BRENHAM ISD ASKING LEGISLATURE TO UP STUDENT ALLOTMENT, SWITCH TO FUNDING BY ENROLLMENT, DEDICATE MONEY TO TEACHER RAISES
Increasing the basic allotment paid to school districts per student, funding districts by enrollment, and allocating money for teacher pay raises are some of Brenham ISD’s priorities for the Texas Legislature.
The Brenham School Board on Monday adopted a list of eight topics in education deemed most important for lawmakers to address in this legislative session, which ends on June 2nd. The board’s discussion involved wordsmithing the individual priorities to make sure trustees were unified in what they are requesting from the Legislature.
The full list reads:
- Address inflation by increasing the basic allotment by 25% and providing an ongoing inflationary adjustment to the school funding formula.
- Fully fund all state-mandated programs and adjust program allotments to accurately reflect the true cost of delivering required services, ensuring districts are not burdened with unfunded mandates.
- Fund school districts based on enrollment, not Average Daily Attendance, with common sense accountability for attendance rates.
- All funds earmarked for public education by legislators without an accompanying bill to authorize their allocation at the end of the legislative session shall be directed toward teacher raises for all teachers, excluding the Teacher Incentive Allotment.
- Ensure that all schools and entities receiving public education funding are held to the same standards of accountability, including adherence to mandates, transparency requirements, financial oversight, and the provision of required services.
- Amend the Safe Schools Act, specifically Chapter 37, which addresses behavior management and student discipline, with a common sense approach that allows districts more leeway to address student discipline issues while protecting staff and other students.
- Workforce Development & CTE Program Funding – Advocate for increased state investment in Career & Technical Education (CTE) programs to align with workforce demands and expand career pathways for students.
- School Safety & Mental Health Support – Support dedicated, sustained funding for school safety enhancements, security personnel, and mental health resources to ensure student well-being.
Brenham ISD leaders have long asked for an increase in the state’s base allotment, saying the current figure of $6,160 per student has not changed since 2019 and has not kept up with inflation. On Thursday, the House filed a bill, House Bill 2, that would increase the allotment to $6,380.
Officials have also expressed frustration with state mandates that do not come with the funding needed to adequately enforce them, saying they can lead to budgetary challenges.
For school attendance, Texas is one of six states that use an attendance-based funding model, but Brenham ISD is seeking to focus on enrollment in order to avoid needing to absorb the cost of absent students. The district is also looking to add in measures such as not penalizing schools for excused student absences.
The priority for earmarked funds stems from what occurred in the 2023 legislative session, where division among lawmakers about a proposed school voucher plan led to billions of dollars in dedicated public education funding being left unused.
Regarding the emphasis on discipline, the board feels school districts are limited in their options when it comes to the worst cases of student behavior and that staff members need to be able to adequately address extreme cases of disruptive conduct in order to provide a safe learning environment.
So is the problem with #6 the fact that there’s mention of social-emotional learning, restorative practices, and positive behavioral intervention supports (PBIS) in Chapter 37? Or the fact that locally we have a small population of troublemakers that considers themselves untouchable, and nothing’s working?
Something that’s concerning is how teachers and principals received no raise, but somehow most central office employees received at least a $12,000 raise. Take a look at government websites like gov salaries.com and look at the difference between the 22-23 school year and the 23-24 (the first year teachers did not get a raise) school year. Weird how they couldn’t find the money for teachers and admin but could find it for central office employees….
Excellent and very reasonable requests school board members. Local resident Senator Kolkhorst should guarantee her home town school district everything they ask for and more. Doing so would show her appreciation to Washington county voters who have supported her from the very beginning of her political career. Her support for school vouchers against the wishes of the majority of Washington county citizens is an odd way of showing her appreciation for decades of their support. Her loyalties are at the least, questionable. And Brenham’s local elected officials should step up to the plate and demand she does her job, represent every man, woman and child as she is obligated to do.
Yes. It would be great to have someone qualified to run against her and win.
She now aligns with whatever Abbott wants, not what most county residents want.
I have, in the past, given her my support, as well as Governor Abbott, but no more.
They are both not doing good for the majority of Washington County, nor the State.
J.D. ‘You should move back to California”. Thats what you told me a couple years ago when I had criticized YOUR Gov. Abbott. Have you not realized that these Politicians have no loyalty to the people. They take care of those who keep stuffing money in their back pocket. They are bought and paid for.
BISD is a poster child for wasteful spending! So who can really support that regardless of whether its in your hometown or in ElPaso. Fact is the BISD needs lots of cuts in jobs in the central office. Its rich is assist to the assist jobs like too many Chiefs and not enough Indians. They instead do things like urinate on the teachers leg and tell them its raining with some extra time off. So at HEB can you buy food with time off? I support whatever is right and there is no right way to do the wrong thing so what’s left? Vouchers so till the board decides to get rid of wasteful spending on inflated jobs not really needed Lois is right.
I’m not sure what world you are living in or what county. Everyone I know sees that BISD is failing our kids. Abbott and Kolkhorst ARE representing the majority of Washington county as well as the majority of Texans. So many people have had to flee the failing school system. Why should our tax dollars go to propping up a broken system AND paying for private school? Our children were two years behind when they got to private school. BISD and the public education system are a disgrace!!
There’s one of the tough questions to ask: have our kids been getting on-grade level instruction all this time? And if not, should we be suspicious of grade inflation?