.
Yes, sir.
Any other questions?
8.1 Discuss and consider Board approval of an Order Authorizing the Issuance of Katy Independent School District Unlimited Tax School Building and/or Refunding Bonds as Fixed Rate Bonds in one or more series; setting certain parameters for the bonds; authorizing a Pricing Officer to approve the amount, the interest rate, price, including the terms thereof and certain other procedures and provisions related thereto.
Thank you.
we'll now proceed to agenda item 8.1 with 8.1 excuse me
which is to discuss and consider board approval of an order authorizing the issuance of kd
independent school district unlimited tax school bonding and or refunding bonds
we're going to continue this wonderful discussion correct all right
yeah yes sir well you have an order in there 8.1 attached
authorizing and setting certain parameters of a potential bond sale and it's authorizing dr
gregorski and or myself as the pricing officer and to approve an amount and interest rate price
including the terms and certain other procedures associated with those potential bond sale
within these orders we intend to select a syndicate who can help us obtain the best
pricing and the intent to uh is for us to proceed with a negotiated transaction
action. Again, Mr. Robert and our Bond Counsel Rick Whitty, who's back here, is here to answer any
questions that you may have, but it would be recommended that the Board of Trustees approves
an order authorizing the issuance of the Series 2023 Unlimited Tax School Building Bonds and or
Unlimited Tax Refunding Bonds in one or more series and the approval of a pricing officer to
proceed with the issuing of bonds is being brought to the Board for approval for the following
parameters issue no more than $256,246,420 in new money. For the third sale, the 2021 authorization
represents the remainder of the authorization and any refunding bonds issued in conjunction
with the new money sale would generate a savings of at least 3% present value savings.
This board action would allow the district to issue the remaining 2021 authorization
authorization and potentially refinance a multiple bond series
Should those show cost-effective savings?
Thank You mr. Smith are there any questions
Yes, the motion does not have an amount in there. I noticed that I was just noticing that as well
yeah, the motion on the on the on the script here does not have the amount it looks like the
The order has the resolution.
I think that's okay, Ms. Fox.
I do, too.
Okay.
I see it.
Was it?
Yep.
That's what I thought, yeah.
I just had one question.
What drives the 3%?
Is that a district, the 3% savings?
I believe that's an industry standard.
Is that right, Mr. Robert?
That's kind of the...
It's not a law or anything.
anything it's just kind of a best practice everybody abides by yes sir yeah
thank you any other questions on this not all entertain a motion mr. president
yes I move the Board of Trustees approves an order authorizing the
issuance of Katy Independent School District unlimited tax school building
and or refunding bonds in one or more series setting certain parameters for
the bonds authorizing a price officer to approve the amount the interest rate
price, including the terms thereof, and certain other procedures and provisions related thereto.
Second. We have a motion by Mrs. Vann, a second by Ms. Wilson. We'll now proceed to vote. Board
members, please record your vote on the screen via your keypad. The motion passes 7-0. There's
8.2 Discuss and consider Board approval of a Resolution Expressing Intent to Defease/Redeem Certain of the District's Outstanding Bonds.
still more fund. 8.2, discuss and consider board approval of a resolution expressing intent to
defuse, redeem certain of the district's outstanding bonds. Mr. Smith. Mr. Robert mentioned
He mentioned our intent to have identified $30 million of bonds to redeem or to fees
as many as we can throughout the budget process.
And he mentioned that over the, I guess it's 2017, we've done this for $70,815,000 in principle
and just paid that off, saving taxpayers $17.8 million.
This gives us that ability to do so again, should it an opportunity to present itself.
Are there any questions?
Mr. President?
Yes.
Again, there's a resolution with all of those very detailed amounts in there that will be signed.
So I move that the Board of Trustees approves of a resolution expressing intent to defuse or redeem certain of the district's outstanding bonds.
Second.
We have a motion by Mrs. Fox and a second by Mrs. Champaign.
We'll now proceed to vote.
Board members, please record your vote on the screen via your keypad.
The motion passes 7-0.
8.3 Discuss and consider Board approval of the Resolution Declaring Intention to Reimburse Project Expenditures.
8.3, discuss and consider board approval of the resolution declaring intention to reimburse project expenditures.
I'm not a betting guy, but I would bet that if I were, that we would not need to use this item.
It's there as an abundance of caution.
What this allows is the ability that if we didn't sell bonds or didn't have bond proceeds to pay the vendors,
we weren't ready to go to market, it allows us to use the general fund to pay the cash to pay the vendors,
and then we would be able to reimburse ourselves with those bond funds.
Again, I don't expect the need for that.
It's simply presented to you as an abundance of caution.
Thank you.
Any questions on that?
If not, I'll entertain a motion.
I'm sorry.
Go ahead.
I have a question.
So you're saying you don't think you'll need it, and this is something we need to do because we're going to be at some point here in the near future issuing the $256 million.
This is just in case we need to pay vendors so we can reimburse ourselves from the issue.
That's it.
I don't expect it.
We have cash on hand in our bond proceeds,
and with this transaction and the timing associated with it,
we are probably not going to need this.
But, again, what we want to do while we're talking about interest and sinking
and this subject, we want to go ahead and get the ability to do so just in case we need to
so we can't use our bond proceeds.
The cash that you're using is from the bond proceeds or from the general fund?
This would be the general fund just using that cash until we get the bond proceeds.
And there's some limit.
And then when we get the bond proceeds, we reimburse the general fund.
Right.
Is there some limit to the general funds that we would use?
No, sir.
Theoretically, $256,000.
Yeah, theoretically, $256,000.
Yes, sir.
We don't think we'll need to do that.
Absolutely not.
Again, this is abundance of caution.
Any other questions?
Mr. President.
Yes.
I move the Board of Trustees approves a resolution declaring intention to reimburse project expenditures
Second we have a motion by mrs. Van a second by mr. Redmond. Well now proceed to vote board members
Please record your vote on the screen via your keypad
The motion passes 7-0
Thank you. Mr. Smith. Thank you. Good luck
8.4 Discuss and consider Board approval of Amendment One to the Stewart Builders, Inc. contract related to the renovations at Hutsell Elementary School.
8.4 discuss to consider board approval of the amendment 1 to the Stuart builders contract related to renovations at Hutsal Elementary
It's been a while, Ms. Katz. Good to see you.
Thank you.
Good evening. I'm President Schulte, Trustees, Dr. Gagorski.
I have one item this evening for your consideration.
It is the guaranteed maximum price for the renovations to Hutzel Elementary.
Approval of this item will allow materially and equipment to be ordered
so that work can commence this summer and be completed by next summer of 2024.
Mr. President, I have a question.
Hi, Ms. Katz.
So is this part of, was this part of one of the bond, the 2017 bond?
Yes.
Okay.
So this is in addition to what was already approved through that?
What we originally approved is bringing the contractor on board.
Now this approves the total project cost.
So this is not in addition to, this is just the total cost of it?
Correct.
All right.
Thank you.
Okay.
This is not an over-expenditure.
This is just proceeding to the next stage of the contract, right?
Yeah, correct.
As construction manager, it risks the first step as you bring the contractor on board.
And then as you develop the project scope, sometimes we only have one amendment, as in this case.
But sometimes there's two or three as we develop the scope.
Thank you.
Mr. President, if I may, I apologize.
The statement was made that that was part of the 20.
That's okay.
I'm over here.
I'm Justin's computer.
The statement was made that it was the 2017 bond.
It was the 2021 bond that had the Hutsul renovation in there.
Just to clarify.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Ms. Kassman, correct me if I'm wrong, but we are using some bond savings,
and so we will bring a budget amendment next month on this item,
just a very small amount, but it will not affect our available cash.
No, that's correct.
Mr. President.
Yes.
I move that the Board of Trustees approves Amendment 1 to the Stuart Builders Incorporated
contract related to the renovations of Hutzel Elementary School for the guaranteed maximum
price of $16,705,395.
Second.
We have a motion by Mrs. Fox and a second by Mrs. Champagne.
We'll now proceed to vote.
Board members, please record your vote on the screen pad.
The motion passes 7-0.
Thank you.
8.5 Discuss and consider Board approval of the renewal of the Texas Association of School Boards (TASB) Risk Management Fund Casualty Program for Plan Year 2023-2024.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Agenda item 8.5, discuss and consider Board approval of the renewal of the Texas Association
of School Boards Risk Management Fund Casualty Program Plan, year 2023-24.
Presenter tonight, Mr. Lance Nauman, Director of Risk Management.
Good evening.
Good evening, President Schulte, Dr. Krakorski, Board of Trustees.
In March of 2022, the Katy Independent School District Board of Trustees approved the renewal
premium quote for casualty coverage for TASB risk management fund for a 12-month period.
The renewal premium provides auto liability, general liability, cyber security, police
liability, and school board liability coverage for the district at a cost of $437,570.
The risk management department seeks to renew this program which provides casualty coverage
for the district. Because the district continues to grow, adding more employees and assets,
The renewal premium is offered at a higher than expiring term.
The increased premium is the result of organic growth and market pressure related to reinsurance.
This program provides commercial auto liability coverage for vehicles owned, operated, and
or leased by the district.
Additionally, the program provides general liability coverage for the actions against
the district resulting from day-to-day operations.
Next, policy operations are also contemplated as part of this offering.
Lastly, the program extends school board legal liability coverage for claims related to administrative
issues.
Enhancements to the existing coverage includes violent acts coverage for expenses resulting
from mass incidents at campuses and cyber protection.
This program has been reviewed for adequacy of coverage, availability of service, and
cost.
Authority is granted to purchase this coverage via CRB legal.
It is recommended that the board of trustees approves the renewal of the TASB Risk Management Fund Casualty Program for plan year 2023-2024.
Mr. President, I have a question.
Mr. Nelman, what benefit is there to using the Texas Association of School Boards Risk Management Fund to purchase things like this?
TASB does a really good job of understanding our business.
They understand the business of schools in terms of claims, liability issues,
and they do really an excellent job in supporting us
and understanding our business model.
Do they get better prices because of the bulk that they deal with?
It's a pool.
So all of the members of the pool contribute to the funds
and the losses that happen therein.
So as the fund goes, pricing and reinsurance impacts those districts that are part of the fund.
Does that mean it would be more cost effective for us to be in a pool?
Or would it be better for us to do this through someone else?
It is more cost effective for us to be in a pool.
Because there's, again, when you look at a pool, you're looking at a homogeneous set of insurers.
So you're able to underwrite to specific needs rather than an entire book of business.
you may have manufacturing or oil and gas when you're competing with school districts.
So it's a very focused market group.
Thank you. Good questions. Any other questions, board members?
So we're saying that TASB, we don't need to bid this out because we're saying TASB is very competitive, has proven to be cheaper?
Yes. Year over year, they're competitive, and we approach that through an interlocal.
and we have found that the current state of marketing and again the way they
understand our business their workers comp and the casualty program it all
sinks in together very well you know that predict that comes to mind I think
when when you mentioned miss Fox is it possible to get to see or not not right
not right now but to see a list of what all services TASB provides us what other
things we have we what other services we buy from TASB what they provide we can
We can capture that.
Mr. President?
Yes.
Oh, okay.
I just have a question because does this include our
drivers? This covers auto liability coverage. So if a bus driver has an accident, it would protect
the district from claims against physical damage or bodily injury claims that could result from an
at-fault accident from a bus collision with another vehicle. And police officers? Yes, it would cover
the actions of police officers as well. Because I don't know how many buses there are, but I know
I know there's a lot, and there's a lot of police officers.
So I think this is a good price when you consider how many people that is covering
and how many potential claims that that covers.
I will say that year over year, I think our transportation folks do a really good job of driving safely
and keeping the children and employees of this district safe.
and I think we have a pretty good loss record for that.
That's reflective in the pricing, too.
That's awesome. Thank you very much.
Any other questions? If not, I'll entertain a motion.
Mr. President.
I move the Board of Trustees approves renewal of the Texas Association of School Boards
Risk Management Fund Casualty Program for the plan year 2023-2024.
Second.
We have a motion by Mrs. Vann and a second by Ms. Wilson.
We'll now proceed to vote.
Board members, please record your vote on the screen.
The motion passes 7-0. Thank you, Mr. Allman.
8.6 Discuss and consider Board approval of an amendment to the 2022-2023 Instructional Calendar to add a student and staff holiday on April 10, 2023.
8.6, discuss and consider Board approval of an amendment of the 2022-2023 Instructional Calendar to add a student and staff holiday on April 10, 2023.
Presenter tonight is Dr. Ken Gregorski.
Thank you, Mr. Schulte. This is an item we've brought back to the Board in the past about amending our calendar.
Generally speaking, we have, you guys know we have X number of minutes in our calendar, and we have built into what we call bad weather days.
When we don't use those days, it gives us some flexibility to take a day off here or there.
And we have been known in the past to go ahead and extend the Easter holiday in there into that Monday and take that additional day off for a student and staff holiday.
The big question we get is why don't we just build that in every year on that Monday?
Well, I can't guarantee we can always take that day off until we get through all the most serious weather, which is usually by the end of February, that we feel pretty confident at this point.
We won't have to use those two bad weather makeup days or capture those minutes back in, and then we can afford to take one more holiday day per year, and then that's the day we choose for this one.
So I bring that before the board.
Mr. President, Dr. Gorgorski, is this part of that district of innovation that we can kind of start our calendar and do that, and the minutes are because we no longer do how many exact days, but how many minutes of instruction each student has?
Correct. It is all about the minutes.
And like the Dallas area had several days of ice, and they were out of school and all that, so maybe we're fortunate we didn't have that.
Mr. President, I move that the Board of Trustees approve an amendment to the 2022-2023 instructional calendar to add a student and staff holiday on April 10, 2023.
Second.
We have a motion by Mrs. Fox and a second by Mr. Redmond.
We'll now proceed to vote.
Board members, please record your vote.
The motion passes 7-0.
9. Consent
We'll now proceed to the consent agenda.
Mr. President.
I'm sorry, do I?
Yes.
I have a question.
Yes.
On the first item.
Yes.
Okay.
Just on the McKinney-Vento invoices, is there any funding for that that comes with that?
So you're on a 9.1 approval of the budget amendments?
Yes.
Isn't that where it is?
Yes.
Isn't that where we are?
Well, yes, correct.
We're on the consent agenda.
That's correct.
Yeah.
So that's a, is on the, part of the amendment was 600,000 McKinney-Vento invoices.
And I was wondering is there, is there a funding that comes with that?
Is there, in other words, part of that program, part of that act, is there a funding?
There is a McKinney-Vento Act funding.
And Ted can correct me if I'm wrong, but there is McKinney-Vento Act funding for transporting
students.
However, it's not enough to cover the needs of the district at this time and we are
transporting students
At a rate that exceeds historic budget budgeting amounts. Okay, and that's the need for this
We think this will take us through the address of the school year. Okay, and you know to be honest
We are surprised that it cost 173 thousand for the bond committee
To have four meetings just just an observation
I noticed that was part of the amendment as well.
Is that a question?
Do you need an answer on that?
No, just an observation.
I see that it's other services, 59,000, other operating expenses, 40,000.
I was surprised that that was so big for the committee.
Mr. President?
Yes.
Can I ask a question about something on the consent agenda, please?
On 9.4, is this normal protocol that we pick the architects to do the projects before the bond has been approved and all that?
So 9.4 is consider board approval to award a contract for design services necessary for the construction of elementary schools number 47 and 48.
So Ms. Cashman, this is probably a question for you.
Mr. President, I'll go ahead and answer it, but if you'd like to get more detailed,
Lisa can come out and get in there.
But the question is, is this customary?
Yes.
We put design services in every bond for future designs,
and even in our next bond that we will soon be building,
we'll have design services for future schools.
So it helps us stay on track to get our schools built on time to design them before even we do the bond.
Okay, and then one other question.
I just, and you may need to answer this question for me too.
On 9.7, I'm just trying to understand the difference between, you know, we voted on, what was it?
Well, the last thing that we said.
Oh, 8.4, which was the amendment to the Stuart Builders for Hutsall Elementary.
but then we have 9.7 on the consent agenda for Seven Lakes High School, Wood Creek Elementary, Stevens Elementary for the flooring replacements.
So I'm just trying to understand what the difference is between, you know, why this would be on consent agenda versus why, you know,
why won't the other one just be on the consent agenda?
Why isn't the other, you know, why isn't the Hustle remodel on consent agenda if we're going to have the flooring on the consent agenda?
I mean to me they're the kind of the same category of things would it be because it's an amendment to a contract
It's amendment to a contract and dr. Gorski. I saw two minutes the contracts that we would bring that to the board attention
But if it's just a standard
Funding thing that that we thought that was okay to be on the consent agenda. Okay, so that's what the difference
Yeah, there is a difference. It's subtle, but we saw there's a difference. All right. I just wanted that for my explanation
Thank you. That's it
If there's no other questions, I'll entertain a motion on the consent agenda.
Mr. President?
Yes.
I move the Board of Trustees approves of the consent agenda for items 9.1 through 9.9.
Second.
We have a motion by Mrs. Vann, a second by Ms. Wilson.
We'll now proceed to vote.
Board members, please record your vote on the screen.
The consent agenda passes 7-0.
Mr. President?
Yes.
I appreciate the opportunity to ask a couple of questions for consent agenda
without having to remove an entire item separately in those kinds of things so
if that's that work for me yeah that's if that works I agree thank you agree
10.1 Donated Items to Katy Independent School District
Jen item 10.1 donated items to Katie SD was provided to Katie I see 10.2 miss
10.2 Recap of Board member requests for Information.
Ms. Vann, recap the board member's request for information.
I had two or three.
I don't know what you've got there.
I have two.
So if I've missed one, then I apologize and you can fill in.
There was a request for more on regularity, the elementary literacy updates.
Yes.
And that there was a request that supplemental resources be brought to the board for approval as well.
And then Mr. Perez had requested to know what other services TASB can or does provide to the district.
And that might be a cost saving or beneficial to us.
And the cost.
Yeah.
I just said cost.
Thank you.
The only item I had is when we were talking about the online testing is to send out a reminder to all the parents about the online sample test.
I think for Mrs. Fox, to send out a reminder to all the parents.
That was the only one I had.
Board members, is there anything else that you requested that is not captured?
Everybody's good?
Mr. President, when we're talking about the TASB services,
I think Dr. Gorgorski would know the answer to this.
That kind of included in our fees and our investment,
most of everything that TASB does for us, the HR, all of the risk management,
that's kind of included, correct?
Services are generally included in different items we might have access to,
you and you gave the example of hr that we have access to their data central to pull reports and
look at market values that stuff would be included in there but specific services like uh mr nowman
brought forward and stuff like that or we buy insurance or if we buy product that wouldn't be
so uh i'm pretty confident uh chris smith can get us that list of of stuff and i'll get that to the
board uh 11.1 there will be a special board meeting on monday march 20th 2023. um 11.2 the
11. Future Meetings
The next regular board meeting will be Monday, 27th of March, 2023.
There being no further business before this board, the meeting is adjourned.
The time is 837.
Have a good night, everyone.
Official documents
Motions and votes
Recorded actions
MOTION 001 · AGENDA 6.1
PassedThe Board of Trustees approves for employees who are being recommended to receive administrative probationary, administrative term, staff probationary and staff member term contracts.
7 Yes · 0 No
| Trustee | Vote |
|---|---|
| ashley-vann | Yes |
| dawn-champagne | Yes |
| greg-schulte | Yes |
| lance-redmon | Yes |
| leah-wilson | Yes |
| rebecca-fox | Yes |
| victor-perez | Yes |
MOTION 002 · AGENDA 8.1
PassedIt is recommended that the Board of Trustees approves an Order Authorizing the Issuance of Katy Independent School District Unlimited Tax School Building and/or Refunding Bonds in one or more series; setting certain parameters for the Bonds; authorizing a Pricing Officer to approve the amount, the interest rate, price, including the terms thereof and certain other procedures and provisions related thereto.
7 Yes · 0 No
| Trustee | Vote |
|---|---|
| ashley-vann | Yes |
| dawn-champagne | Yes |
| greg-schulte | Yes |
| lance-redmon | Yes |
| leah-wilson | Yes |
| rebecca-fox | Yes |
| victor-perez | Yes |
MOTION 003 · AGENDA 8.2
PassedIt is recommended that the Board of Trustees approves the Resolution Expressing Intent to Defease Certain of the District's Outstanding Bonds.
7 Yes · 0 No
| Trustee | Vote |
|---|---|
| ashley-vann | Yes |
| dawn-champagne | Yes |
| greg-schulte | Yes |
| lance-redmon | Yes |
| leah-wilson | Yes |
| rebecca-fox | Yes |
| victor-perez | Yes |
MOTION 004 · AGENDA 8.3
PassedIt is recommended that the Board of Trustees approves the Resolution Declaring Intention to Reimburse Project Expenditures.
7 Yes · 0 No
| Trustee | Vote |
|---|---|
| ashley-vann | Yes |
| dawn-champagne | Yes |
| greg-schulte | Yes |
| lance-redmon | Yes |
| leah-wilson | Yes |
| rebecca-fox | Yes |
| victor-perez | Yes |
MOTION 005 · AGENDA 8.4
PassedIt is recommended that the Board of Trustees approves Amendment One to the Stewart Builders, Inc. contract related to the renovations at Hutsell Elementary School for the Guaranteed Maximum Price (GMP) of $16,705,395.
7 Yes · 0 No
| Trustee | Vote |
|---|---|
| ashley-vann | Yes |
| dawn-champagne | Yes |
| greg-schulte | Yes |
| lance-redmon | Yes |
| leah-wilson | Yes |
| rebecca-fox | Yes |
| victor-perez | Yes |
MOTION 006 · AGENDA 8.5
PassedIt is recommended that the Board of Trustees approves the renewal of the Texas Association of School Boards Risk Management Fund Casualty Program for Plan Year 2023-2024.
7 Yes · 0 No
| Trustee | Vote |
|---|---|
| ashley-vann | Yes |
| dawn-champagne | Yes |
| greg-schulte | Yes |
| lance-redmon | Yes |
| leah-wilson | Yes |
| rebecca-fox | Yes |
| victor-perez | Yes |
MOTION 007 · AGENDA 8.6
PassedIt is recommended that the Board of Trustees approve an amendment to the 2022-2023 Instructional Calendar to add a student and staff holiday on April 10, 2023.
7 Yes · 0 No
| Trustee | Vote |
|---|---|
| ashley-vann | Yes |
| dawn-champagne | Yes |
| greg-schulte | Yes |
| lance-redmon | Yes |
| leah-wilson | Yes |
| rebecca-fox | Yes |
| victor-perez | Yes |
MOTION 008 · AGENDA 9.1
PassedIt is recommended that the Board of Trustees approves the District's February 2023 budget amendments.
7 Yes · 0 No
| Trustee | Vote |
|---|---|
| ashley-vann | Yes |
| dawn-champagne | Yes |
| greg-schulte | Yes |
| lance-redmon | Yes |
| leah-wilson | Yes |
| rebecca-fox | Yes |
| victor-perez | Yes |
MOTION 009 · AGENDA 9.2
PassedIt is recommended that the Board of Trustees approves the District's December 2022 financial statements.
7 Yes · 0 No
| Trustee | Vote |
|---|---|
| ashley-vann | Yes |
| dawn-champagne | Yes |
| greg-schulte | Yes |
| lance-redmon | Yes |
| leah-wilson | Yes |
| rebecca-fox | Yes |
| victor-perez | Yes |
MOTION 010 · AGENDA 9.3
PassedIt is recommended that the Board of Trustees awards a contract to LECS, Ltd. for the exterior and interior lighting retrofit at Sundown Elementary and Nottingham Country Elementary, the exterior lighting retrofit at Beck Junior High, Cardiff Junior High, Mayde Creek Junior High, Morton Ranch Junior High, WoodCreek Junior High, and Beckendorff Junior High, and the life safety systems upgrades at Beckendorff Junior High, Holland Elementary, Mayde Creek Elementary, Shafer Elementary, Seven Lakes High School, and Law Enforcement Center in the amount of and a total not to exceed project cost of $4,136,666.27.
7 Yes · 0 No
| Trustee | Vote |
|---|---|
| ashley-vann | Yes |
| dawn-champagne | Yes |
| greg-schulte | Yes |
| lance-redmon | Yes |
| leah-wilson | Yes |
| rebecca-fox | Yes |
| victor-perez | Yes |
MOTION 011 · AGENDA 9.4
PassedIt is recommended that the Board of Trustees awards a contract to VLK Architects, Inc. for design services necessary for the construction of Elementary Schools #47 and #48.
7 Yes · 0 No
| Trustee | Vote |
|---|---|
| ashley-vann | Yes |
| dawn-champagne | Yes |
| greg-schulte | Yes |
| lance-redmon | Yes |
| leah-wilson | Yes |
| rebecca-fox | Yes |
| victor-perez | Yes |
MOTION 012 · AGENDA 9.5
PassedIt is recommended that the Board of Trustees awards a contract to Anslow-Bryant Construction, Ltd. for the kitchen renovation and classroom addition to West Memorial Elementary School for a fee not to exceed 2.25% of the cost of the work including pre-construction services totaling $15,000.
7 Yes · 0 No
| Trustee | Vote |
|---|---|
| ashley-vann | Yes |
| dawn-champagne | Yes |
| greg-schulte | Yes |
| lance-redmon | Yes |
| leah-wilson | Yes |
| rebecca-fox | Yes |
| victor-perez | Yes |
MOTION 013 · AGENDA 9.6
PassedIt is recommended that the Board of Trustees awards CenterPoint Energy Houston Electric, LLC a blanket electrical easement to provide electrical services along Longenbaugh Road as depicted in the attached easement document.
7 Yes · 0 No
| Trustee | Vote |
|---|---|
| ashley-vann | Yes |
| dawn-champagne | Yes |
| greg-schulte | Yes |
| lance-redmon | Yes |
| leah-wilson | Yes |
| rebecca-fox | Yes |
| victor-perez | Yes |
MOTION 014 · AGENDA 9.7
PassedIt is recommended that the Board of Trustees approves the contract for the flooring replacements at Seven Lakes High School, WoodCreek Elementary, Stephens Elementary, and Kilpatrick Elementary schools to Tarkett USA, Inc. utilizing Choice Partners No. 21/021MJ-36 in the amount of $2,712,376.97 with a total project cost not to exceed $2,875,119.59. The project cost overages are being funded from the existing project savings in the 2017 and 2021 bond authorizations.
7 Yes · 0 No
| Trustee | Vote |
|---|---|
| ashley-vann | Yes |
| dawn-champagne | Yes |
| greg-schulte | Yes |
| lance-redmon | Yes |
| leah-wilson | Yes |
| rebecca-fox | Yes |
| victor-perez | Yes |
MOTION 015 · AGENDA 9.8
PassedIt is recommended that the Board of Trustees approves the proposed summer work schedule as proposed by administration.
7 Yes · 0 No
| Trustee | Vote |
|---|---|
| ashley-vann | Yes |
| dawn-champagne | Yes |
| greg-schulte | Yes |
| lance-redmon | Yes |
| leah-wilson | Yes |
| rebecca-fox | Yes |
| victor-perez | Yes |
MOTION 016 · AGENDA 9.9
PassedThe Board of Trustees approves of the minutes for the January 2023 Board meetings.
7 Yes · 0 No
| Trustee | Vote |
|---|---|
| ashley-vann | Yes |
| dawn-champagne | Yes |
| greg-schulte | Yes |
| lance-redmon | Yes |
| leah-wilson | Yes |
| rebecca-fox | Yes |
| victor-perez | Yes |