Teacher retention and state funding are among Katy ISD’s legislative priorities

Katy ISD staff and the board’s Legislative Committee have identified community concerns and top priorities to advocate for ahead of the 89th Texas Legislature meeting in January.

At the Oct. 28 board meeting, KISD trustees unanimously approved a list of legislative priorities, including increasing the state’s base allocation for public education, improving teacher retention and recruitment, and changing the standardized state testing and assessment system.

The big picture

The priorities were developed through a community survey and listening circles held from August to early October, KISD Communications Director Andrea Grooms said during the Oct. 21 work study meeting.

“We have an important opportunity to ask our community what they want from their public schools and to use this information to influence existing legislation as well as the policymaking that will be proposed during this legislative session,” she said.

Grooms said KISD collected feedback from:

• 3,898 survey participants
• 225 individuals in six listening circles, including four community meetings, one for faculty and one for student leadership

The details

One question KISD asked survey and listening circle participants was how the state can help public schools. Grooms said feedback from the different groups was consistent, showing they believed the state should help with:

• Core subjects, such as reading, writing and arithmetic
• School safety
• Teacher recruitment and retention
• Compensation for teachers
• School financing

The only response in the top five came from the teacher listening group, which ranked “student behavior” in the top five and ranked “school finance” sixth, Grooms said.

From this, district staff formed the priorities and ways to address these areas. Grooms said priorities include:

• Increasing the basic allocationthe amount that schools receive per student to take inflation into account
• Improve recruitment of teachers and retention by increasing salaries, addressing rising healthcare costs and student behavior in the classroom
• Reform the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness and the Texas Education Agency’s AF Accountability rating system by limiting STAAR testing to the federally mandated requirement, and offering alternative testing for younger students and students using special education services

Zoom out

Also advocating for disciplinary changes for the next term is the Student Conduct Management Coalitiona group of more than 35 school districts in Texas, including KISD. Director of Student Affairs Sherri Ashorn said the coalition aims to encourage lawmakers to amend Chapter 37 of the law Texas Education Codewho regulates discipline.

She said the coalition’s priorities include:

• Enable local control over student discipline, including local administration of disciplinary measures for vaping
• Increasing discipline flexibility to allow districts to remove disruptive students from a classroom to a virtual environment and allow for expulsion for serious violations
• Creating safe classrooms by expanding behaviors defined for suspension and increasing mental health services

What they say

House Bill 114passed during the 2023 legislative session, increases penalties for vaping. It requires students to be sent to their district’s disciplinary alternative education program, or DAEP, for possessing or giving electronic cigarettes, marijuana or THC to other students on campus, near school grounds or at school events. Communal impact reported.

This law has limited DAEP seats to students who disrupt classes or exhibit violent behavior, Ashorn said.

“This has become a seat issue for many school districts, including ours,” she said.

What’s next

Going forward, the legislative priorities will be used to guide policy changes, provide testimony to lawmakers, meet with elected officials and have conversations about policymaking, Grooms said.