THOUGHT: “Some people think you are strong when you hold on. Others think it is when you let go.” Sylvia Robinson

DATES: March 1 THS SB vs. Kilgore – H

BB vs. Hughes Springs – H

THS Basketball vs. TBD

March 4 THS BB @ Elysian Fields Tournament

THS SB @ Longview Tournament

THS Girls Track @ New Dianna

THS Golf @ Center

March 5 Softball & Baseball Tournaments

Basketball Playoff

· The Eagle basketball team will play an area round playoff game against Crockett tonight at 8:00 in Nacogdoches. The opponent for the next game is the winner of the Lufkin Hudson and Lorena area game. Good luck Eagles!

March Board Meeting

· The March Board meeting is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, March 9. The tentative agenda is as follows.

CONSENT AGENDA

1. Minutes of regular meeting of the Board of Trustees on February 8, 2010.
2. Longview Regional Day School Program for the Hearing Impaired Shared Services Arrangement – TISD hearing impaired students receives services through this agreement with Longview Regional Day School. The Board of that SSA has made several minor adjustments to the wording of the arrangement that will require approval by each participating district. The adjustments were: change quorum to majority of SSA Board present; add Overton, Carlisle and Gary as members; incorporate PEIMS reporting requirements and change financial accounting to TEA’s Financial Accountability System Resource Guide Volume 13.
3. Budget amendments as presented.

ACTION ITEMS

1. FNF(LOCAL) Student Rights and Responsibilities: Interrogations and Searches – As reviewed at the February meeting the current policy requires all students in extra-curricular activities to be provided initial testing at the first part of the year and describes that during initial testing 15 students every two weeks will be tested. This rate of testing doesn’t allow for all students to be provided the initial testing until the second semester, so the administration is recommending modifying the policy wording of initial testing to meet the intent of the policy. The new wording is listed below.

Scope or Initial Testing

A student participating in these activities shall be tested for the presence of illegal drugs and alcohol at the beginning of each school year and prior to joining an extracurricular pro-gram at any time during the school year.

In addition, students shall be randomly tested throughout the school year.

Random Testing

Random tests shall be conducted on as many as 16 dates throughout the school year. No less than three percent and no more than five percent of the students participating in the program shall be randomly selected for each random test date. The drug-testing laboratory shall use a random selection method to identify students chosen for random testing. Students shall not receive prior notice of the testing date or time.

DISCUSSION ITEMS

1. 2010-11 Compensation Plan - Every one percent (1%) increase in the TISD 2009-10 pay system is approximately $59,000. TISD has a pay grade system and salary increases are based on the midpoint of the pay grade. As the Board adopts a percentage increase, employees receive the same percentage increase. Since the midpoints vary across pay grades the actual monetary increase varies as the percentage increase remains the same. Every 1% increase on the teacher pay scale is an increase of $417.

A historical representation of salary increases is provided in the table and graph below. The TISD Board of Trustees has provided a generous two year average increase of 6%.

TEN YEAR SALARY INCREASE PERCENTAGE

Beginning with the 2008-09 salary increases for professional employees the Board set the goal of being at least number two in salaries in the comparison group. The table below represents the 2009-10 salary comparison group data: step 0 #2, step 5 #2, step 10 #3, step 15 #2, step 20 #1, max #2 (the salaries are considered the same within $500.)

1. 2010-11 Supplemental Pay Schedule – The following items are being considered for adjustments in the supplemental pay schedule.

MINIMUM WAGE – review for compliance in all non-professional areas and make adjustments to be in compliance

MULTI-PURPOSE PRACTICE FACILITY COMMUNITY USAGE – rate to supervise community use of multi-purpose at $15/hour

LONG TERM NON-DEGREED SUB - $85 per day

STADIUM PLAYOFF WORKERS – Video scoreboard workers, computer $50 camera $25

CELL PHONE STIPEND – for all administrators required using cell phone for classroom observations or other job related required duties $50/month

ESL STIPEND – comparison data is being finalized for analysis to any possible adjustments on supplemental pay schedule

1. 2010-11 Budget Planning - The current budget expenditure estimates contain total increases of $300,000 over the 2009-10 level. At that rate of increase and using current student enrollment, TISD will eclipse the $1.04 M&O revenue in 2016-17.

The State of Texas is experiencing a shortfall in revenue that is expected to impact the current year foundation school program (FSP) fund to public schools by $200 to $300,000,000 and the same amount again in the 2010-11 school year. The Governor has requested all state level agencies make recommendations for 5% cuts or $135,000,000 to the TEA budget. The 5% cut isn’t enough to cover the rumored estimated loss of revenue! Therefore, all school officials are concerned that there may be funding cuts to FSP in 2010-11. If so, those cuts could affect the budget forecasts provided in this data.

There are two major considerations being discussed in budget planning and setting of the tax rate. The first is the use of M&O fund balance to provide a decrease in the M&O tax rate so that those pennies can be transferred to I&S and avoid recapture. The second is the timing of when the district uses the fund balance as to not affect any changes occurring in the state finance picture and future hold harmless calculations.

The State Legislature will meet in January 2011 and any changes to school funding will be based on the 2010-11 school year budget. It is estimated that the state budget for the next biennium will be $15 billion short. Therefore, it is expected that public school district funding will remain unchanged, or decrease, from the current biennium. At the same time, there are several committees reviewing the public school funding formula structure that could result in a new weighting system and possibly create 2010-2011 as hold harmless. Therefore, the district must consider the various aspects of raising the M&O rate as high as possible to increase future hold harmless and limit I&S revenue for the one year, 2010-11.

There are several considerations for setting the M&O tax rate as described below.

a. The Attorney General has been asked whether the rollback limit applies to a single rate that is the sum of the M&O and I&S portions of the tax rate or whether the two limits apply separately. If the limit applies to the single rate Tatum ISD will have the opportunity to greatly increase the M&O rate in 2010-11. The AG has yet to issue an opinion.

b. There are numerous data entry points on both the TEA and comptroller worksheets that are left to interpretation that can greatly change the rollback rates that are generated. So, further guidance from these two agencies should be forthcoming.

c. A school district can drastically lower their M&O rate in one year and use that year’s effective rate calculation, not the rate adopted, when determining the tax rate for the coming year. For example, TISD could’ve set an M&O rate of $0.50 in 2009-10 and used the higher effective rate to set the 2010-11 tax rate.

1. Policy Update 87 – The policy update and changes to Board policy will be reviewed at the meeting.

INFORMATION ITEMS

1. Program Evaluation: Transportation and Food Service – The Directors from the respective departments will present prior year information on their departments.
2. CIA Planning 2010-11 – There are four teacher committees currently researching improvements to the CIA process and 1-1 technology implementation. Mrs. Baumgardner will provide an update of the reasons for the research and the progress of each committee.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

1. Personnel: Employment of Professional Employees – Teachers, Counselors and Nurses – March is the month that professional contracts are considered for the upcoming year.
2. Real Property – Discussions on continued negotiations for the purchase of property adjacent to the TISD main campus boundaries.

PK-16

· The College Capable seminar was held in the community room on Saturday February 20. This was hosted by the Continuing and Professional Studies Office of Texas A&M University. The sessions covered such topics as how to stop procrastination, remembering more in less time, secrets to taking power notes and methods to cut reading to a manageable level. All students who were in attendance will receive a support feature of weekly emails reminding them to apply what they learned.

Dee W. Hartt, Ed. D.

Superintendent

Tatum ISD

(903)947-0161