BRENHAM SCHOOL BOARD RECEIVES UPDATES ON BUDGET, STAFFING, AND TESTING

  

The Brenham School Board received a budget update at their noon meeting today (Monday).  District Finance Director Kim Horne reviewed some preliminary numbers on the income side, but a lot depends on what the Texas legislature decides in this session.  Although local property tax revenue will likely increase this year, that will automatically decrease the amount of State funding in some areas, Kim Horne explains:

On the expenditure side, Horne also discussed a topic that was often mentioned in the May School Board election: teacher’s salaries.  She explains where the District stands on starting salaries for teachers:

Director of Human Resources Christie Olvarez gave the board a staffing update and gave the projected enrolments for the next school year.  She stated that the district is aiming for a 22 to 1 student to teacher ratio for next year and the principals now have more flexibility in staffing on their campus.  She noted that the principals now have hiring authority and that most hires don’t have to go through a hiring committee, greatly speeding up the process.

Bonnie Brinkmeyer, District Director of Instruction and Accountability updated the board on the preliminary STAAR testing results.  She noted that not all of the test results are in yet, and that the State has not set the passing score required in the math test, so only the reading scores were available. The District and parents will receive the results of the reading tests, but only the raw scores from the math tests until the passing standard is set by the State.

In other action, the board voted to request a low attendance waiver day for Monday, May 18th, when school began 2 hours late due to heavy rains and flooding.  They also will request an inclement weather day waiver for Tuesday, May 26th when the school day was canceled due to flooding.  The board also voted to approve an out of state trip for the High School Theatre Club.  On June 22nd through the 28th, they will be traveling to the University of Nebraska for the International Thespian Society’s National Festival and Competition.