Thanksgiving

We have so much to be thankful for in this country. I have heard that if you own a two room house and a vehicle that runs then you are among the top 80% of the world's wealth. That is just amazing to me. What are the things that we take for granted? Do we ever stop to reflect on how much we have been blessed?

This month we celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday. This is a wonderful time for us to step back and consider all things for which we should be thankful. I hope that you will take this time and remember to give thanks for all of the blessings we have in this life. Spend time with your families and loved ones during this holiday season and don't lose a moment of happiness.

I am thankful for the community of Harleton and the opportunity to work with a great staff and students. I am thankful for our schools and will continue to do all that is in my power to continually improve. Thank you for letting us be a part of your child's life.

Creating a New Vision for Public Education

What do you want for your child? If you are like me and many others, then you want your child to have every opportunity for success possible. That's what all of us want for our children or grandchildren. So, how do we ensure this happens? That is the question that a group of superintendents throughout the state have asked themselves and are attempting to answer. I am working with a group of superintendents in Education Service Center Region 7 to determine what and how we will have to better utilize public education to prepare students for the future, and we are finding that the current system utilized for public education will have to fundamentally change in order to meet the needs of today's students.

The current public education system has remained essentially unchanged since its beginnings in the late 1800s and the turn of the 20th century. The system was created to prepare a very few students to enter the colleges or universities while preparing a majority of students to enter the factory workplace. At this time only about 3% of students actually finished school and graduated. Today over 80% do so with millions more students in our schools than ever, and that's not counting those students that receive their High School diplomas after 4 years or receive GEDs. During the first World War the army had to conduct two different test to new recruits. One for those that could read, and one for those that were functionally illiterate. Today that is not the case. Most students are completely able to read by the end of the 3rd grade. That is a vast improvement, but it's not good enough. The expectations have changed...and rightly so. Today we want all of our students to graduate from High School with the skills and knowledge base to allow them to be successful in their endeavors, whatever they may be; however, we have never fundamentally changed the system of schooling that was put into place over a century ago (Schlecty, 2011).

How many of you have heard the saying "It's just not like the good ole' days?" How many of you have made that statement yourselves? Can you truthfully say that the education system was better for all students in "the good ole' days?" During the 1950s we did not even attempt to educate all children and had a dropout rate of over 50%. Now, I know that some things were better, and we had more support from families and more support for certain discipline strategies. But, honestly, how many of us can say that our 2nd grade children don't know more than we did at that age? Have you seen their homework lately? Students of today are required to learn more than ever in the history of our country, and most of them do it very well.

Technology and research conducted over many years allow us to have a better understanding of the workings of the brain and get a glimpse of how the brain learns. We need to utilize this knowledge to help our students become even more successful. Did you know that the top 10 jobs today were not even in existence in 2004? It's hard to prepare someone for a job that does not exist; therefore, we must prepare our students with the skills they will need to be creative thinkers and problem-solvers who are able to succeed no matter the job they pursue after graduation.

I will be sharing information about the journey as we work to redefine our system of schooling, and I ask that you share your thoughts and feelings with me, as well. We will have to question some of our deeply held beliefs, but I believe a healthy discussion about these topics will be beneficial for us all. After all, we shouldn't be focusing on our education but that of our children. They will be the ones who need the knowledge to carry on after we're gone.

Texas Honor Circle Award

Harleton ISD receives the Texas Honors Circle Awards for Public Education Excellence

Harleton ISD is a recipient of the Texas Comptroller’s 2011 Texas Honors Circle Award, which recognizes schools and districts that are achieving academic success through cost-effective operations. Award recipients achieve strong academic performance while spending relatively little compared to their peers. 

Texas Comptroller Susan Combs has announced that 46 Texas school districts and 313 school campuses received the Texas Honors Circle Award for high rankings received in the 2011 Financial Allocation Study for Texas (FAST).

FAST, mandated by the 2009 Texas Legislature, is an annual study that examines both academic performance and financial efficiency to identify school districts, charter operators and campuses that deliver high-quality education at relatively low costs. Combs created the Texas Honors Circle Award program to recognize districts and schools that receive high marks in the FAST analysis.

 “In these challenging times where schools are under pressure to do more with less, it is more important than ever to shine a spotlight on those that are achieving strong student performance with cost-effective spending,” Combs said. “Your efforts to help our state and local governments wisely manage educational spending while preparing students for success in college or the work force is crucial to the future of Texas.”   

The Texas Honors Circle program awards certificates based on FAST results. Districts and charters receiving the Texas Honors Circle Award have achieved a Five-Star FAST rating. Only 46, or 4 percent of all Texas school districts, earned five stars. Elementary campuses receiving the award achieved a five-star FAST rating, while middle and high-school campuses tapped for the honor achieved at least a 4.5-Star FAST rating.

To view FAST’s results and to see the list of all Texas Honors Circle award winners, go to www.FASTexas.org.

Bravo School Board!

On September 13, 2011, the Harleton ISD Board of Trustees took a big step to fight for the students and taxpayers of the district by joining in support of the lawsuit concerning the school finance system in Texas. School finance has recently made big news in Texas when the 82nd legislature cut approximately $5.5 billion from the funds that would have gone to school district in Texas. These cuts come at a time when the state was also requiring more from schools and higher standards for the students. 

The current system for financing public schools in Texas contains revenue for schools in the form of a number the state has entitled “Target Revenue Number.” The number, derived from analysis based upon a district’s condition in the 2005-2006 school year, is multiplied by the school district’s number of Weighted Average Daily Attendance (WADA), basically the number of students in attendance at the district that have been weighted based upon special needs and costs to educate students with these special needs, to give you the district’s revenues to fund schooling for the year. The calculation looks like this: Target Revenue Number X WADA=Target Revenue. The amount of revenue the district can generate locally is then supplemented by the state up to the Target Revenue amount. If the district raises more money locally due to an increase in the appraised value of property in the district, then the state does not have to pay as much to the district in order for them to reach their Target Revenue. Also, keep in mind that this number is based upon 2005-2006 information, and we all know that nothing has increased in price since then, right?

Let’s look at an example using Harleton’s Target Revenue Number, $4952. In order to determine the Target Revenue for Harleton ISD, we take this number and multiply by the number of WADA, which is approximately 1000. $4952 X 1000= $4,952,000. This is Harleton’s Target Revenue. Basically, this, along with some other small adjustments, provides the funding that our district uses to carry out schooling for our children. The only catch is that the Target Revenue Numbers vary in our state by a wide margin. Districts have numbers as low as $3800 and as high as over $12,000. The average in the state is close to $5100. Even if Harleton were able to get the state average ($5100) then our revenue would increase by $148,000. That would be equivalent to 3 teachers with over 20 years experience each. Could that be a benefit for our children? 

Our school district is located in Harrison County, and the Target Revenue Numbers of the school districts in our county also vary from $4952 to $6046. The breakdown of these districts is as follows: 

Harleton ISD       $4952 

Marshall ISD       $5064 

Waskom ISD       $5414 

Elysian Fields      $5628 

Karnack ISD       $5727 

Hallsville ISD      $6046 

You can see that some districts are going to be guaranteed more revenues than others just based upon the Target Revenue Numbers, and if they increase their enrollments does the system allow for Harleton to catch up? No. If all of these districts increased by the same number of WADA, they would just multiply by the already inequitable Target Revenue Numbers that are in place now. But, that’s not the worst news. 

As a taxpayer, you should definitely be upset. Not only can you see that if Target Revenue Numbers are ranging from $3800 to over $12,000, but studies have shown that taxpayers are being treated unfairly, as well. Among the 80% of districts in the state with the lowest revenues per student, they have an average tax rate for maintenance and operations of $1.068. The wealthiest 10% of districts have an average tax rate for maintenance and operations of $1.00. Or, look at it this way when you talk about yield per penny of tax for every student. If we look at the poorest 20% of schools (n=256), we see an average yield per penny of $48.97 per student while having an average M&O tax rate of $1.13. We can compare these numbers to the wealthiest 20% of districts (n=256) and find an average yield per penny of $68.31 with an M&O tax rate of just under $1.02. So, not only do these districts get more for their students, but they get to do so without their tax payers having to pay as much. The differences are even more pronounced when we compare the poorest 10% with the wealthiest 10%. Don’t the students of our district deserve as much as others? Should our taxpayers have to pay more in taxes just to maintain services and facilities while other districts are able to provide more at a lower tax rate?

Wildfires

I've just heard that Harmony ISD has had to let out classes today due to a wildfire near their school. Our thoughts and prayers are with those who are being affected by this, and we pray that no one is injured from the fires. There is a possibility that the games will have to be played at our field if they are able to play at all. We will keep everyone updated through the website.

Thankfully, the weather service is predicting a chance of rain for tomorrow. Let's pray that it comes our way.

...and away we go!

Well, we have completed our first full week of school, and we are off and running. We are all looking forward to a great 2011-2012. The Wildcats pulled out a victory last Friday, and we are prepared for a  great season of football. I hope that you will all come out and support our Wildcats when you have the opportunity. I always find it great to watch our boys and girls mature into young men and women over the years, and I am proud of the support that the Harleton community gives to our students.

We thank you for allowing us to be a part of your child's life. We realize that it takes all of us working together to ensure that our children are successful.

What's Going On?

As you can tell there have been a lot of changes taking place at Harleton ISD over the summer months. We are very proud of these projects and hope that you will take pride in them as well. Our students deserve the very best, and we are working hard to give them the very best. I want to thank each of you for your support and encouragement for the district and our students. It takes all of us working together to make all of our students successful.

Please visit our new website. It is currently under construction so we may not have everything in place at the moment, but we will soon have everything up and running. I think this will be a great asset for our parents, students, staff, and community members.

Also, please take a moment to read an article that I wrote concerning school finance and what it means for Harleton ISD. I have tried to give you some information about the cuts that were imposed by the 82nd Legislature in the form of a Frequently Asked Questions document. Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have questions or concerns.

We are looking forward to a great year!