With the legislative session ending without a funding resolution, Ector County ISD Superintendent Scott Muri wants Gov. Greg Abbott to put it on a special session agenda.
Muri said the district is very appreciative of the House and Senate members that exhibited strong support of the 5.5 million children that are served across the state of Texas and the 33,500 students served by ECISD.
However, ECISD and other districts and the children they serve did not receive the type of investments they deserve.
“We hope over the … coming weeks that the governor will place public education upon a special session so we can look at significant funding improvements for what we’re doing,” Muri said.
“We’ve been asked to do a lot with the students that we serve and we’re not given additional dollars to do that, so no additional dollars for our students, no additional dollars for the teachers who serve those students, supplies, resources, etc. So once again we applaud our legislators that certainly came to the defense of public education, but there is much more work to do,” Muri added.
“We implore our governor to add public education, specifically the funding of public education, to an upcoming legislative session during the summer months so that we can make wise choices as we invest in the 5.5 million students across the state of Texas, and more specifically, the 33,500 students that we serve here in ECISD,” he said.
Asked about recently located Nimitz Middle School teacher Brittany Sawyer still being listed on staff, Muri said he couldn’t comment on her employment status.
“We’re incredibly thankful that she has been found and is safe and hopefully she will continue to maintain a healthy life, but I can’t comment on her employment status right now,” he said.
On a separate subject, summer learning starts June 5.
“We anticipate about 6,000 students to participate,” Muri said.
More information is available on the ECISD website.
For summer feeding, there are 21 schools that will be providing summer feeding opportunities and all of that is listed on the website, he said.
School registration begins July 17. Muri said information on that is also on the website.
“We are transitioning to a new system. That’s been actually happening for about a year. That system will go live this summer,” he said. “The process is much easier for parents. We’re very thankful for this particular new software application … A parent can use their cell phone right now and it’s a pretty easy process, but again, it doesn’t open until the 17th of July.”
If somebody would like to register their child face to face, they can visit any school in ECISD and find help, but not until July 17.
As for some students not being allowed to walk the stage at graduation, Muri said ECISD had test scores, but the state had not confirmed whether students passed or failed tests because the state is in the process of creating a new state assessment.
“This year our students in elementary, middle and high school took a new assessment. At the high school level, specifically, in order for a student to walk the stage they have to successfully complete all the graduation requirements. If a senior had not passed all of their end-of-course exams then that prevented them from walking the stage, or really any of the other graduation requirements. You have to successfully complete all of those before you earn a high school diploma,” Muri said.
The state accountability results will be released on Sept. 28.
“Again there’s a new state assessment that the students took this year … and a new accountability system. Really, a revision of both of those. It will be Sept. 28 before all of that information is released,” Muri said.
They don’t know if it’s going to be better or worse, just that it will be different.
“The math is different. The calculations that are used to create school grades have all changed, so the one thing that you won’t be able to do is compare last year to this year because last year’s results were calculated using a different set of metrics. This year, it’s a whole new system. You won’t be able to compare the two,” Muri said.
“As we get more information in the summer and early fall, we should be able to get close to what we think, but until the state releases it we are very hesitant to claim something until we see it official and it won’t be official until the 28th of September. That’s the state’s projection right now,” he said.
Muri said major shifts like this happen about every five years.
“That’s what our students experienced this year, a very different STAAR test and a different end-of-course exam … and the accountability system is going to be different for students and staff members and schools and districts. We are waiting right now, and as we receive… bits and pieces, we’ll certainly analyze it all summer and into the early fall … as will many people across the state trying to figure out exactly where we’ll be,” Muri said.
He added that summer graduation will be held at the end of July or early August. Any student that does earn all the graduation requirements will be able to walk during the summer graduation program.
