There were two education stories of note last week, the biggest of which was the release of school ratings, based on Texas’ new accountability system:
After an absence of one year while a new, tougher standardized test was introduced to students, school ratings came back Thursday. And as state education officials had predicted, it will take time and hard work before student performance on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills, or TAKS, equals the levels reached on the test it replaced — the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills, or TAAS.
Here is the site to look at the results.
Some school districts are going back to the drawing board, to find ways to raise student achievement, which is certainly not a bad thing:
When the results were released Thursday morning by the Texas Education Agency, Commissioner of Education Shirley Neeley noted that they were based on much more rigorous standards than in previous years, including the more comprehensive Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) test.
“I know…that some schools will be disappointed with their ratings today,” she said. “I encourage members of their community to look closely at the data behind the ratings. In most cases, these schools and districts have not had a decline in academic performance. The state has significantly raised the bar primarily through its testing program, which will not be fully phased in until the spring of 2005.
“We are asking our students and our schools to perform at higher levels.” And that’s a good thing, said Montgomery school district Superintendent Bob Smith, whose district went from exemplary to acceptable this year, even with three exemplary campuses. “It’s good for schools,” he said, “the step up in rigor. We weren’t going to continue to grow taking the TAAS (Texas Assessment of Academic Skills) test, by turning out passing levels of 99.9 percent year after year.”
Also in the news is the money crunch at Katy ISD, where the Board of Trustees raised the district’s tax rate to the maximum level allowed by the state. District officials fear the tax increase won’t be enough though, and they may have to look at more personnel and program cuts, due to a burgeoning student population and a funding shortage:
Katy ISD officials cite runaway enrollment as the key cause of their continuing financial concerns. The district has grown from 23,950 students in 1994 to 44,098 today, and is expected to top 62,000 in just six years.
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“The typical Texas school district has four elementaries, a junior and a senior high,” added district spokeswoman Kris Taylor. “We essentially have added an entire district to Katy ISD.”
Coupled with growth issues are problems associated with payments from the state, which district officials think are inadequate. Last school year, the state contributed a little more than $85 million to the district’s $174 million budget; this year the state is expected to pay Katy ISD $86 million toward its $189 million budget.
While taxpayers face a double pinch — a higher tax rate and, in many cases, higher valuations of their property — the district benefits only from the rate increase. Any gain resulting from increased property appraisals is matched by a corresponding payment cut from the state, Taylor said.
