Fort Worth ISD sets legislative priorities at special meeting. Here’s what they are

Universal pre-K, a change to the way schools are funded and a local accountability system are among the legislative priorities approved by the Fort Worth school board at a special meeting Tuesday night.

With an estimated budget surplus of more than $30 billion on the first day of the 88th session of the legislature, districts are vying for greater funding for security, special education programs and teacher benefits including salary and retirement benefits.

The recommendations came after Superintendent Angelica Ramsey gathered feedback from parents, students and teachers.

District wants local control over assessments

In a familiar refrain from the Fort Worth Superintendent, trustees approved a priority seeking an accountability system that “looks beyond high-stakes multiple choice exams to meaningful assessments that have value for students, parents and teachers.”

The standardized test has grown in difficulty and importance in accountability scores over the years.

During the election season, Ramsey said the emphasis on the STAAR test has gotten in the way of other teaching priorities.

Ramsey told the Star-Telegram at the time that she sees the value in all schools taking one test, adding that prior to No Child Left Behind, a 2000s-era piece of federal legislation, there was too little being done to track the progress of children in schools. The right answer would be a balance, she said.

The district also wants the same accountability and financial transparency standards applied to public schools to be applied to public charter schools.

Schools need more funding for safety, special education, teacher benefits

School safety has been an area of intense focus for the legislature and school districts following a deadly school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.

Lawmakers pre-filed several bills related to school mental health and security, including a pair of bills filed by Sen. Jose Menendez, D-San Antonio, that would require high school students to pass a course on mental health before graduation and allow school districts to partner with county health departments to offer on-campus mental health screenings that are covered by Medicaid.

Senate Bill 801 would require schools to limit public access to a single entrance that has a security vestibule. The bill, filed by Rep. Shawn Thierry, D-Houston, would apply only to new school buildings or to those that undergo renovations that include alterations to the main entrance.

For Fort Worth’s part, the district is honing in on increased funding of the school safety allotment and “local flexibility to ensure districts can adequately meet student and staff safety needs.”

Other funding needs presented Tuesday include flexible funding for students with mental health needs, funding for tutoring and other extended learning opportunities required by HB 4545 and continuing support for wraparound services as COVID-relief funding begins to sunset.

Fort Worth ISD wants funding formula changed

Fort Worth trustees are joining advocates from across the state, including from the nonprofit Every Texan, in asking for a change in how students are counted for funding purposes.

According to the nonprofit, the Texas school finance system left nearly 300,000 students uncounted in the 2021-22 school year due to an outdated system that relies on average daily attendance, and not enrollment.

The figure is calculated by adding attendance counts throughout the course of the year and dividing that by the number of teaching days. So if a student misses a day — the school doesn’t get funding.

This, teachers and advocates argue, is not aligned with operational costs — which can actually increase when a student misses days, due to the need for remediation for students, and administrative time for teachers and districts.

Changing the funding to be based on enrollment would “reflect how public schools are staffed and operated,” according to the report presented Tuesday.

A full list of the legislative priorities can be found online on the district’s website.

Silas Allen contributed to this report