Noting that a quorum is present, I hereby call this work study meeting of the Board of Trustees of Katy Independent School District to order.
Katy ISD · Work Study Meeting
Katy ISD Work Study Meeting, August 19, 2024
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In this meeting
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- 0:01 to 0:31 1. Call to Order
- 0:31 to 1:21 2. Pledges of Allegiance
- 1:21 to 29:34 3. Public Comment
- 29:34 to 29:54 4. Closed Meeting
- 29:54 to 30:45 5. Reconvene from Closed Meeting
- 30:45 to 43:30 6. Public Hearing
- 43:30 to 57:00 7.1 Discuss and consider Board approval of the design associated with the new band and orchestra building and renovations to Katy High School.
- 57:00 to 1:09:06 7.2 Discuss and consider Board approval of the design associated with renovations to Cimarron Elementary School and Nottingham Elementary School.
- 1:09:06 to 1:09:43 7.3 Discuss and consider Board approval of the plat for Elementary School #48.
- 1:09:43 to 1:11:46 7.4 Discuss and consider Board Approval of the June 2024 Financial Reports.
- 1:11:46 to 1:15:36 7.5 Discuss and consider Board approval of the proposed 2023-2024 final amended budget.
- 1:15:36 to 1:17:51 7.6 Discuss and consider Board approval of a resolution to commit and assign fund balance.
- 1:17:51 to 1:19:02 7.7 Discuss and consider Board approval of the 2024-2025 State Compensatory Education funding and other End-of-Course Assessment funding budget, as required by House Bill 5.
- 1:19:02 to 1:25:20 7.8 Discuss and Consider Board approval of the proposed 2024-2025 Official Budget for Katy Independent School District.
- 1:25:20 to 1:30:12 7.9 Discuss and consider approval of the Voluntary Benefit Products for Plan Year 2025.
- 1:30:12 to 1:32:44 7.10 Discuss and consider Board approval Remote Homebound Wavier.
- 1:32:44 to 1:35:14 7.11 Discuss and consider Board approval of a Settlement Agreement with Harris County to collect election related rental fees for Katy ISD facilities.
- 1:35:14 to 1:37:29 7.12 Discuss and consider Board approval of the engagement of Linebarger, Goggan, Blair & Sampson, LLP for property tax collection services.
- 1:37:29 to 2:23:25 7.13 Discuss and consider revisions to EFB policy.
- 2:23:25 to 2:32:43 8. Information Items
- 2:32:43 to 2:32:59 9. Future Meetings
Full transcript
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1. Call to Order
Today is Monday, August 19, 2024, and the time is 5 p.m.
Dr. Gorgorski, will you verify that we are in compliance with the provisions of the Texas Open Meetings Act with regard to the notice for this meeting?
Mr. President, I do confirm we're in compliance of the provisions of the Texas Open Meeting Act for our meeting today.
Thank you. KDST Board Officer Captain Clarence Howard will lead us in the Pledges of Allegiance.
2. Pledges of Allegiance
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, with liberty and justice for all.
honor the Texas flag I pledge allegiance to thee Texas one state under God one and indivisible
do we have any scouts in the audience I don't see any at this time the board of trustees will
3. Public Comment
give members of the public an opportunity to speak in accordance with kdisd board policy
bed local as defined by board policy speakers who signed up by 2 p.m on monday august 19 2024
provided their first and last name and signed in 15 minutes prior to 5 pm will be allowed to address
the board speakers who signed up to speak on posted agenda items be allowed three minutes to
speak if a speaker is not finished speaking at the end of their three minutes the audio will turn off
if speakers wish to share written material with the board please provide 10 copies to the
secretary for board services before the meeting begins for board members the superintendent the
chief communications officer and permanent record if a 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 Texas Government Code Sections 551.074 and 551.0821,
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 public officer or employee
or to 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, and GF local.
Our speakers will be called forward in the order that they signed up to speak.
Our first speaker is Tamara McFarland, followed by Simon Lin.
Welcome.
I'm here to speak about the proposed KDISD
gender fluidity library books. These books are not educationally suitable.
While all children should be able to see themselves in books,
gender dysphoria and confusion is a serious medical issue that requires parental involvement.
This is not book banning as these books can be taken out from public libraries or online by
parents and their children if they choose. I have reviewed dozens of books from kindergarten to
grade 12 that confuse and coerce children to be brave and change genders. These books can cause
gender dysphoria in young impressionable minds. For example, Katie ISD Kindergarten
book, It Feels Good to Be Yourself, a book about gender identity. It instructs
children that quote, whether you feel like a boy or a girl or both, that is
your gender identity. Your gender identity might match what people thought
you were when you were born or it might not. In Cardiff Junior High, the book
Transmission has chapters such as hormone blockers, gender surgeries and
explicit details on how to have transgender sex. On page 521, which I
handed, as for how trans men have sex that varies person to person, on to the
not so PG-13 part of the book there are all kinds of things out there that aid a
trans man's adventures such as packers and then goes on to say prosthetic
penises and harnesses. In KDIC high school library the book Beyond Magenta
is a step-by-step guide to gender transitioning and sterilization surgery
and explicit sex instruction for minors on how to have sex with transgender boys
and girls. In the book it reads I'm saving up for a vagina it would be so
great if I can get an operation and if I could get my vagina so I can live my
life. There are hundreds of gender fluidity books like this in KDIC libraries that are not
educationally suitable and it's a topic for children to discuss at home with parents and or
medical professional. Detransitioners are speaking out suing schools and hospitals for coercing them
to transition through books, counselors, and online resources. They're being censored on media and
social media except X. They regret the medications and surgeries they wish they had waited. This is a
very sensitive topic and I want to say to any transgender youth in our district that we love
you, we support you, and you were born perfect. You are not flawed. Talk to your parents if you
haven't already. Find and follow some detransitioners like Chloe Cole and Gaze Against Groomers on X
and please be kind to yourself and give yourself time.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Simon Lin, followed by Kathy Carpenter.
Good evening.
My name is Simon Lin and I'm a resident
for Katy for over 25 years.
I have two adult children who graduated
from Cinco Ranch High School
and our youngest daughter is now a senior at Cinco.
Today, I come in support of Agenda Item 713, Revision of the Library Materials Policy.
Last April, in our school board meeting, I mentioned about the millions of dollars that
we spend to protect our children's physical safety.
We can all agree about the importance of protecting our children.
But when it comes to protecting the minds of our children, we are clearly divided.
We have those on one side who want to ban certain offensive, inappropriate materials
in the classroom and the libraries.
And there are those on the other side
who would rather cross off restraints
and allow any materials to be fully circulated and promoted.
The latter are the same individuals who are saying,
why are we wasting taxpayers money and time on this issue?
And that would be a logical conclusion
for anyone who doesn't believe in an existential threat.
However, I do believe that there is an existential threat
to our schools and our community.
The real enemy here is an ideology that's being actively promoted and it's called cultural Marxism.
Cultural Marxism comes in the disguise of racial and gender, transgender equality and social justice.
And that's just debate.
The real aim of this ideology is to divide the populace into subgroups and pit them against each other with the ultimate goal of totalitarian control.
Now I'm not some boogeyman trying to promote and spread some red scare.
I'm simply a Katy citizen who's married to a Nicaraguan wife and who experienced this firsthand.
By the way, do you know what the first three things that a Marxist regime does when they take over a country?
First, they take your guns.
Second, they take your possessions and that can come in the form of taxation and inflation.
And finally, they come for your children by indoctrinating them.
My wife told me that back in 1979 when the Sandinistas took over,
they had to learn songs about the evil gringos and the evil USA. Well instead
of the real evil gringos insert the words white male heterosexuals. They are
the new oppressors. Thankfully my in-laws had the wisdom and the foresight to send
my wife and her brother away first to Panama and then to the US for their
safety and protection. There are many like-minded people in our community
who come from China, Cuba, Venezuela, Vietnam, and Cambodia.
They can all share the same story.
And why is that the case?
Because it comes from exactly the same playbook.
I would also highly recommend that you read this book by Xi Van Fleet,
who experienced the Cultural Revolution in China from the 1960s and 70s.
She tells you the very parallels between what happened in Communist China
to what is happening today in our country.
Thank you. Kathy Carpenter followed by Yarrow Sledge. Good evening. I won't be
taking up too much of your time. I haven't been here in a while. Last time I
was here I apologize. I was a little taken back on your definition of the gay
agenda and I never had a chance to tell either one of y'all congratulations. But
But I do want to say thank you to Mrs. Calhoun, Mrs. Thiem, and Mr. Perez, and Mary Ellen
Cuzela.
Without y'all, I would still have to come here every month.
And I am so glad that you are doing everything possible to keep our children protected.
Hopefully in the future, you'll realize what it's all trying to lead up to.
And if you missed it, well, you missed it.
But if you did not watch the Olympics open ceremony,
that is the exact package I sent y'all a couple years ago.
I hope that y'all worry more about the kids and not about the haters.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Yarrow Sledge, followed by Jared Burton.
Welcome.
Yara Sledge Good evening President Perez, Dr. Gorgorski,
members of the board.
My name is Yara Sledge.
I first would like to thank all of you for being here tonight.
I know that you all take time out of your busy days to come here and I truly appreciate
everyone for doing that.
Tonight I will be reading for a KDISD librarian who could not make tonight's meeting.
Dear members of the board, classroom one-on-one and IDs have required all of our attention
during the beginning of the year. Adding more to our already overwhelming plate
seems like a further slap in the face. Having recently been excluded from
retention bonuses, librarians cannot help but feel undervalued. We service all
students and all families in our school communities. Book fairs allow the whole
community choice in otherwise selected selections. The current opt-in
option allows all parents to make choices for their own children. Pondering
to the hypersensitive extremism who are on the minority in our district waste time it could be
better spent serving our whole community katie is a diverse community as educators we strive
to meet the needs of all of our students please continue to do so by supporting us thank you
thank you jared burton
followed by eleanor stoddard
Hello Board, my name is Jared Burton.
I'm a senior at Tompkins and president of the School of Sexuality and Gender Alliance
Club.
On the agenda today is to discuss and consider revision to policy EFB, which has been infamously
utilized to carry out unfair book bans that disproportionately target stories by authors
of color and LGBTQ plus authors.
For the latter, these stories have been banned under the guise of being sexually explicit,
even when that is a not the case and be no more explicit than books featuring
heterosexual themes and relationships each time it's been a stretch to
classify several of these books as sexually explicit but with the proposed
provisions to board policy EFB extremists will be able to essentially
cut out the middleman under said revisions all library materials that
adopt support or promote what the district defines as quote gender
fluidity will be banned at the elementary and junior high level and
and will require a parental opt-in for high school students to check out such books.
This means any books with transgender characters or promoting the acceptance of transgender people
will be banned for many and highly inaccessible for most high schoolers.
Students deserve the freedom to read.
Parents can already request to librarians to not allow their child to check out books containing certain topics.
Is that not already enough?
There's no other reasonable explanation for why such revisions are necessary other than fear and ignorance.
It's clear that this district has a bullying.
problem. LGBTQ plus students feel unsafe and unwelcome at school and afraid to be themselves.
It is not just perpetuated by other students, but by the very people leading this district.
KDISD defines bullying as when an action or behavior is severe, persistent, or pervasive
enough that the action or threat creates an intimidating, threatening, or abusive educational
environment for a student, substantially disrupts the operation of a classroom, school, or school
sponsored activity or infringes on the rights of the student clearly some on this board and in the
audience needed a refresher once was banning the trevor project on school wi-fi twice was passing
the gender fluidity policy and here we are banning books on the same topic it is clear that there is
a pattern you four and some of y'all are bullies and are causing significantly more distress to
many students and staff than any other student or school official Fahrenheit 451 is still required
reading in the district and rings truer than ever today KDISD is not far from becoming the very
firemen that Ray Bradbury antagonized in the classic novel if we continue treading this
dangerous path as a district it is not unreasonable to believe that we could eventually ban that book
as well I urge the board to vote to vote no on this borderline fascist policy stop burning the
the books thank you thank you Eleanor Stoddard followed by Lisa Lister Brown
good evening my name is Eleanor Stoddard and I've lived within the KDISD
boundaries for the last 20 years I have two children one of whom has who has
graduated and is attending college and one who is still in high school at a
KDISD school I volunteered for many years in KDISD schools I'm here tonight
tonight to comment on agenda item 7.13. It amazes me that every time the library material
policy is brought up, it keeps getting changed for the worse. We had a perfectly good library
policy several years ago, which in my opinion did not need to be changed. I send my kids
to public schools, expecting them to have access to full, expansive libraries that include
diverse perspectives, viewpoints, and ideas. That's not happening right now, and it's a
topic that's important to me. Harris and Fort Bend counties are among the most diverse counties
in the nation, so shouldn't our schools and libraries reflect this? There's a lot
of talk lately about violating parents rights. Well, limiting my kids access to
books is a violation of my parental rights. I also see there's a new addition
to the library policy about how vendors selected by the district shall adhere to
the district's library guidelines and board policy. One of the things that
applies to his fundraisers selected for book fairs. Is this a way to try to
replace the dangerous scholastic book fairs with a more Christian nationalist
nationalist vendor that is anti-LGBTQ and fits in with the views of certain board members,
I'm suspicious of this change. I'm against banning books. I'm not a teacher, but I do have a history
background, and I can see how moral panics like this have turned out in the past. I trust the
teachers and librarians in this district, and I know these proposed changes will be passed no
matter what I say, but I'm here to go on record to say that I oppose it. Thank you. Thank you.
Lisa Lister-Brown, followed by Margaret Daniel.
My name is Lisa Lister-Brown.
I have children in KDISD and I'm addressing Agenda Item 7.13 about the EFB policy.
The First Amendment is ingrained in the fabric of American life.
Every patriot knows about the First Amendment.
The First Amendment is central to freedom in the USA.
By allowing people to share ideas, spoken and written words, what the First Amendment
does is give everyone a right to hear all sides on an issue and to make up their own
minds about that issue.
It allows us freedom of thought, freedom of judgment, and the ability to see outside ourselves as a conduit to living peaceably in a society where differences amongst the populace is inevitable.
The First Amendment protects us from government attempts to suppress ideas and information.
The First Amendment is about freedom.
It forbids government censorship of books.
Government censorship of books is about thought control, not freedom.
now the idea of being someone transgender may be offensive to people who are committed to being
prejudiced against those who god made transgender it may be that they are listening to false
prophets who say transgender people are evil the same way church people in the past have said
people with red hair or who are left-handed are evil history has proved those people wrong
and judges the persecution that followed their prejudice as cruel and unchristian.
Being left-handed or red-haired is not evil, it's the way God made some of us.
And God made some of us transgender too. It's not bad, it's not evil. We don't need
to be banning books with transgender characters just because some of us come
from homes or a church where being prejudiced against transgender people is
is popular and where a refusal to truly understand transgender issues is the norm.
Just like no book can make a person have red hair or become left-handed, no book can turn
a person trans. Some of us don't get our facts from the internet hate sites or prejudice
lecterns or pulpits. Some of us are inspired by Christ's example of compassion and kindness.
We seek to understand the transgender experience and we know this, that God makes people trans, not books.
We worry that people who believe internet lies and who wish to stay rooted in their prejudice are acting against God's will and hurting kids in the process.
By banning books, people of prejudice are also impinging on First Amendment rights.
patriots and Christians and just downright decent people should stop interfering with other people's
freedom to be informed and make up their own minds about issues and they should respect the freedom
of people to peacefully live their own lives with dignity and authenticity as God thank you
you. Margaret Daniel, followed by Claudia Turcotte. Good evening, board members and Dr. Drogowski.
Thank you for allowing me to speak tonight. I'm a certified teacher, parent, former PTA
exec board member, Katie Keyes mentor, and school volunteer, former. I speak in favor
of the board creating policy that would keep materials that adopt support or promote gender
fluidity out of elementary and junior high libraries first because school libraries should
focus on enriching and supporting curriculum taking into consideration students interests
and their varied reading abilities determining what age to introduce discussion on gender
identity and concepts of gender theory should be up to parents it's reasonable to restrict books
for K through 8th grade that address controversial topics that parents may
wish to introduce at a later stage of development. According to the Williams
Institute of UCLA School of Law, 1.4 percent of youth ages 13 through 17,
about 300,000, identify as transgender. Students identify as transgender.
Perhaps instead of having books on the issue and circulation throughout the
school, the guidance counselor could have age-appropriate books to use with
children if they have parental permission. Schools address this
successfully for other topics such as alcoholism, eating disorders, and mental
health issues children experience at home. I believe high
schoolers are mature enough to be able to read a balanced collection of
presenting multiple viewpoints on controversial issues to foster their
critical thinking skills. So this is not a problem. When crafting the book
policy for school libraries, I hope that the entire board looks at what's best
for all students not just a few it'd be counterproductive to have books that
introduce ideas to children that create gender confusion and teach children that
the bodies were created incorrectly it's my hope that funds allotted to libraries
will be wisely spent on books that we can all agree enrich the educational
experience and foster a love of learning in each child thank you thank you
Claudia Turcotte followed by Sophia Peruzzi.
Good evening. I'd like to start by acknowledging the trustees who voted in favor of the gender
policy. Trustees Calhoun, Cuzela, Perez, and Thieme, you showed great courage and leadership
and as a parent I'm very grateful. I'm here to register my support for the revised library
library policy, the topic of gender fluidity has no place anywhere in our schools, and
especially not at the elementary level.
I find it outrageous that this even needs to be addressed.
It is my job as a parent to determine when or if I will discuss such topics with my children.
Attempts to introduce the topic of gender fluidity to this age group can only be classified
as grooming and indoctrination.
I urge all of you to vote in favor of keeping this out of our school libraries.
Please stand in the gap for our kids.
If we as reasonable human beings are not willing to rise up in defense of our children,
then we should hang our heads in shame at our own cowardice.
Please push back on any and all attempts to normalize gender ideology to our vulnerable young children.
They should be learning the fundamentals of education.
education, all else is the strict purview of the parent. Please defend parental rights and the
children of KDISD. And I would like to piggyback a little bit off of what Tamara said. I also want
to add that for any of the kids that are struggling with gender issues in KDISD, I also echo the
sentiment that we love you, that you are fearfully and wonderfully made, and that until you lean into
to the way that God made you and you accept yourself,
the way that God made you, you will be restless and unhappy
and you will struggle.
And I also would encourage the adults that
are encouraging this behavior to please stop
doing this to children.
You're harming them.
You're either projecting your own dysfunction onto these kids
or you are well-meaning but very misguided.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Sophia Peruzzi, followed by Tana Weiss.
Hi, my name is Sophia Peruzzi
and I'm here to speak against the adoption
of agenda item 7.13.
Students should not be made to feel unwelcome
in this community for any reason.
They come to school to learn not just core subjects, but also how to have a good relationship
with peers who may not look like them or share their beliefs.
There are students in Katy that do not identify with the sex assigned to them at birth, and
that is okay.
It is okay to be different, and we need to let students know that.
We must ensure that students feel safe and welcome through all of Katy ISD.
And part of this is allowing books that discuss diverse identities.
The books you're trying to ban help students understand that there are non-gender individuals in the world.
Some of these books are personal accounts of acceptance.
As a resident, it concerns me to see a board targeting a small number of students who are gender fluid, trans, or gender non-conforming.
Why single out these students?
As adults, it is disheartening to witness behavior resembling bullying from school board members.
By rejecting these books, you also reject the core values of acceptance for students who do not fit traditional gender norms.
While none of you are obligated to be kind or respectful to a child, as part of KDISD, you are held at a higher standard.
It is crucial that you respect these students and their families.
Thank you for your attention to this matter and good evening.
Thank you.
Our last speaker tonight is Tana Weiss.
Good evening, Dr. Grigorski and board members.
My name is Tana Weiss, and I'm speaking regarding Agenda Item 7.13.
As a mother of two KDISD graduates who never had to wonder what board members were targeting children
children with their personal beliefs and prejudices, I continue to be appalled at the ever-growing
list of books that are being removed from our libraries by this vague policy.
Why did you add this gender fluidity library book ban revision to tonight's agenda in
the first place?
The ban on gender fluidity materials is already in the FA gender policy and the district is
is already applying it to and removing and restricting books regarding gender.
Is this political warfare to set Lance Redmond up?
If he votes no, will your backers be distributing those vile mailers y'all seem to favor,
calling him a liberal who doesn't protect children?
If he votes yes, are you hoping he might possibly lose progressive votes in the next school board election?
Meanwhile, you sacrifice trans students and families as collateral damage while you play these despicable games.
I have never understood why your prejudices take precedent over another parent's right to allow their child to have access to a full and expansive library that includes diverse perspectives, viewpoints, and ideas.
You are violating their First Amendment rights.
rights. Our students and staff should not be pawns in your political games. This is
not about our schools or keeping children safe. This is about ensuring your specific
beliefs are impressed upon public school children in KDISD, which I continue to emphasize two
of you who decided our schools weren't the right fit for your own children somehow got
got yourselves elected to impose policies on those of us who do have kids in the district.
I'm asking you to consider striking the restrictions of vendors from the last section of the policy,
as several of you seem to have, to not approve of scholastic book fairs for some reason.
I truly cannot comprehend the hatred in your hearts when it comes to diverse literature for our students.
and really the hatred in your hearts for diversity in our student body.
Books are a vital part of every student's learning experience,
and you are limiting them unnecessarily.
Thank you.
Thank you.
This concludes the open forum portion of our meeting.
4. Closed Meeting
The Board will now convene and close meeting as authorized under section 551.001 of the
Texas Government Code for the following purposes, Texas Government Code 551.071 and 551.129.
5. Reconvene from Closed Meeting
The Board will now reconvene and open meeting.
meeting. Today is Monday, August 19, 2020.
and the time is 6.06 p.m.
On behalf of my colleagues, I welcome everyone to this week's evening's work-study meeting.
Each board member received the agenda and documentation for this meeting on Friday, August 16, 2024.
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 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 an open meeting.
6. Public Hearing
Our first item of business is Public Hearing 6.1, Presentation of the 2024-2025 Proposed Budget and Tax Rate.
Our presenter is Chris Smith, Esperanza Rios, and Jamie Hines. Welcome.
Good afternoon, President Perez, Dr. Gorgorski, and trustees.
I promised y'all last month that this would be brief, since you probably are ready to burp this budget.
but we are done with budget preparation.
We're supposed to be done by August 31st.
The Board of Trustees has to adopt that budget by August 31st,
and I'm confident that it's ready to be adopted at this time.
We budgeted 1.4% enrollment growth.
We opened two new schools this last week,
Freeman High School and Nelson Junior High.
Those were two big rocks.
We had a 7.2% growth in our tax base.
You guys generously passed a 3% salary increase.
Our tax rate is going to be .7271.39 for the INS.
That is a reduction in the compressed rate of about .0023, not quite a penny, but a reduction nonetheless.
Over the last, since House Bill 3 was passed in 2019, the tax rate has lowered by 40 cents.
Again, last year was the big one at 18-cent reduction.
This year it's going down as well.
The revenue split looks like this.
At one point, those were reversed, and the majority of our funding public education in KDISD was in blue.
Now that has shifted over into the red,
and that's why the reduction in the tax base or the tax rate has done that
because the state's using their surplus not for new new new monies to spend in
the classroom but on tax relief and you can see that they're very vividly in
that graph I will say that less than 1% in our federal revenue this reflects a
pretty big hit we took in our Shars program that is the federal dollars that
that run through a state agency that we record as federal revenue,
and that took a $7 million hit, and it's reflected in this budget.
It would still be only about 1%, but it is less $7 million.
We're at 89% salary and benefits, utilities at 4.8%.
Again, the second largest expenditure we have behind salary and benefits is utilities in that red slice.
Software and supplies materials at 4.1%.
I want to say again that the campuses have not been reduced in their budgets at the campuses at all.
In fact, because of the attendance incentive that was successful this last year, campuses in this district are going to have more money than they've ever had to spend, at least that I can remember that they're going to have to spend in their general fund budgets.
and I know that they're very appreciative,
and I'm very appreciative that this board allowed that to happen
because it's a good thing for students ultimately.
Eighty-two percent of our money is spent in the classroom.
Sixty-seven point six percent is instructional related.
That's classroom and library expenses at that 67.6 percent.
That's one of the highest in the state.
if not the highest in the state.
So our general fund budget, final amended budget fund balance is $344.5 million.
Total revenues of $1,056,000,000.
Total expenditures of $1,081,000,000.
Transfers in and out equal a transfer out.
that's to the Health Service Fund of $1,500,000 and a deficit of $26.7 million.
We're not rare with that deficit, and I don't think that when it's all said and done based on historical underspending
that we'll have that kind of deficit, but I do think we will use fund balance in the 2024-2025 school year, just not that much.
Food Service Fund has a very healthy fund balance of $21.6 million.
million dollars. That's too much. It needs to be spent down and we're spending it down with this budget and the budget that we're currently wrapping up. You can see that capital outlay at nine point seven million dollars there at a total expenditures of sixty four point eight million dollars. So it's using seventeen point five million dollars of fund balance and we need to do that because our fund balance is too high in the food service fund. Debt service fund is two hundred forty four million dollars in
revenues. $16 million of that comes from the additional state aid for homestead exemptions.
So when the state passed the $35,000 homestead exemption, they held us harmless for that,
a loss in tax revenues, as they did with the $100,000 when they increased the homestead
exemptions to $100,000. So that's essentially the amount of tax dollars we lost by raising the
homestead uh for the hundred thousand dollar homestead exemption uh total uh expenditures
in this fund are twenty two two hundred forty three point uh nine million dollars that includes
the two million dollars of defeasances or paying down of bonds uh outside of the regular schedule
we're just paying them off uh up to two million dollars um this is all three of our budgeted funds
funds, general fund, food service fund, and debt service fund that you are going to be
asked to legally adopt next Monday.
Those include $1,347,000,000 in revenue, $1,390,000 in expenses, and $387,000,000 ending fund
balances.
Our fund balances are healthy and we're in a good spot to be going through the weather
the weather that we're going through with our economic environment all
budgeted funds this is just a look at it by function same bottom line numbers but
it shows that there's seven hundred two million dollars of that billion dollars
is in is going into the classroom or a new instruction that I mentioned earlier
so we're complete with that just moving forward I will say that we're gonna
obviously as we always do closely monitor the expenditures we're gonna
to continue to prepare for growth. We're the fastest growing district in the in the state.
We're going to open two new campuses next fall, Elementary 47 and Elementary School 48,
and we'll be bringing on the staff and the supplies to get that going because that will be
expensed in the 24-25 school year. We'll have some expenses, but obviously the big bulk of it
hits next year's budget. I expect budget amendments. Probably in October we'll have
some timing amendments some things like that didn't just come in that was ordered so i heard
one of today was ordered in february and still not here we're going to have to amend for that
so it doesn't hamstring any one particular organization's budget but it'll be in fund balance
and then you know just the nature of estimates on our property values and uh those kind of things
those will those will require amendments as the year moves on uh we're going to have a
legislative session that's going to start in January. What's going to be done
with that state surplus? It's huge. We know that. Our ISDs, our public
education, are going to get some of those dollars to close those deficits and to
give the employees in education throughout this state the ability
to cope with themselves and their inflation in their individual budgets.
And then those will create changes in the funding formulas. Again, the
basic allotments, the primary fuel that fuels the funding vehicle, and it's been static
since 2019.
We must plan under current law, and I hate to say this, but instead of really starting
our planning in January, we're probably going to have to start this fall, October-ish, get
a month to digest this budget and then start planning because we must plan under current
law.
Under current law, you've got a $27 million deficit.
deficit. And so in order for us to stay healthy, we're going to need to find areas in which we can
reduce that because if nothing happens at the state level, and we find out that in June,
it's too late to make an impact. You're stuck with it. So we're going to have to make those
plans in October in order to, and hope that something in Austin does happen positively,
and we don't have to enact those plans. But historically, those new laws aren't passed until
until late May, early June, and signed off on until July.
And so we can't wait around and hope
with our fingers crossed.
So we must be planning, and that's not gonna be fun.
But the sooner you plan, the more strategic
you can be about that.
And with that, I'm done with this presentation
and the budget, and Ms. Rios is gonna talk to y'all
about that and present it in the formal format
that we would ask y'all to adopt here later in the meeting.
Thank you questions.
Mr. president.
Mr. Smith, I have spoken with a Senator friend of mine and and was told that hopefully when they get there, they understand that they missed.
Supporting schools the way they needed to, and hope to get that past and to the house and get some money to us quicker than waiting until June. So I hope that happens. It all kind of depends on the house coming together because the Senate's pretty decided on what they want to do.
But there's there's hope for that. Great.
Still would be January for March right before we get to it. Probably.
Thank you. I'd like to just make a comment. You know, the headline number, I guess, for the, to me, for the budget next year is at 26.7 million deficit, kind of that number jumps out.
And it's good to point out, I think, and to remember that 22 million of that, of the 26, is from the salary increases, which was, I think, a great thing.
And, you know, everybody's happy to be able to do that.
With the thinking that, because we've heard that this year we're going to finish the August 24 fiscal year, this ending, that we're going to finish better than is projected.
We're going to maybe add a little bit of fund balance and start with a little bit better fund balance that's originally projected in the budget.
and we have the potential as well this coming year to do better than what these numbers are showing,
even though we'll use some fund balance.
But as you said, we're still in good shape in terms of the projected fund balance
after we run through the deficit.
So I just wanted to highlight that.
Yes, sir, and I'll say it publicly.
I am confident that we will break even and even add to fund balance when this audit is presented to you guys in January.
And I would be remiss if I didn't say that Dr. Gorgorski and his cabinet did a great job doing some things to be able to find some space for y'all to give that 3% salary increase.
And I think they did it in a way that doesn't harm kids.
And I appreciate Dr. G and the cabinet's leadership on that.
And then Esperanza, if I would be negligent to not acknowledge that she did a great job in a tough time putting this budget together for her first time around the track.
And I appreciate all the work that she did, too.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
Thank you so much.
We have actually, this is the time when if there was someone that was speaking about the budget,
I guess we didn't have anyone sign up to specifically speak about the budget as far
as like a public hearing since we finished with our open part of our meeting. Now we go to
7.1 Discuss and consider Board approval of the design associated with the new band and orchestra building and renovations to Katy High School.
to discussion items, which is 7.1,
which is to discuss and consider board approval
of the design associated with the new band
and orchestra building and renovations
to Katy High School.
And presenters are Lisa Kastman,
Executive Director of Facilities, Planning and Construction,
Brad Ewing, BLK Architects,
and Dr. Rick Hall, principal of Katy High School.
Welcome.
Welcome, good evening, President Perez,
trustees, and Dr. Gagorski.
I have three items for this evening. The first two are design developments. We will start with Katie High School. Principal Rick Hall is here. Also, Project Manager Trey Barnett, along with other VLK staff members. So I'll turn it over to Rick.
President Perez, board members, Dr. Gagorski. On behalf of Katy High School, our community,
our students, I just want to thank you for putting this on the last bond election. Our
band hall music building was built in 1952 and we have put it to good use, but it is time.
And you will see from the design elements of this presentation what a great job that VLK has done
with this our our team here that put this together it was it's been really
fun to see it all come together and the vision of what the kids and the the
faculty want for this and the community wants I think they're gonna be really
excited to get this underway so thank you
thank you dr. Hall and good evening Board of Trustees president Perez and
and Dr. Gagorski.
On behalf of VLK Architects, it's
my pleasure to present to you tonight the design development
for multiple projects here in Katy,
but specifically we'll start off with Katy High School
renovations.
I'm joined tonight by partner VLK, Todd Lean, project
architect Lynn Hrabatsky, and Casey Palmer.
And we've been working closely with Lisa's team and Trey
Barnett on this project. So like Dr. Hall said, Katy High School, it was built and started in 1947,
so it's got a rich history and it's seen numerous additions and renovations over the last 75 years.
For this project, we're focusing on the renovation of the vocational hall and building a new
Fine Arts building just south of the new CTE wing. And so what we want to look at
first here is the Fine Arts building. Basically the student access for the
Fine Arts building is going to be provided from the C Hall vestibule that
leads into the CTE wing or from the PAC outdoor esplanade. The south side of the
the building will feature a new 15-foot deep truck loading zone for the band students and
allowing students to load their instruments safely.
Additionally, there will be an exterior access restroom on the west side of the building
for the tennis athletes so they don't have to go all the way back into the school.
To control vehicular access, there will also be new swing gates installed along either
side of the CTE access drive and a new 64 space parking lot will compensate for
the spaces that we're building the new fine arts building at that's over there
west of the CTE building. Yeah. Once again like last month the board will see some
more detail about the layout of the building than the public view so some of
the slides may not match up for safety security reasons. Once we look into the
actual band hall suite layout. It will be a versatile space with 25 foot high ceilings
so they can accommodate activities such as winter guard, the adjacent rehearsal space and percussion
room and improve instrument storage with direct access to the band hall will enhance functionality.
There will also be a mix of large and small practice rooms that are accessed right off of
the band hall and there also be a nice instrument storage access right off that space there will be
a new mudroom and exterior access so when they are loading stuff in and out going to and from
events that motor will be a nice space they utilize accessing ice and also where they can
clean instruments this is a view looking inside the band hall we're looking at providing some
striping to assist with you know just like the football field to assist with winter guard
will also be acoustical treatments to achieve the required reverb time and natural light coming from
the north facing clear stories and the space will be designed to enhance the teaching experience
with dedicated teaching walls and projection screens a perimeter trophy shelf will be included
and we'll work closely with the district to provide new graphics inside the space what you
see inside there is just a placeholder for right now looking at the orchestra hall layout the new
orchestra hall will have tall ceilings and adjacent ensemble space like the band hall it
will also include improved instrument storage with direct access from the from the orchestra hall
practice rooms a music library uniform storage and offices that are right there off the corridor to
provide supervision from in and out of the building inside the orchestra hall looking
inside that space. They'll have a carpeted space with acoustical treatments to
achieve the desired reverb time, natural light, and overall a space for
teaching, enhanced teaching experience. Also they'll also have a perimeter
trophy shelf included and same information about the graphics will work
with the district on providing new graphics inside that space. When you
When you enter into the building, you'll pass by some new group restrooms.
There will also be a display case there to showcase trophies and other historical artifacts.
All the materials used in here match what we have used over at the new West Campus
and the new CT wing that have been constructed over there.
That will include the Burnish CMU, Katy red tile, and wood planks.
As we look at the exterior of the building, you know, we really wanted to work around the existing site conditions to minimize the need for extensive site work.
So we're ensuring seamless access for students from the campus.
Here you can see the front entry point with the orchestra hall windows above the left.
Exterior materials will match the existing brick colors that are used on the school.
This other view is looking from the south.
And you can see that widened area
where the students can load all their instruments
from that south side of the band room.
From this bird's eye view, you can
see the massing of the building and how it integrates
into the campus.
The new entry will face the PAC Esplanade,
right where that iconic tiger statue is at.
Here's another bird's eye view where
you can really see that new student parking lot
over there west of the CTE wing and the new access drive on the south of the
campus at the south of the building now we're gonna look at the the new V Hall
renovations and so as you enter the V Hall new renovation there you'll see
that the main corridor for the students is right there adjacent to the new
classroom so you're gonna have a core group of classrooms in the center
There'll be some new medical classrooms, a new engineering architecture lab, an improved
maker space with supplied storage, and there'll also be a suite of a couple computer labs
and some extra campus storage.
This is a view as you first walk in from the main corridor.
order so we're looking to get out to bid mid-november and with the project the
band hall completing in December 25 and the V Hall would be completing could be
completed during the summer of 25 is there any questions or comments about
this project at this time questions trustees out of curiosity yes mr.
Mr. President?
Mr. Cuzela?
Ms. Computer labs?
Is that still a thing?
I thought it wasn't.
So I was just curious why there's designated computer labs.
Mr. So we still have courses that require higher end computers.
Our engineering classes, for example, they have to have more powerful computers than
a Chromebook.
Digital arts and animation runs software that would require that.
So they're not technically computer labs that everybody would access but they're content specific and we're not creating those
We're taking the computers that would be there now and we'll move those into those classrooms. Thank you very much
Mr. Perez, oh, it's Fox
What other things go in that be Hall what other kinds of classes do you expect to be in there for sure for sure?
We'll have the engineering architecture and
and digital arts and animation.
We'll also have our medical prep courses,
so like our health science technology classes,
those are gonna be the designated ones.
What's really nice about this is we're going from
12 usable classrooms right now to 16,
and so we'll be able to move some other classes in there.
I don't know what we have,
we haven't designated what it will be,
but we'll be able to take up some other classrooms,
just traditional classes down there.
Good, and then to have growth for new ideas
that we might come up with yes new new careers that we haven't even thought of
I bet thank you any other questions mr. president champagne I'm really excited
for you all I'm an old band person so I really love the new band hall and the
fine arts building but I want to ask you I can't really tell I mean I know where
the pack is but how far away is this fine arts building from the pack can you
Can you show me that again?
Yeah, if you look here in the overall, you see that esplanade that's right there in between
the athletic wing north of the track?
That's the entry to the pack right there.
Okay, so it's just right there.
It's right across.
So the entry there, if you see that number one, the right, the east side of that building
is the entry to that fine arts building.
So they're literally right across from each other.
That's so nice.
And what about choir and theater?
they're still not in that building?
They're still over on the east side of campus.
Yeah.
Cuz I know they do a lot of things together.
Yeah, logistically it's virtually impossible to put them all together.
In the redesign of the west campus back in 2014,
that's when they did the choir room, so it's already been taken care of.
The band, I'm sorry, the theater is on the east side of the building in a really
good at location with facilities so it wasn't didn't really make sense to put
them all in one location one of the other considerations that we had when we
when we chose that site where number one is is proximity to where the band
practice field is and so if you go straight south there it goes the
baseball field and then right on the other side of the baseball field is
where the the band drill field is and so where they were coming from is basically
where number two is and so they were having to walk all of their instruments
all of their stuff over to that area.
So now this is a real nice straight shot for them to be able to get out to that practice area.
Is it, so I'm sure you've thought of this, but there's a place for the buses to come late at night?
Because I also have a kid that was in band and they get dropped off.
So if you look right there where the buses are staged right there,
that will actually be where we unload the trailer, the band trailer, the big red one.
That's where they'll do that.
On the north side of that, between the CTE building and the new music building,
that's where we'll have the buses staged.
It's a nice long strip where we'll be able to have them all enclosed,
and that is not a driveway where people will be doing it.
Traffic won't be going by, so it's going to be segregated in there with just the buses.
That's even better.
Yeah, so we'll have it a safe area for them.
Great, thank you. I bet you're so excited.
And I also want to remind Dr. Hall that the last two times VLK's worked on Katy High School,
they did win a state championship in football.
That's true.
Thank you.
Mr. President, this is just an aside, but the slide that has, that looks like old gymnasium floor on the walls
reminded me of how sweet it was that you took the old gym and made those stairs, you know, that grand entrance,
It's the, what do you call it, large instruction area with those gym floors.
So I don't know if you have some laying around, but that'd be pretty cool.
Thank you.
7.2 Discuss and consider Board approval of the design associated with renovations to Cimarron Elementary School and Nottingham Elementary School.
I guess we'll move on to 7.2, which is approval of the design associated with renovations to Cimarron Elementary School and Nottingham Elementary School.
And Lisa Kastner and Brad Ewing, once again.
And we're adding Lindsay Chase, principal of Cimarron.
Good evening, Dr. Graborski, Mr. Perez, and our esteemed school board members.
I want to express my deepest thanks on behalf of Cimarron Elementary School for the much-needed
front office security upgrade.
Cimarron was originally built in 1980 and was fully renovated about eight years ago.
Over the years, Cimarron Elementary has served as a pilot campus for testing out various
security enhancements.
We've helped identify how well they've worked, and we're excited that our campus will now
have the additional security enhancements that all of our new belts have.
This is a powerful testament to our district's unwavering commitment to the safety and well-being
of our students and staff.
To our KDISD community, I also want to say thank you for your continued trust and partnership
in approving our recent bond so we could make this renovation happen.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Yeah, go ahead.
As Lisa mentioned before, so this is all safety security for these two front office areas.
So you will see very little in the public presentation, but you guys do have more in the executive content.
If you have any questions with that, and Ruben's here in the back if you all have any questions.
Thank you.
Thank you, Principal Chase.
So tonight, and like you mentioned,
they, Cimarron did go under comprehensive updates in 2015.
For the Cimarron Elementary Innovations, we'll first present the project schedule,
followed by a project scope, and including some floor plan diagrams and interior perspective views.
Looking at the schedule, we're targeted for a mid-November bid date,
and with construction starting around the end of January,
the project is expected to be completed July of 25.
So, really the current project focuses on the front entry, including safety and security upgrades to the reception and waiting area,
and bringing the admin suite up to current district standards.
The renovation also includes adding a visitor restroom accessible from the waiting area without needing to enter this secure school area.
Looking here at the existing condition of the existing lobby, it featured an automatic sliding door with two entry points into the school, which posed a security concern.
concern. Our renovations will reduce the entry points to a single
access point, providing two levels of security in the new vestibule.
The new waiting area will have updated finishes, a new transaction counter, and work areas
for both reception and attendance.
The vestibules will be hardened to reduce the amount of glass and secure entry into
the admin suite from the waiting area that will be added to limit the public access to
to the admin offices which are currently open to the public.
Any questions on Cimarron?
Mr. President?
Ms. Jamie?
I saw the projected completion date is July 2025.
When would you start?
Whenever the kids get out of school.
OK.
OK, I just wanted to make sure.
Because that's like the front.
I assumed that, but I just thought I would ask.
Thank you.
you so you think you can do all of that in two months from what we've seen
before I mean that's ultimately up to the contractor but yes they're there
that's what we're projecting okay okay we can do a lot in eight weeks okay
great thank you any other questions mr. president miss Fox it looks like the
drawing there's like a reception area or something does that give access to
clinic to pick up the sexual ics doorway is that why that's there uh let me look real quick
oh yeah it's rec yes ms fox um if you uh can kind of picture over there the door that is um
next to the far window on the left hand side that the other adult is standing next to
there is a door with an exit for students from the clinic to be reunited with parents if they're being picked up.
Thank you.
It looks, excuse me, Mr. President, one more thing.
I like that.
I appreciate the safety upgrades.
How I wish both of these campuses had more visitor parking at the front.
But, of course, they're landlocked, and that's not possible.
But they've got, like, six spots, and, you know, it's very popular there sometimes.
So it would, especially Nottingham on that really busy road.
So I guess that wasn't in the bond, but you know
Shipped it all back. Thanks
Thank you very much
Now we move on to Nottingham Country Elementary
renovations
Good evening, dr. Gorg, or ski mr. President and school board members. I'm Tracy Stratton the principal of Nottingham Country Elementary
I've been blessed to be there for 17 years now as an administrator
and we've seen renovations happen at Nottingham but not quite to this scope
we are quite excited to have our front entry upgraded to meet the safety
standards of the rest of the district as well as our library we know our library
is the heart of the building and right now the open concept creates not only
some safety concerns but it creates a loud environment in that library as well
as walking down our hallways our construction crew has been great working with me having this being
my first renovation to this scope i appreciate all their help and support in navigating this and what
the plans look like because i've never had to do this before so i'm very thankful we've been looking
forward to this as a 43 year old school as dr hall said it's time it's time so thank you very much
Thank you.
Thank you, Principal Stroud.
And she's been really great to work with and with Megan Irvin and Lisa's team getting this
project ready for you all.
For this, we'll kind of discuss the same agenda.
Looking at the schedule, it mirrors exactly what we're doing over at Cimarron.
So looking to be completed in July of 25. The scope of this project, this
renovation will focus on updating the administration suite to accommodate the
current campus needs to enhance the safety and security. We will also
renovate the media center to enclose the space with glass improving learning
learning environment and safety.
As we look at the existing entry, it has no really secure vestibule,
so there's multiple points of entry,
and they also have direct access to the administration suite
once you enter into the building.
And also inside this space, there's no public restroom for visitors.
They would have to be let into the school to use the restroom.
The new design will include a single access security vestibule with two layers of security, just like Cimarron, visible from both reception and attendance areas.
The admin suite and campus access will be controlled and a new public restroom will be accessible from that waiting area.
And we'll also have some new finishes to be applied throughout.
route. Looking at the existing media center here, you can see it's open to the corridor,
which like Principal Stroud said, lead to a lot of noise distractions from students
walking by. The new media center will be enclosed with new storefront glass along the corridor
to reduce noise and enhance security with the ability to lock down the space as needed.
And at this time, if you have any questions, we'd like to field those.
Mr. President?
Questions?
Questions?
Mr. President?
Ms. Champagne?
Yes.
I am so happy.
My kids didn't go to that school, but I do live in the neighborhood and I did mentor
a child there for three years in a row, eight or nine years ago.
And so I'm really quite familiar with how the school looks.
and then so i can't imagine it looking like this because it almost seems like that's more space
than what is possible but i believe you but it just doesn't look like you know i just i'm having
a hard time imagining it but i'm gonna i trust that it's gonna look this good because it's very
beautiful and i am excited about that library because as a mentor that's where i would mentor
most of the time was in the library and it was very distracting when you're trying to talk to
a little eight-year-old with all her friends walking by all the time so i'm really excited
for this school and for mrs stroud and her her kiddos and her teachers and all that i'm just so
so happy for you it's a beautiful school as it is anyway
thank you any other questions mr president miss fox
When we're looking at the library, and I know there are other schools with this floor plan where we've done the library media centers and enclosed them, we're still having the slopes and some floors are higher than others.
Seems like we've fixed that in previous schools.
Is that right, Mrs. Kassman?
Do you remember?
Correct.
Yes, we have.
So we're still going to have an upper layer, but there's going to be a ramp for accessibility.
and the ramps there now we're going to kind of stair-step it so there'll still
be some access going down there so look very similar to the other ones okay and
the it says the existing bookcases are staying so does that mean they're
permanent and they won't have the wheels and the convertibility to build
different kind of configurations and open it up for in that set footprint
we've kind of left them as up in place okay well it's beautiful and I've been
there many times so one more thing oh I really like the front remodification
that you're doing because you're exactly right once you go through the door
you're right there with everyone and it's you know right at the principal's
door it's like hey are you in here you know and it's really hard for the
principal not to like have an open-door policy when her doors right on the other
side so I really am looking forward to that upgrade for you guys mr. president
thank you I just want to say thank you this is my alma mater I opened this
school as a fifth grader so this means a lot to me and it's funny how when I was
in school everything was open and now we're closing it in and I did better
with the closed in classroom and and I can see the benefit of doing it in the
library too so thank you so much for all you've done this means a lot to me
We got to name the Knights.
We got to pick the mascot.
So thank you.
Thank you.
Any other questions?
Thank you very much.
7.3 Discuss and consider Board approval of the plat for Elementary School #48.
We're going to move on to discuss and consider board approval of the plat for elementary school number 48.
And our presenter, again, is Lisa Kassman.
Yeah, so this is typical when we bring new sites in.
In the case of the Elementary 48, construction is in progress, and we bought the site.
It was originally residential, but because now it's become educational,
we have to go through the replatting process with Waller County.
So this will be the final step forward.
Thank you.
Any questions?
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Appreciate it.
And now we move on to discuss and consider board approval of the June 2024 financial reports.
7.4 Discuss and consider Board Approval of the June 2024 Financial Reports.
Presenter Jamie Hines, Assistant Superintendent of Finance. Good evening
President Perez, members of the board, you have before you our August financial
reports which are our financial statements, our construction report, and
our tax report through the month of June as well as our check register summary
for the month of June. This represents 10 months of our fiscal year which is
about 83.3% of our fiscal year. So this will kind of come together later on when
we talk about final amended budget as well. But if you'll look on that first
page you'll see that we do have some underspending especially in our largest
object which is our payroll and that's at about 81% as opposed to 83% is how
how far of the fiscal year we're through.
If you go further down, you'll see some of those
that are actually over, specifically,
our other operating expenses,
and that really comes out of things like transportation.
Remember, this is through June,
so it doesn't represent some of those things
like what's happened over the summer
as far as our costs during July and August,
which will actually be much lower
in those functions and objects.
But that'll all kind of come together a little later when we talk in the final amended budget that we do have some underspending through the end of June.
That's really all I've got.
Again, this is not showing too much about where we're at in terms of the end of the year, but we'll go over that.
Are there any questions?
Any questions?
7.5 Discuss and consider Board approval of the proposed 2023-2024 final amended budget.
So now we'll move on to 7.5, which is the proposed 2023-2024 final amended budget.
Okay, sorry, I was referring to this quite a bit, but this is our final amended budget.
So this is actually, we take and we'll project what we're going to spend and receive in revenue through the end of the fiscal year, so through August 31st.
This is the last that you'll see of the 23-24 financial reports until we come back in January.
So our auditors, our audit partners, Willie Penn, will come in in October and begin the creation of the act for the annual comprehensive financial report along with our department.
And so this is fairly final, but we are still possibly making some changes.
We don't know through next week if we have those changes then those will be brought to you before you approve it
But we expect this is the the the final version, but as we receive in
You know different expenditures, then we we may have to adjust it slightly definitely nothing that would have any major impact of this
But the first thing I just want to call your attention to is the excess or deficiency of revenues
For our general fund down in the bottom left. That's that eight point two million dollars
that's a deficiency so that's a deficit is the projection with this but again that's why i wanted
to go back to that 81 so we do know that we've got some understanding and as as mr smith mentioned
that we do expect that that underspending is going to cover that and we will have a slight fun
unbalance add to fund balance at the end of the year to just to the right of that the special
revenue fund you see there's also a deficit at the end of the year about nine million again that's
strategic as Mr. Smith said that we're trying to spend down that fund balance
for our nutrition services. So debt service is just adds about 700,000 so
stays about the same. So there's not a lot of other changes to that. Are there
any questions I can answer at this point? Let me ask the, so it won't be until
October that we see any further amendments to this budget or is that
Is that what I hear you say?
There will be amendments.
There'll be timing amendments to the next budget, but there will be no more amendments
to this budget.
This is the final amended budget.
And so the auditors and our department will go through and once everything's received
in, because we can still be receiving revenue as well as we'll be getting expenditures that
that are coming in for expenses that took place in this fiscal year for the next couple
of months.
And so then those will all be put into the final audited copy of our financial report,
which we'll bring back to you for you all to approve in January.
Okay.
I mean, you have quite a bit of underspending.
So what would be some of the, say, big numbers or big rocks that would drive it closer to
– I mean, I know you're going to be a little positive, but what are some of the
the big items that maybe offset that underspending.
There's really one that's substantial enough, I think,
to bring up, and that's the health fund,
and that's propping up the health fund.
And so we don't know exactly where we'll be
at the end of the year for that,
but we do expect between a five and a 10 million
addition to the health fund that we're gonna have to fund
out of the underspending before we add back into this.
But again, even with that, and we do have projections
on that we expect to add slightly back to fund balance.
Okay, thank you.
Any questions?
Trustees?
Thank you very much.
7.6 Discuss and consider Board approval of a resolution to commit and assign fund balance.
We now have 7.6, which is to discuss and consider Board approval of a resolution to commit and assign fund balance.
Mr. Hines.
GASB statement 54 requires this board to adopt a resolution to commit a portion of our unassigned fund balance, if you so choose, to specific items and to approve a delegate to assign fund balance to the superintendent or to delegate someone to assign fund balances to the superintendent or his designee.
This resolution commits $5.5 million in contributions to the district's health insurance plan and $10 million to unanticipated expenditures or revenue loss.
Just to note, this is the exact same set of commitments that we made last year.
Great.
Thank you.
Any questions?
I have a question and kind of a statement.
Ms. Champagne?
So this is a reoccurring, we do this every year, just something like this?
Yes, ma'am, we do.
And what this does is just set aside, it doesn't mean that we have to spend this, but it does commit that part of our fund balance to these specific items.
items. So unanticipated expenditures or lack of revenue. If the state were to have some sort of an, if something was wrong with the way we were funded at the state level, we would already have $10 million that we would be able to prop up that's been committed to that within our fund balance.
The same thing a family might do if they say, you know, we may have an air condition go out, so let's have our savings account, let's set aside.
We know that $10,000 is in case the air condition blows out, and it's there earmarked for it.
Hopefully you don't have to use it.
That's a good way to explain it, because things like that will happen for sure.
He always explains it better than me.
Thank you very much.
Any other questions, trustees?
Thank you.
Chair Greg Musil.
We'll move on to, thank you.
Thank you so much.
We move on to 7.7 and here comes Esperanza Rios who is Director of Budget and Treasury
7.7 Discuss and consider Board approval of the 2024-2025 State Compensatory Education funding and other End-of-Course Assessment funding budget, as required by House Bill 5.
and we're going to discuss and consider Board approval of the 2024-2025 State Compensatory
Education Funding and Other End of Course Assessment Funding Budget as required by House
Bill 5.
Welcome.
Good evening, Board President Perez, Board of Trustees, and Dr. Gregorski.
Agenda item 7.7 pertains to the end-of-course assessment funding as required by House Bill 5.
The district identifies a special project in the amount of $80,000 called student interventions.
This special project is included in the 24-25 proposed budget, which we will see in Agenda 7.8,
and is distributed by school leadership area assistant superintendents during the second semester
to campuses which are in need of additional funding funds for tutorials
this agenda item documents districts compliance with the requirement to
budget funds for accelerated instruction related to satisfactory performance on
the end of course assessment as required for graduation thank you any questions
Questions, trustees?
7.8 Discuss and Consider Board approval of the proposed 2024-2025 Official Budget for Katy Independent School District.
Thank you.
We move on now to the actual budget for 24-25 official budget for Katy Independent School District.
Discuss and consider board approval of the proposed budget for this coming year.
And even though we had a report on it, this is where we would approve it.
I'll provide the highlights of the 24-25 proposed budget of the three funds, which will be considered for approval.
approval by the board based on the information provided by Mr. Smith earlier.
The 2425 general fund revenues are budgeted at $1,056,594,261.
The 2024 proposed budget contains $1,081,810,358 in budget expenditures, which includes campus
and department non-salary operating expenditures with the majority of the
expenditure budget related to district-wide salaries and benefits for
new and existing staff including the 3% compensation increase in the teacher
retention program approved by the board the general operating fund is
anticipated to use twenty six million seven hundred and six thousand ninety
seven dollars of fund balance for the 2425 fiscal year the proposed food
Food service budget revenues are budgeted at $47,196,777, with anticipated expenditures of $64,794,872.
The 24-25 proposed budget includes the reclassification of the food service workers, kitchen renovation equipment, and the summer school feeding program.
I mean the summer feeding program. I apologize.
The Food Service Fund is anticipated to use $17,598,095 of fund balance for the 2024-25
fiscal year.
Debt service budget revenues are budgeted at $244,081,698 with anticipated expenditures
of $243,850.
$243,850,000.
The 24-25 proposed budget includes a debt service principal and interest payments for outstanding debt and $2 million of possible defeasance.
The debt service is anticipated to add $231,698 to fund balance for the 24-25 fiscal year.
Thank you.
Any questions, trustees?
Mr. President.
Ms. Fox.
I don't have a question.
I just have a compliment to the entire financial team, Chris Smith, Jamie Hines, Esperanza Rios.
The amount of detail that you give us to look through and pour through and get ready is tremendous.
I know it takes a tremendous amount of work.
That's why you have so much trust from us and our community in what you do.
And I just want to ask Mrs. Rios, do you practice all those numbers in the mirror?
When is it billion? When is it hundreds of millions? When is it thousand, fifty, ninety? I would have to practice. There's so many of those and you just did a fantastic job. Thank you.
Thank you so much. I want to echo the fantastic job you've done. I know it's year one and the details and I know you've been beating up on people throughout the district in the budget process and I really appreciate that.
Thank you. Mr. President.
Go ahead, Ms. Cuzela.
I have a curious question on slide 10.
I hadn't noticed this before, but it talks about, at the very end, that blue box on the right,
it talks about payments that may have contributed to lobbying efforts.
It's a very small amount, but what are we talking about there?
So are you talking about the last page on the lobbying?
Yes, ma'am.
Slide 10.
So yes, and so the House Bill 1495 requires us to go ahead and record anything that's related to lobbying.
So any type of expenditures or like that.
Also, fees that are recorded to like memberships.
Also those, there's a portion of that that we have to include in there also.
So it's a very small amount, but it is.
Can anyone speak to that?
Like what is the lobbying effort?
I know you're, you know, so I don't want to put you on the spot.
What is that?
Again, it's a very little amount, but some of the associations that we are members of may have a small lobbying amount.
So is TASB, is that what we're talking about?
That's probably one of them, yes.
Okay.
So when we get that invoice from TASB, it'll have their very small amount on there,
and we're required under House Bill, was it 16, would you say earlier, 1645?
Required to disclose that.
And so, 1695.
And so it's by its own object.
So whenever we want to run a report that shows how much we spent in that area, that object code,
that 6495 requires us to put that in its own space to be found.
It's usually with any type of membership that we have to pay to be an organization of.
So TASA, TASBO, TASB, any of those,
they will send us something that says the percentage of their memberships is related to that
because they have that at their organization so it's considered lobbying effort and it's over it's
more than tripling i think for next year i know it's a small number but i'm just looking at the
data i'm just curious why it's tripling that's that's how we actually budgeted so when we first
start budgets start in a certain way and so we've actually tried to kind of instead of to alleviate
transfers within the district to actually put the budgets where the budgets are actually spent
and so you don't see that part it's a part of the revised budget what happens later on so as you
you look at the financial statements, you'll start to see kind of those revised budgets kind of increase and decrease.
And so people start off one way, and then they end up moving that money over to object codes.
And so we kind of identified those ahead of time.
Okay.
So you think that $6,350 is pretty high and generous right now and would be reassigned later?
Okay.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Thanks a lot.
Appreciate it.
Thank you.
We'll move on to 7.9, which is discuss and consider approval of the voluntary benefit products for plan year 2025.
7.9 Discuss and consider approval of the Voluntary Benefit Products for Plan Year 2025.
Good evening.
Welcome.
Dr. Grigorski, President Perez.
Lance Nauman, Director of Risk Management.
I'm sorry.
That's okay.
That's okay.
You know who I am.
We're missing introducing you.
That's okay.
at. Board policy CR legal states that a district may procure with any insurance
company authorized to do business in Texas to insure its employees. Voluntary
benefits made available to district employees through payroll deductions are
offered to provide access to services that promote and enhance health of
employees and their dependents. These benefits are presented to the Board of
Trustees on an annual basis for approval. In past years KDISD offered
both dental and life insurance to retirees. This program will end effective December 31st, 2024.
However, retirees now have access to dental coverage through TRS care beginning January 1,
2025. Additionally, the continuation of life insurance has been arranged with One America
for both premium collection and claims administration. The voluntary benefits
presented were the result of a comprehensive market research and
represent a year two of a guaranteed premium and program structure. Benefit
design and structure have not changed except for the enhancements in coverage
for both legal and emergency transport. It is recommended that the Board of
Trustees approves the voluntary products for plan year 2025. Thank you. Any
Any questions?
Mr. President?
Ms. Champagne?
I'd like to just say, I know that that, it's really good that we found a way to offer that
to retired people who, that's going to stop for them, because I heard from a lot of people
before I knew this that they were really concerned about that.
So how did you say this came about?
Who did the finding of this for them?
Well, it became the administration of the retiree benefits became really an administrative burden for us, so we had to look at different alternatives.
And if you may or may not know, TRS Care, which provides health insurance for our retirees, began to offer dental coverage, which they had not previously in the past.
And employees will be able to, in fact check me on this, but in October I believe is their
open enrollment for that with an effective date of 1-1-25.
So it was a very seamless process.
And then we worked with our current life insurance provider, One America, to begin to transition
those life products effective 1-1-25.
And they will be reaching out to those retirees, premium collection and claims administration
as well. That is so awesome because I know that was the number one concern I
heard. Retirees. I'm glad that there's something for them. Thank you. How does
that compare with what they were getting before? It will be the same. The premiums
will be the same and it's just it's just a transition of the administration of
the program from Katy to One America. And I will say the instant cause that is
is frankly part of the budget process of going back and finding things that we could do that wouldn't hurt the classroom.
And it frees up time in his staff for the growth, to manage the growth,
because they were doing that individual billing to the retirees and everything.
So luckily, Mr. Nauman was able to find the life insurance for them.
And again, the dental is being picked up by TRS Act Retiree Care.
Great. Thank you.
Mr. President, I would just like to echo that.
Mr. Nauman, thank you for the work you did to find someone that would take that,
because retirees were fine with the health and dental because they can get that somewhere else.
But when you're of the age, no one would write life insurance policy.
They could not start over.
And so you worked hard, I know, to help find the company that would absorb the cost of the transformation.
And it was very valuable to them and they're very appreciative. Thank you for the extra work you did for that. Thank you, mr
President, I'm steamy. I just want to say thank you again for thinking outside the box
You've done that quite a bit, so appreciate that.
It benefits our district, our employees, our community.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
Thank you very much.
Appreciate it.
We now move on to discuss and consider board approval, remote homebound waiver.
7.10 Discuss and consider Board approval Remote Homebound Wavier.
Dr. Gwen Coffey, Assistant Superintendent for Special Education.
Welcome.
Good evening, President Perez, Board of Trustees.
Dr. Poporsky, Texas school districts and open enrollment charter schools are required to seek a waiver when providing remote instruction to homebound students in order to allow the affected student to generate attendance or eligible days present according to the homebound.
Excuse me, Dr. Coffey, I can't hear you.
I'm so sorry.
Thank you so much.
Is that better?
Okay.
Okay.
So we are required, Texas school districts
and open enrollment charter schools
are required to seek a waiver
when providing remote homebound instruction
to homebound students in order to allow that student
to generate eligible attendance for eligible days present
according to the homebound funding provisions
and the student's attendance and accounting handbook,
homebound funding and homebound documentation requirements
noted in section 4.7.2.5,
consistent with board policy, BF legal
legal and applicable law, the Board of Trustees must approve the practice for which the waiver
is requested. Remote homebound waivers are submitted based on a student's individual needs.
However, more than one student may be submitted on a single waiver. I'm happy to answer any
questions you may have about the waiver process. Thank you. Any questions? Mr. President?
I just had to ask you, Dr. Coffey. I'm just curious, why is this under special ed?
I'm just curious. Great question. So special education serves all of our homebound students.
We've consolidated our instructional staff and administrative staff in that area. So students
can be general ed through either general ed homebound 504, which is also general education
or special education. Most often our students are through homebound our special ed. So we just
pick that up and we provide the guidance for all of them.
I only ask that because I've known a couple of children throughout the years who were not necessarily I
Mean, I'm sure they had the 504, but they weren't necessarily special that they've had
Illnesses and such and sure they can come but I I mean it's a really important program. So of course
Does without saying this is important for programs? Thank you
Thank you any other questions
Thank you very much
7.11 Discuss and consider Board approval of a Settlement Agreement with Harris County to collect election related rental fees for Katy ISD facilities.
The next item is to discuss and consider board approval of a settlement agreement with Harris County to collect election-related rental fees for KDISD facilities.
Welcome, Mr. Justin Graham.
President Perez, Dr. Grigorski, trustees, I've got two items up here on our agenda.
The first item in front of you today is something that is abnormal for us.
It would be one of one since I've been here in this district.
It is a settlement agreement with Harris County to collect election-related expenses.
So if you look at the invoices that are therein, most of these expenses relate back to the May of 2022 election
in which Harris County rented facilities from KDISD.
There were outstanding invoices, which we have been trying to get paid.
And again, as we are tightening our budget, tightening our belt, looking for every stone, looking for every rock, pebble,
we found this over $1,500 that's out there that Harris County still owed us.
So we've been working with them to try and get us paid.
As part of that, Harris County said they'll pay us if we sign off on the settlement agreement.
I've reviewed the settlement agreement.
I think there's nothing in there that gives me any pause.
So that being said I would we as a district would recommend the board enter in the settlement agreement
Happy to take any questions you have
Any questions trustees?
Mr.. President, I'm just cuz Ella curiosity so you said it's not usual
Do they just usually pay it or understand like what what is a settlement agreement about?
Yeah, so traditionally when we have a county that rents a facility from us for elections those bills are paid
within net 30 days right in this instance the county had some question
about whether or not that there was an agreement in place we believe that there
was one they have not necessarily said no we don't agree to that they said we
don't have it in our records therefore will you sign this settlement agreement
so I think again it's one it's a one-off but I think for $1,500 not a bad deal
okay so you just came up with an agreement and now hopefully they'll
happily pay that. Yeah, it's the amount that they owe, right? We're not negotiating the amount. It's
just the agreement. Thank you. Now we'll move on to 712, discuss and consider board approval of
7.12 Discuss and consider Board approval of the engagement of Linebarger, Goggan, Blair & Sampson, LLP for property tax collection services.
the engagement of Lineberger, Gogan, Blair, and Sampson for property tax collection services.
Yeah, so trustees, one of the things that we outsource council for, we do this along with I think every other school district in the state of Texas, is for the collection of delinquent taxes.
taxes. So as you know, we are a taxing entity and we do have folks that don't pay their taxes on time and then may go into some sort of legal procedure where we have to get our, where we have to employ counsel to help us recover our taxes on that. In this instance, Linebarger has done this for us for I think almost four decades. I think Linebarger has been our tax counsel. They've done a really good job for us, but also not only with their
demonstrated competence that they have, we don't actually pay them directly.
It's a contingency fee contract that's in front of you. The way that
they make their money is if, let's say, Justin Graham doesn't pay his taxes on
his house. Well then, if Lineberger has to get involved on KDISD's behalf, then
the fees that are mandatory by statute that are on top of their, Lineberger
makes their money off of those fees. So it doesn't affect KDISD's bottom line.
In fact, it actually helps us collect our up to 100% on our taxes.
Again, we've had a longstanding history with them.
I think the last time that this contract was brought to the board's attention was 2019.
So we're on a five-year renewal.
Very standard.
I'm happy to attest to their demonstrated competence and answer any questions you may have.
Thank you.
Any questions?
Mr. President?
Ms. Cuzela?
I just happened to notice there were some June dates for the public meeting.
Yes, ma'am.
I did actually see that the notice dates in there because we were going to bring this forward to a different meeting, and we will change those before we post it next week.
Thank you.
Actually, Mr. Smith brought that to my attention about seven minutes ago.
Thank you.
Any other questions?
Okay.
Thank you very much.
We move on now to 7.13, the last item, which is discuss and consider revisions to EFB policy.
7.13 Discuss and consider revisions to EFB policy.
Basically we have, I think everybody's got copies of this, but we have, you see that
there's three changes being proposed to the EFB.
One is no materials in elementary and junior high libraries shall contain material adopting,
adopting, supporting, or promoting gender fluidity as defined in local policy FA.
Material in any high school library collection that adopts, supports, or promotes gender fluidity requires parental opt-in, pursuit, and access.
There's also a change under challenge resources,
which is actually incorporating a change by the Texas Archives Commission,
which says no challenge library material should be removed based solely on the ideas contained
in the material or the personal background of the author of the material or characters
in the material.
And then finally book fairs and other vendors.
All vendors selected by the district shall adhere to the district's library guidelines
and board policy.
This includes vendors and fundraisers selected for book pairs and or the
distribution of literature. The focus of these changes, the focus of this
proposed amendments revision is that materials discussing gender fluidity are
not educationally suitable nor age appropriate for their junior, high and
and elementary age students.
This material is confusing or difficult for younger children to understand and comprehend
and therefore not educationally suitable.
It also potentially invades the parental sphere of age appropriateness and parental authority.
This policy revision is not based on viewpoint, rather the focus is on the educational suitability.
Accuracy and age appropriateness are important as we consider what is suitable for young
learners in elementary and junior high.
With that, I'll open it up for any discussion, etc.
Questions?
MS.
Mr. President?
MR.
Ms. Champaign?
MS.
I have some things I want to know.
So the other day I saw a Facebook posting from the documents that I thought were not supposed to be released.
And it was actually from somebody in your family.
So it was kind of noticeable that you're probably the one who told the person in your family about it.
And then I did ask you about it and you kind of explained yourself.
but if any if anyone else would have had done that I mean their head would have
been on a platter probably but I see that it was corrected and everything but
I'm just trying to find out what was your motivation to have that go public
in the first place when usually those documents are not public until Monday
was it so that the public could under because I know what you you told me was
that you meant for it to go public well there was a the board I will tell you
you, and I think I explained that to you, but the board policy committee intended for
these revisions to be in public view beginning on Friday. And that did not occur through
a miscommunication, what have you. But basically, the intention was that it go public on Friday,
public view, because we asked that that be fully in public view beginning on Friday.
Why did you want it to be in public view on Friday versus because usually nothing's usually most of the things were not in public view until Monday. So I'm just trying to find out what the difference is between again. It was a misunderstanding and miscommunication.
But why did you want this in particular, you know, 90% of all the other, you know, I think I think here's the thing on that is that sometimes when we come out with a new policy or changing policy, it comes on an executive comment, an executive content.
and we wanted to make sure that it was not an executive content but it was in
public view from the get-go so when we okay but when we did other policies like
a big one like that gender policy over at last summer that one was kept behind
closed doors until Monday that's that's why that's why we wanted it to be in
public view from the from the beginning all right and then I also want to know
So it just seems redundant to me because what you all have written into this policy,
the amendment, is already in the parent policy.
It's in 1.7 of that policy in FA, and it says no course of instruction,
unit of study, materials, instructional materials, or any other curricular
or district-sponsored extracurricular offerings adopting, supporting,
or promoting gender fluidity will be used or introduced in any district classroom.
classroom. This prohibition will also include any such materials or instructional materials
that a teacher or administrator might seek to provide to any student, including any situation
in which a teacher or administrator would allow a student to borrow such materials,
which would be like a library, or instructional materials from the district staff member's
private collection. And it goes on. So to me, it's already in here, in a policy, so
So it seems redundant to add it again into another policy.
And then when I look at y'all's agenda for your policy committee, I see that you spoke to the lawyer.
So I don't know how long you spoke to the lawyer or how much money we paid to the lawyer,
but to have it redone again just seems...
Sure, so let me just, on your first comment about redundancy,
FA, if you look at it closely, really applies to classroom and curriculum.
And I don't believe that in the way that's been applied, that it's been applied to the
libraries.
It only applies to classroom and curriculum.
Because we didn't have that concept in EFB.
So what this does is put that concept in EFB.
It is in FA for classroom and curriculum, instructional materials, et cetera, but not in EFB in terms of the libraries.
So this is what that accomplishment is.
It's not really redundant.
Okay.
So I appreciate your explanation of that.
I just wanted to also go on to say that we've had, and I'm looking at all the books that have been removed, retained,
and we have had just in this school year we've had we have 20 books under review
and we've already retained 16 books the school year's just begun this is for 24
25 and I'm sorry we've retained 16 books there's still 20 books under review and
we have 12 books removed so this is 48 books that we have already asked to be
reviewed and I just want to know as a board member I can look and see the
the resources that people can use to make a formal complaint and all that,
but I don't know what they're basing it on or who's doing it.
And the reason why I'm asking that is because, obviously,
if we have all these books that have been reviewed by the committee
and then they're being retained,
then a whole bunch of books are just being asked to be reviewed.
And I just want to see what kind of criteria that people are using
and why it's not more clear to them that these are books that should not be asked to be reviewed
when there's more than twice the number of books are being reviewed and retained rather than being removed?
I mean, I assume that, first of all, that what's being employed is the policy.
In other words, the policy is the criteria.
That's why they're being either retained or removed.
The committee's using the policy, but...
and when you say people i mean it's it's the district and it's internal processes that reviews
the books but it just seems if you go back to 2021 2022 we only had 11 books removed and we already
have uh 16 books removed in in one month and 11 books and then five books in 2022 2023 so
so something's you know our policy has gotten a little bit more stricter i i realize that but
I'm just I think it's the same policy that we approved a year ago I'm just
trying to see if it's maybe we haven't made any change to that policy except for when
we tweaked it back in September for the issue with you know the go David and the
nudity and all that that's it okay you know I'm not aware of any other policy
change or as far as I know what's being applied by the district is EFP as it
stands just to me seems like we keep talking about this a lot and i realize you know you're just
trying to fine-tune it i guess but it just does seem to be a lot i think the district has an
ongoing process for reviewing its collection i agree but the your policy keeps getting
it's not my policy it's the board policy that we all approved then the with the book fairs and the
vendors how how are we going to determine if how are we going to make sure that they're checking
the books accordingly to the policy like is suggested in the new revision my
understanding is that the vendors the book fair vendors would be notified of
our policy and if they need to abide by our policy so they're like a like a
little stamp or something or how will we know district will determine that
exactly how to go about it because I know now that the personal libraries in
the classrooms they have to have a stamp on it or some kind of stamp that says that they either
have been approved or whatever so it seems like is that is that what we're going to move to with this
i'm not sure exactly what it's going to look like
mr president i'd like to tag on to what mrs champaign is talking to about it says all vendors
selected by the district shall adhere to the district's library guidelines and board policy
does that mean that the materials they bring to the to the fundraiser book fair
things like that that the materials they bring to a Katie I see let's say a book
fair adhere to that or does it mean that the whole company cannot have anything
in their catalog that doesn't adhere to it it means that the my understanding is
the books that the books that they bring to katie need to comply with our policy okay so could we
insert something that says all vendors selected by the district shall provide materials that adhere
because i don't want someone to say scholastic can't come because they have a book over here
that we don't like and it clearly says that's not adhering that the company is not adhering
So could we add that the materials they bring to Katie adhere to that policy?
That's what I'd like to see added there.
To clarify, if they want to do a book fair, they need to make sure that the materials they bring here for our boys and girls adhere to the policy.
Mr. President.
Okay, so you're saying to add.
I'm sorry, Ms. Teamey.
Okay.
Let me just kind of.
Well, is that not in the purview of Dr. Grigorski to make that?
I mean, can't he does he not have the freedom to make that I don't think he does I think the policy committee
is the one who locks things down and then
We get into we get in problems because does that mean scholastic can't come and then it gets all confusing
I just like it to be clear here because the nudity and implied nudity wasn't up to dr
Gregor ski to say no David doesn't mean implied nudity we wrote implied nudity
and they had to adhere to it so you're saying to add strict show that they
the books I bring or provide or provide a KDI SD district shall provide
materials that adhere that's what I would like to okay I'm writing it down
thank you thank you any other questions or comments just just one more thing I
I just want to understand.
So let's say that some book fair comes
and there's a book in there who doesn't meet the policy.
I mean, it got in somehow.
What's going to happen?
So one of these books lets it act like
that is a remove of virus or something.
Somehow it gets biased or something.
First of all, who's going to...
Are we requiring...
I think the idea is to put defenders on notice.
of what our policy is so that they're aware of it what happens if they don't
I don't know what guess we talked to them and say don't let it happen again
leave that to dr. Burbers okay mr. president I have one question yes mr.
Redmond more procedurally so for the past four years the disagreement has
has been on how some of these labels have been put on books.
There isn't a label or like a tag for gender fluidity
that will be on those books.
So each of these books, so a material in elementary,
junior high, would those have to be challenged then
at that point for them to be removed?
Or would we be expecting our librarians to go through
and reread all those?
Or what's, how would that, procedurally,
how are those books identified to be removed or placed on that list for parental opt-in?
I think it would be the same process as now.
In other words, now it's sexually explicit, obscene, harmful material, et cetera.
And so the process that the district is going through on those books,
they would go through the same process on these books.
It would be the same policy.
So those would just start?
Okay, and the same the same review by the district the same challenge
Opportunities by parents that kind of thing. Yep
Mr. President, I just add in in destiny catalog if you do a keyword search
transgender
You're gonna pull up some books and that's a great starting point for the librarian
And I think they may already be doing some of this with the policy in place now
But that would be an easy way of pulling them to begin
Then they got a much. Thank you any other questions mr.. President. I have a few
so I
Understand the committee wanted to make this public to give opportunities for people to get ready for it for because they could come and speak
Is that my correct understanding?
Why would you make it public when that's never happened before?
I just explained that.
It was a miscommunication that the- No, not how, but your intent to make it
public was because- Well, in the past, for example, when we,
I'm just thinking like a month ago, when I think the operating procedures, we put in
executive content because we're just reviewing it for the first time everybody said why are you
putting executive content you're hiding something etc and i want to make sure that it didn't look
like we were hiding anything so let's put it public view okay okay get it so why would it be
a family member who would make that public and why because i you didn't tell no one told me it was
going to be public and i start getting all these calls and comments and messages about what's
happening what's happening and I hadn't even looked at the agenda yet I hadn't
done my homework and so social media by a family member of yours and you use
social media very well to talk about things that the school board does I'm
just surprised that it wasn't you who said I'm you know this is to make sure
that you're aware of what we're going to talk about on Monday why it would be a
family member to post something it caused angst and concern and questions
and and I understand that it was it was it was just something that happened it
was it was it was so if you did that I thought it was public to be honest with
you I thought I thought it was already public okay if that's the choice in the
future would you let the rest of the board know so that we can be prepared
for there was it wasn't any choice so I'm saying it just happened it was a as
As I mentioned, a misunderstanding because the policy committee's idea was to release 7.13 in public view from the get-go.
It wasn't any plan, any intention.
But you were going to make it public.
Would you please tell the rest of the board that something like that's going to go public before we have a chance to know?
Well, I think in the future we need to either do it like we've been doing it, like on Mondays,
or has changed yet where it's all released on Friday and everybody knows?
Okay.
It's the same thing we say to the superintendent.
We really don't want to be surprised by a news report or a public social media
of something that's happened at a school.
Please let us know so that we can be prepared for questions.
But you had it as a Friday, didn't you?
I had the agenda that I hadn't opened.
Okay, but you had board docs you could view as a Friday.
I didn't know you were making it public, but we didn't know that the whole that
It was but it was on board dogs beginning on Friday to the board, right?
So you had it you yourself I guess you knew it was gonna go on social media
I did kind of like to know when it's going on social. Okay. Okay, so
Any comments on the actual policy? Yes, I do
So I've since then we've had lots of questions as you have as well
My questions that I've been getting are who's on the committee? How are books removed? What kinds of criteria are there?
What and maybe this is for Dr. Gorski or maybe the staff who know about this, but like, how is it?
Is it three or four people making these decisions? And how is a book decided to be removed?
removed? And I'll come back to the rest of the questions. What kinds of things are they
finding that are causing them to remove a book on the sides of committee?
Yeah, when the board wrote the policy, they had asked the superintendent to ensure that
our collections meet the policy. So if there's any questions about why a book would be removed
removed because it does not fit the board's adopted policy. So that should be the answer
to anyone who asks a question. Why is this book removed? It does not meet the board's adopted
policy. The task for internal reviews, which we've been doing internal reviews for probably,
I don't know, what do you think, Mrs. Hack, two years now going on, maybe two and a half,
We've been looking at this stuff.
Mrs. Hack has a team of educators that include our library coordinators, our librarians,
district-level staff that, when books have been identified for review, that that internal
team takes a look at the book, applies the policy, and then deems it to stay on the shelf
or be removed.
Are we looking at the, is there HB, is it HB 900? Is it, what about the Texas Penal Codes? Those kinds of things play into the decision making. How large is the committee?
That's in our policy. Everything in there that's in the Texas Education Code that was in HB 900 is in our policy. It's consistent.
it right i'm trying to help people who are asking questions help them understand when a book is
challenged it can be challenged by anyone is that correct anyone can put a challenge in and then a
committee of a certain number i don't know how big the committee is reviews that book reads through
it and then comp then checks it off of the list of hb 900 the penal codes things like that they don't
remove it because they don't like it they don't remove it because they didn't like the story
They're removing it because it doesn't one of those is triggered is that correct correct the policy?
Anyone who is interested in learning more should read the policy?
It's very clear and the process is in there the form that the committee uses is public
There's no secret here. It's a very nice process. I think it's being fine-tuned and working well. I think that's why you our list is
changing
The policy is public.
It's been there for a long time.
What list is changing?
MS.
The list of books.
MS.
Okay.
MS.
Right?
MS.
Okay.
CHAIRMAN BRYANT.
Thank you.
Any other questions?
Yes.
I'm just going through my notes here.
So I, it feels, I understand this is already covered in FA, very clearly outlined, and
this policy is very clearly outlined, right?
Right.
So you're telling me that that was only for instructional books.
So FFA was for instruction only.
Now you're copy-paste.
Curriculum and classroom.
Okay.
So now we're copy-paste the same view, the same idea into library materials.
That's kind of what we're doing here.
Correct.
It's the same definition of gender fluidity as in FA.
It's just being applied to EFB.
Okay.
We have, we approved last time our board operating procedures
that said that this board would get agendas and notes from committee meetings.
And we see the agenda of this activity that you all did
and that you called our outside attorney, which is...
an additional expense and then we never got any notes so when can we expect to get the notes from
that meeting well on friday is when we met and so i would imagine within the next week or so but
i might uh would have been helpful we also also talked have been very helpful for tonight okay
well we also talked to mr graham and uh maybe you want to touch on uh some of the uh work there
Chair.
Mr. Graham.
MR.
Yeah, I'll tell you, to the extent that we talked about attorney-client things in
the Policy Committee, attorney-client privilege things, we would not share those, at least
publicly.
No, we would share them with the Board.
And I can't tell you about the legal strategy about this right now, but perhaps I can share
some information directly with this Board and this week that may touch on those facts.
Why would we use outside counsel if you were there?
Actually, this was something that Mr. Perez and I were in concert on.
I think the fact that our outside counsel helped us, helped this board draft the original version of this policy,
I think it was important to include him in on this.
And I think I don't want to speak too much further without getting into attorney-client privilege things,
But as general counsel, I thought it was important to include the outside counsel that originally helped draft the original version of this policy
Thank you
How many children are requesting the resources that we're removing is it are they in high demand
Has anyone even tried to check them out? I'm just wondering if this is like urgent
Do we know I?
I would say I do think, and again, this is not a legal inquiry, but just practically,
we don't have these books designated, right?
There's no designated, hey, here's a stamp for gender fluidity.
At least at this point in time, we don't.
So it would be hard for us to quantify data at this juncture to say, hey, here's the
number.
You can't find out how often the book has been checked out?
We do have that capability.
We can find out how often a book has been checked out, yes, a particular book.
Do you have that data?
or do you you have the ability but do you know if there was any particular book or books that um
anyone wanted to know how often it had been checked out we can look that up and we can
determine yeah we can look at it by book right let's say right all right we can look at it by
book but i'm saying to the extent that it is a book that qualifies as a gender fluidity book
i can't there's no way for us with the over million titles of books that we have that was not
my question it was more what mrs hack is saying and i'm just thinking back on when we made a
policy for a handful of kids that caused one of the biggest uproars we've had in
KDICD with the gender fluidity and once we put it into practice we had a you
know I don't know 1923 something last time I checked out of 96,000 children so
I'm just I'm just getting statistics so
So are we done?
Are we done?
The policy committee has looked through policy since you were created last year.
Are you done?
Have you looked through it all?
Can we be done with library books?
Can we move on to academics?
Anyone?
I will never be done with protecting children.
Right.
Ever.
Library books.
Library books.
Any policy needs to be changed to protect children further?
I will be working on that
Is there anything in policy that you see that's still about life now? We've got the instructional material library books
We've been talking about library books for three or four years
It it stirs a hornet's nest when you put something
Please like this and
It it's political in nature and it's political season
I disagree.
It's making people angry on both sides, Mr. Perez.
I disagree it is political.
And I disagree it's political season or it's political.
This is really basic.
We're here to educate.
And if we have books that somehow got in our libraries that are sexually explicit
or confuse kids or are obscene, whatever, they need to get out.
It's basic.
And I commend the administration.
When we talk about books that are removed or retained, whatever,
I commend the administration and Leslie Hack and her group for pursuing.
There's a lot of books.
They have a lot of books to pursue this.
and to you know audit the libraries and make sure that the books that we have comply with our board
approved policy that i think we all approved and it has been offered to us to have an external
audit done to make sure that we take care of all of it so that we could relieve the burden on our
librarians from having to do it while they work it into their daily daily work so why if it's that
important to us why aren't we doing the external audit to just eradicate them
all at once I think the district is doing that not not externally I'm
scuzzola did you have something yeah I believe we've already looked at external
auditors the district did not not the policy committee did not find them to be
up to par with what our district can already do would that be a fair
statement probably looked at a couple of services that were in the early stages
of what it would look like to do full-on audits of large books in circulation and
was it quite there that they could they could probably have how they explained
it identify thousands of books but it wouldn't be selective enough to is it
really really what is not allowed an EFB and then would we have to then audit all
those books there was still a lot that would need to be done
It would still have to be done.
It would still have to be done.
It does.
And I think right now the books we put under internal review, we keep 20 elementary books
and 20 secondary books under internal review at all times.
And then we have a queue where books are being identified for different reasons that may
need to be reviewed.
So we try to keep that pattern.
And I know referencing the summer, there was a lot of books that were reviewed over the
the summer just because that tends to be a downtime and the more we're done.
So we do have a process.
So when Mrs. Champagne talked about the number of books in one month,
it's because it was summer and there was time to do it when everybody else is very busy doing.
Yes, it is.
And as you know, we have the, our librarians are doing a great job in trying to review books,
new books that they wish to purchase.
And that is what they are focused on.
They submit those books for the 30-day public review and then the existing
Catalog we're trying to assist at the district level with that and there's a large team that is
Participating in that from the teaching and learning team and the school leadership team, which we're very appreciative
Mr. President, can I continue? I just want to ask
Clarifying question of you trustee Fox to make sure I understood what you said
I don't want to put words in your mouth, but are you saying that it's political to protect children and
And political to absolutely not. Okay. So what what did you mean by your statement that this is political?
Library books is a hot political topic
We've talked about library books for three years and here we are again releasing it on Friday and social media through a family member
Come sign up. It's all about this and you're gonna take all this and fill that
public forum with speakers that support your your view
you. Speakers can still come Monday. Any of you. I know. No one said they can't come. No, I know.
What's political specifically? Mrs. May I please interject something? The reason why I particularly
think it is political is because it was actually y'all's agenda when you ran and even I have videos
of you all saying when you first won that this is what you ran on, was you ran on the book committee.
And so to me, when you campaign, that's not political.
Anything that you do during a campaign basically is a political thing.
Plus when you've stated it two or three different times, I believe that you're not lying when you say that's what you ran on.
And so that is political because it ties back to what you said.
That's the impression that's given because you've said it.
Mr. President, are you finished?
Mm-hmm. Would you like to join us in protecting children? I do protect children
Okay, so so we're together in that so how can it be political to protect?
I don't know why y'all made it political you didn't need to no one's making it. Well. You said it was
Let's do this do we have any additional comments yes
The policy I do so I want to understand about this, but the book fair thing
I just want to make sure because when my kids were in elementary school in junior high and they would did book fairs
We signed a permission slip even even way back then we signed a permission slip that said that they could go to the book
Fair so the parent already is giving
some permission for the child to go to the book fair and
Then the parent is one especially in elementary school is one who has to give the kid money to buy a book
so
I'm just I'm just wanted to say, you know
we all agree with parental rights. I mean, this is the thing, you know, the parental, the parent
has given, has made the decision, they signed the form, they said, my child, Bobby, can go to the
book fair, and here's $10 that I'm allowing Bobby to use to buy a book. And if Bobby is in the first
grade, then the teachers, because I used to volunteer in the library all the time, the teachers
and the librarians, everybody kind of shows the first graders where their first graded books are.
the mom has given the kid $10, has signed the form, so I just want to make sure, you know,
that this isn't overboard. I understand your concern, but the parent has, we want them to
have some rights, right? I mean, we want parents to have rights. We've already let them sign the
thing. They've given the $10. They're all on board with their child buying a book at the book fair.
If, plus the book fair is there for a number of days. When I used to volunteer at the book fair,
If the kid didn't like the book, the kid could bring the book back and we would give the
money back.
So this is not impacting the mechanics of the book fairs.
This is just putting the vendors on notice that the books that they bring to KDISD need
to comply with our policy.
That's all.
It's not getting into the weeds of the mechanics of how the book fair works or what the parent
has to do or...
It looks like it's in the weeds.
I'm glad you said it because it does look like it's kind of in the weeds because this is just dealing with the vendors and
the providers it's not dealing with with the parents or
Changing how they think already give their permission
They already know that there's I guess parents probably know that there's a chance that there's going to be a book that the kid
The parent might not approve web, but the parent is going out on a limb and finding the form and letting the kid take $10
to buy a book that their teacher, when they go in there,
the teacher walks them over there to the appropriate age level of the books.
And the teacher is over there helping each kid who has money look for a book.
So I'm trusting the parent and I'm trusting the teacher and the librarian
to make sure that the kid gets a book that's appropriate.
and I'm afraid that this is is making it a little bit this is invisible to the
parent this is invisible to the parent this is between the district and
providers of books this is not getting into the library libraries rely on on
these book fairs for their fundraising it's not it's not going to impact
whether somebody is able to raise money or not.
Well, this is such a wide statement
that it can be left up to the interpretation
of whoever is reading it,
how strict you want to make that.
So you're here now, and this board is here now,
and this is what I keep saying,
but somebody else could read this and here,
read something into it more
and want to get labels and make the book vendor
do more auditing and could really take advantage of a book vendor.
That's up to how the district wants to manage this in the future
in terms of the relationship with vendors
and the mechanics in terms of book fairs.
Mr. Perez, may I ask a question?
Go ahead, Ms. Collin.
How many vendors do we have on our approved vendor list?
Is it just Scholastic, or do we have other vendors besides Scholastic?
I think there's other vendors.
Yeah.
Literati is used by a handful.
Scholastic's the main one.
I just looked at the list.
Sorry.
But it also is broader in terms of vendors.
Right.
So to piggyback on that question, campus administrators also have authority to decide which book vendor they use for their book fairs, correct?
That's my understanding.
So if a vendor is out of compliance or they flagrantly decide not to remain in compliance with our policy, then our campus administrators have other choices to pick from from vendors who do want to comply with our policy.
I believe that's the case.
So then we would still be having book fairs. We would still be having fundraising initiatives. We would still be having books coming into our schools.
It's not preventing any books. It's not telling a vendor that we're just saying if you're not going to comply. That's fine. Let's use
What's your someone else? It's free market
Thank you, thank you any other comments mr. President
so as
Hopefully finishing up the discussion about library books. I
I just want to say that we've talked about this more times than we've talked about things that really make an impact on student learning, on student success. Library books are a choice. At high school, my kids never had time to go to the library. They were so busy with courses and activities and things. They rarely had time to read for pleasure.
so I'm I just hope that we can put this aside we're as done as we can be unless
unless somebody finds something very egregious but I'm a little tired of
being in conversations and on the news and in social media for issues you want
to be a problem you want them to be a problem but moms and dads at home want
us to strengthen the academics for our students they want them to be prepared
for the future. They need more opportunities for students to be successful right when they leave
our doors. So 13 items on the agenda tonight. Nothing about academics, once again. You know
what? Can I respond to that? This is why, I mean, we can do both, okay? It's all part of the
education. But we aren't. We have the academic performance committee that you're on, and we meet
on a regular basis with Dr. Caskey and others with the idea for us to review the academic
performance of the district and give input and receive information and be up to speed on how
we're doing as a district. I think we're doing that. It's not like we are neglecting that.
I trust that we're not neglecting that. I don't think we are. We can do both.
So, but has anybody given any thought to ideas, maybe brainstorming, maybe finding out what other districts are doing that's really great and bringing that back to our district and saying maybe this could work for Katie?
I do that.
I go to TASB.
We go to conferences.
We go to the breakout sessions of large districts, not small ones, large districts who are doing successful things and be like, that'd be really great to have here.
It's where workforce came.
It's where our trades came from. It's where many of our programs at Miller Career come from, sharing ideas like that.
And I just would like to see us to be focused on what makes our boys and girls ready when they cross the stage to be contributing members of society, able to take care of themselves if they choose not to go to college.
In a mass college debt, there are lots and lots. For every five retirees in the workforce, there are two people ready to replace them.
them. The jobs are out there. It is ripe with that.
I'm not talking about college revenue.
Well, we're talking about college revenue.
I'll add that to it.
Everything you're saying sounds great.
You're on the academic side.
Our district is doing all that and we need to be doing all that.
But Mr. Peretz.
Let me just, do we have any other comments?
Laugh if you like. I have valid input and it's valuable to our students' success.
And we're talking about library books that that a handful of kids are trying to check out
Your nominee kids you don't know that you just use me. Mr. Look do we have any other comments on seven point one three?
Okay, so sorry
Super simple. It's a house. It's a it's a it's a label in the policy
I think we need to have a heading a site heading if you look at the policy on before we talk about
No materials in elementary and junior high library shall contain material blah blah blah
if there's no side heading i think it needs to clarify to add that minor detail
mr champagne mr perez um i i i agree with a lot of what i know what you're saying it is a little
bit off topic i i agree but a certain amount of the the agenda should be about academics not just
the not just the committee you know the way i've been taught through throughout the years is that
that a certain, I don't know the number,
but it is a certain percentage of the agenda
is supposed to be about academics.
And I don't see any percentage of this about academics.
It's been talked about finance.
We've talked about the policy and all that.
But I think it's good.
So these are all public meetings.
I think it is good for the public to see
because maybe that would wean some of the,
weighing some of the the unhappiness about the policy if we're talking about
student success and things like that I think we had a I think we had a
presentation on the on academics last month what once especially every every
meeting item out of two meetings must be every meeting every meeting okay well
let's you're on the committee let's let's let's reach they change it then if
you if we if we want to well it take three of us to put something on an
agenda if you're on the academic performance committee we meet with dr caskey we meet with
natalie martinez we meet with them uh if you if we have a schedule that we're on it's a quarterly
schedule if we want to change that schedule add things to it let's do it i don't want to have
more meetings and take more of their time we have mr press who is it in the academic committee
meeting who says it'd be great to have a presentation about that how about if we do
one like that can we set it up and every month have something and we talked through the whole
thing who who okay i'm finished mr president there's one more thing about this policy i forgot
to say so twice in there it says something about i don't have it i don't have it up anymore but
two board members can bring something up can bring the book but since we've changed the operating
procedures i'm not asking i'm just i just want to clarify we changed the operating procedures
to three board members bring something to get it onto the agenda should that
should that line up you know because on here it says two board members can bring
a book to that I don't think it's the same to be honest with you whether as
far as to bring something on the agenda versus in the policy it says to I think
we can leave it just like it is. Any other comments? Okay, we move on to
Mr. President, a question. Last time we met, maybe the last time Dr. Caskey
presented, I said it would be great if we could have a presentation for Miller
Career Center. Maybe that was our last meeting. Miller Career, Raines High School,
those kinds of things so i did bring that up last time do you want me just to send you that idea to
add it to an agenda or does it do we need to vote on it no just no send you ideas of things that we
could highlight we could highlight something around this district three times a meeting and
never get them all done the incredible things that are happening with our special ed and and
all the things it's incredible and i think our people would really like to see positive
positive student success highlighted.
Thank you.
8. Information Items
We'll now move on to information items.
8.1 is the 2025 appraisal district budgets.
The Board has received that.
And then we have the 8.2 certification of anticipated tax escalation rates for 2024-2025.
And we've received that.
And also we received the donation donated items list which was provided to the board and
Madam secretary have we captured any requests from the board? I did not except for what was just stated
I was trustee Fox. I have a request for a report, please. I
Would like to have a report to the board that says how many meetings since May of 2023
23 have happened with the board. That is, I've six items. I can send them to you, Mrs.
Cuzzella. Regular board meetings, broken down by that. Work-study meetings, special meetings
that were in public, like our team building and the one at Martha O'Keefe. Committee meetings,
individual meetings, any trustee with an admin, and then we could include the trustee meetings
with the superintendent that are, you know, the ones we request with him of the quarterly.
Not all of us do those, but I'd just kind of like to see what those look like.
You mean, let me clarify that.
You mean a list of meetings including when an individual trustee meets with Dr. Brivorsky?
Yeah, just see how many of us are meeting with the superintendent.
I mean, I don't even know if I have that.
If any of us meet.
I don't know how many.
I don't know.
It'll be on his calendar.
Yeah.
Oh, you'll be, yeah.
And like I don't know if any individual member is meeting with, you know, like Chris Smith
or Mrs. Hack or anybody.
Just probably not, but I just want to see.
I'm just curious what the, what your thinking is.
Do I have to have one?
Well, it would be nice to know.
Just curious.
Okay.
Okay. I know that we've met a lot over the last several months, given special meetings that we've done, work-study meetings.
We've had a lot of meetings, for sure.
And then on top of that, we have the committee meetings, et cetera.
Every trust, Mr. President, doesn't every trustee have the agendas of all those meetings?
The only open item you wouldn't know would be our individual meetings with Dr. Grabowski.
I'd like it in the report, please.
Okay, because we already have those agendas.
Thank you.
All right.
this right and who was in attendance please at those committee meetings i have something that
i'd like to ask for i want to know in the so i think that you're already going to do this
give us what was discussed in the policy committee but i understand what mr graham said that it's
it's only for board members to see but also i would like to know how much mr brush was paid to
to add to this little parts that he just added to the new part.
Yeah, I don't know that.
And then I would also like to see from the book committee responses
why those books were removed.
I would like to see.
There's a report here.
The policy committee does not remove books.
Not a policy committee.
I'm not asking for that.
okay so maybe I'm asking this of this plum here I'd like to see those forms
it's the checklist for reconsideration of instructional resources but I want to
see what they said if I may just clarify that miss champagne so I understand any
Anytime per our board adopted policy, anytime there is a formal request for removal, and if the book is removed, I provide those to the board as required in policy.
But what you're asking for are any bit of documents from an internal review of the auditing of those books.
and let me just ask mrs. hack is there a form used on every book that's audited
similar to what miss champagne is requesting yes when we do informal
internal reviews which is what these are where we're auditing books whenever we
the books have been done being read by one to two people the team will come
come together and then we discuss the books.
Generally, there's sections that are of concern that are discussed and then those sections
are read.
And then we go through and we vet the content against EFB, the policy.
And if at any time that it's deemed harmful, sexually explicit, one of the four Texas Penal
codes. Perhaps it's deemed not educationally suitable or age appropriate for that particular
age because there is content in which parents are required to opt in. So we have to take a lens
and look at that. But what we do is we do submit what we call an internal review on it. And we go
through where it did not check off, where it did not comply with EFB. For me, I don't want to
necessarily see all of these all the time. I would just like to see a couple
of them just to get an idea of how that that goes, that process goes.
Since I've never been on a committee, I've never seen anything about it, it
just would be of educational value for me to have an understanding of what
goes into that process. Okay. I think if you saw that for the internal review, the
I guess the document we use is very similar to how we would, a formal reconsideration
committee would vet that content against an EFB policy.
We try to calibrate and be as lined as much as possible.
So I'm not doubting the integrity of the committee.
I'm just doing it for my own, I just want to.
Why those books?
Well, not even the specific book.
I don't even need, I just want to learn a little bit about the process.
all okay mr. prayer you mr. president never may ask mrs. hack a question about
how many people are on a committee I don't think I've ever heard at any time
that we an internal review of a book is done there's a minimum of five that will
discuss calibrate and then submit a document each whether where they find
that it did not meet the FB policy or if it did but the majority of the books are
retained or they might be retained and modified perhaps there's several books
you'll see that they're retained we're junior high but perhaps not for upper
elementary fourth and fifth grade and there's a little bit different lens we
apply there how do you apply the lens when you say age appropriate is there a
guideline someone gives you for that how do you know if it's well if you know the
last two years we've had certain mandates Senate bill 9 house which is
the abuse, the trafficking, those TEKS, and then House Bill 1525, which is human growth
and development TEKS for grades fourth through eighth grade.
I'll use those grades.
And parents must opt in their children for instruction in those particular areas of content.
Sometimes in review of elementary books, something that may be maybe not educationally suitable
suitable for a fourth or fifth grader it's more along the junior high and what
those children with can have access to in which parents don't have to opt in so
we try to you know be cognizant of that as well thank you president one more
thing I heard was for elementary when you include a book that has pronouns
pronouns like they for a singular person as these young boys and girls are developing their language and their writing and their they have STAAR Test and all the things that becomes confusing for them when a singular person is called a plural pronoun and you know these are foundational years for us to build language in our students and so many times that's why that's why it's educational suitability and age appropriateness if they're learning sentence structure and there's material
that could like you said maybe impact that oh yeah so what might seem like a
harmless innocent story could be confusing to young children and so I can
see why the elementary restriction and junior high restriction is there for
those reasons to to thank you thank you miss hack it was very helpful okay thank
you thank you so much we have a regular board meeting on August 26 that's next
9. Future Meetings
next Monday. There will be a regular board meeting on Monday. There will be no further
business for the board. This meeting is adjourned. The time is 8.09. Thank you.
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