Sirhornsalot
**The Official Horn Sports Landscaper and Landscap
- Joined
- Nov 6, 2013
- Messages
- 33,333
I posted this in the high school thread, but it's kind of a big deal so I'm giving it it's own thread. TEA shutdown Wilmer-Hutchins ISD, a traditional football power, a few years ago. They're now just Hutchins and are in Dallas ISD after having to go to other Dallas schools for two years.
FIVE FAILING ISD’S IN TEXAS GET THE AXE
December 01, 2015
The Texas Education Agency (TEA) Commissioner Michael Williams has ordered five school district closures — the most in Texas history. These closures impact students in five school districts, which are failing academic or financial tests.
These districts are:
La Marque Independent School District, in Galveston County,
Premont ISD, near Corpus Christi,
Jonesboro ISD, an hour west of Waco,
Pearsall ISD, in the Rio Grande Valley, and
Marlin ISD, southeast of Waco.
Watchdog.org reported this week that more than 10,000 Texas students have been relegated to these districts which have been failing for years. We counted the students as just over 6,500 – but that is still a large number of students which are not getting the education they deserve and that taxpayers are paying for.
The TEA revokes accreditation of districts that fail to meet scholastic or fiscal benchmarks for four consecutive years. Like many small districts around the state, the five failing systems have experienced declining enrollment at a time when enrollment across the state is growing.
While it is a painful process for the community, education is the ticket out of poverty for these students. Assigning them to failing schools is a unacceptable.
Who is to blame?
While the state and federal government provide some funding, mandates and guidelines, public schools are the run by elected local school boards, which hire a superintendent who is responsible for the district’s administration.
While the school board members serve without compensation, the superintendents of the five school districts identified for closure earn hefty salaries.
And what were the Superintendents making in these schools which had been failing for years? It may surprise some citizens to know.
According to the TEA’s website:
La Marque ISD’s superintendent is making $138,054 and has 2,300 students;
Premont ISD’s superintendent makes $120,000 and has 507 students;
Jonesboro ISD’s superintendent makes $85,000 with 190 students;
Pearsall ISD’s superintendent makes $130,000 and has 2,560 students; and
Marlin ISD’s Superintendent makes $140,000 and the district has only 945 students.
Superintendents in these five failing school districts made a total of more than $613,000 in salary alone, not counting other perks usually provided in superintendent contracts. These superintendents had in their combined districts only 6,500 students in a total of 18 schools.
Salaries are set by the local school boards, often with input by the Texas Association of School Boards and the Texas Association of School Administrators as they often provide the proposed contracts.
The state average economically disadvantaged students is 60% and two of the failing ISD’s had lower than average percentages of disadvantaged students – La Marque ISD had 53% and Jonesboro had 54%.
Some ISD’s appear to have more money than sense. Premont ISD spends over $7 million a year, but only $2.8 million is spent on instruction. That ISD had a fund balance of over $1 million.
Marshall ISD has a fund balance of over $13 million and a budget of less than $22 million.
Pearsall ISD had a dropout rate of almost 10% – which is astounding as most observers consider the official dropout rate as lower than the real number.
In Marlin ISD, the District had one staff member for every 5.8 students.
In fact the five school districts had a combined staff of 874 but only 435 of those staff members were teachers.
http://watchdog.org/...-schools-texas/
FIVE FAILING ISD’S IN TEXAS GET THE AXE
December 01, 2015
The Texas Education Agency (TEA) Commissioner Michael Williams has ordered five school district closures — the most in Texas history. These closures impact students in five school districts, which are failing academic or financial tests.
These districts are:
La Marque Independent School District, in Galveston County,
Premont ISD, near Corpus Christi,
Jonesboro ISD, an hour west of Waco,
Pearsall ISD, in the Rio Grande Valley, and
Marlin ISD, southeast of Waco.
Watchdog.org reported this week that more than 10,000 Texas students have been relegated to these districts which have been failing for years. We counted the students as just over 6,500 – but that is still a large number of students which are not getting the education they deserve and that taxpayers are paying for.
The TEA revokes accreditation of districts that fail to meet scholastic or fiscal benchmarks for four consecutive years. Like many small districts around the state, the five failing systems have experienced declining enrollment at a time when enrollment across the state is growing.
While it is a painful process for the community, education is the ticket out of poverty for these students. Assigning them to failing schools is a unacceptable.
Who is to blame?
While the state and federal government provide some funding, mandates and guidelines, public schools are the run by elected local school boards, which hire a superintendent who is responsible for the district’s administration.
While the school board members serve without compensation, the superintendents of the five school districts identified for closure earn hefty salaries.
And what were the Superintendents making in these schools which had been failing for years? It may surprise some citizens to know.
According to the TEA’s website:
La Marque ISD’s superintendent is making $138,054 and has 2,300 students;
Premont ISD’s superintendent makes $120,000 and has 507 students;
Jonesboro ISD’s superintendent makes $85,000 with 190 students;
Pearsall ISD’s superintendent makes $130,000 and has 2,560 students; and
Marlin ISD’s Superintendent makes $140,000 and the district has only 945 students.
Superintendents in these five failing school districts made a total of more than $613,000 in salary alone, not counting other perks usually provided in superintendent contracts. These superintendents had in their combined districts only 6,500 students in a total of 18 schools.
Salaries are set by the local school boards, often with input by the Texas Association of School Boards and the Texas Association of School Administrators as they often provide the proposed contracts.
The state average economically disadvantaged students is 60% and two of the failing ISD’s had lower than average percentages of disadvantaged students – La Marque ISD had 53% and Jonesboro had 54%.
Some ISD’s appear to have more money than sense. Premont ISD spends over $7 million a year, but only $2.8 million is spent on instruction. That ISD had a fund balance of over $1 million.
Marshall ISD has a fund balance of over $13 million and a budget of less than $22 million.
Pearsall ISD had a dropout rate of almost 10% – which is astounding as most observers consider the official dropout rate as lower than the real number.
In Marlin ISD, the District had one staff member for every 5.8 students.
In fact the five school districts had a combined staff of 874 but only 435 of those staff members were teachers.
http://watchdog.org/...-schools-texas/
