001Good evening. Uh this meeting of the Tyler ISD board of trustees was previously called to order. Uh the meeting has been duly called and the notice of the meeting has been posted in the time and manner required. Thank you all for coming out tonight. This is a great crowd. Uh, as we do with every meeting, we will start it off with a prayer and pledge of allegiance. And Mrs. Atkins, it is your turn. Let us stand and bow. Heavenly Father, thank you for this day, for this is the day that you have made, and we will rejoice therein. Thank you for the opportunity to serve. Bless us as we work on behalf of Tyler ISD. It is our privilege and our responsibility to support, foster, and advance the mission success for all students. Give us
002foresight by which we plan. Give us confidence to discover and explore new possibilities. Give us wisdom to discern what is right and good and just. We ask for your guidance and grace to use our talents for the advancement of our school community. Our world is in turmoil and we need you so very much. I'm asking you to disturb us, Lord, when we are well pleased with ourselves. Disturb us, Lord, when we live in abundance and we don't help those in need. Disturb us, Lord, when we are not doing what has been asked of us. Bless this gathering and everyone present. May our discussions honor you and bear good fruit. It's in Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Amen. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which
003it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Honor the Texas flag. I aliance to the Texas one state and indivisible. Okay. Thank you, Miss Atkins. Um, we do not have any action coming out of executive session. So, uh, as always, we will start this meeting up. Sorry, we do have Yes, sir, we do. On page five of your packet, we do have some administrators for y'all to consider. I think they would probably appreciate it. I was ready to get the show going. All these people here. My bad. But in case anyone in the public's kind of wondering, just that the board actually enacted a policy change, a local policy change, so can it can always switch back uh either with the current superintendent or a or or maybe a future
004superintendent. Uh there used to be a pretty long list of uh individuals uh in in consideration of of hire or employment or renewal. Um back in the day, Tyler ISD actually approved every employee at the board level. So all 2,700 employees actually came before this board. It got called down to teachers and then then it was directors and principles and above. And then I guess after you've been been somewhere for a decade plus, they give you enough trust to actually maybe call that down a little bit more. But we do actually have three categories of individuals uh groups uh for y'all to consider um for employment and renewal of employment uh for next year. Okay. Do we need to take them one, two, and three or can uh all at the same time? Why don't
005you do one, two, and three, please? Okay. Uh does somebody want to make a motion on group one? I'll do that. Mr. President, I move that we uh approve the administration's recommendation uh for the employees listed in Roman numeral one. Thank you. Do I have a second? Second. All in favor say I. I. I. All opposed. As have the motion carries. Okay. Do I have a motion on group two? I move the approve the administration's recommendation for the one person under group two. There you go. Do I have a second? Second. All in favor say I. I I all opposed. Eyes have it. Motion carries. And finally, uh group three, which consists of one person as well. Okay. I move that the min that we approve administration recommendation of the individual listed in group three.
006Thank you. Do I have a second? Second. All in favor say I. I. I. All opposed. The eyes have it. The motion carries. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Crawford. I thought this was part of the the regular meeting. So now we can get on to uh special recognitions. Good evening board members and Dr. Crawford. We want to begin our special recognition portion of tonight's meeting announcing our April district students of the month. And this month we are seeing double. The elementary students of the month are Titan and Canon Hartstock, fifth grade students at Jack Elementary. And the secondary students of the month are Danan and Christian Suing, seniors at Tyler High School. At this time, please join me in watching a brief video about these outstanding students. Student success can be achieved in a variety
007of ways and it's a journey that looks different for every learner. In Tyler ISD, we witness the remarkable transformation of young lives every day. Let's take this moment to applaud their successes, share their stories, and inspire one another. Together, let's celebrate the journey of student success in Tyler ISD. This month, we have the unique honor of recognizing not just one student for elementary and secondary student of the month, but two. As twins, they may share birthdays, but they each shine in their own distinct way. Please join us in celebrating this remarkable duo as our elementary students of the month for April. I'm Titanzo. And I'm Canon. And we are the elementary students of the month. As fifth grade twin brothers at Jack Elementary, Titan and Canon Heartsock may have a variety of different classes, but
008do they still help each other out? Yeah. Uh, yeah. Sometimes he's sick and I like He tells me like what we did that day or sometimes he's sick and I'll tell him what we did that day. Or sometimes I'll get like the homework and bring it to him when he's sick. In addition to participating in UIL and sports, they have taken up the leadership role of putting up and taking down the flags every morning and afternoon leading a crew. They also have been a part of the KJack live morning announcements. While being a part of Jack Elementary has shaped these boys in many ways, the legacy they leave behind will continue to shape others. I want to leave a good legacy. I want them to remember me as like a good person at a school.
009I want to leave a good legacy, too. I want them to remember me for being a good kid, I guess, and just setting an example. Since joining us last year, they came to us as fourth graders and they epitomize what it means to be a leader. Every characteristic you can think of, great students, great athletes, um extracurriculars, they take on any task that's handed to them, take on extra responsibilities. Um they're just they if you think Jack Patriots, it I would sum it up with the heart socks. And now here's our secondary student of the month. I'm the Candace. I'm the Chris. We are secondary schools of Mike. From their earliest days in Tyler ISD to their final season as senior linebackers for the Tyler High Lions, these brothers have left their mark in ways
010that go far beyond the field. Their school journey has shaped who they are and now they look forward with pride, ready for the next chapter. It feels great. Uh I'm a senior now. I'm I'm not tired of it, but I'm ready to go to college. see what that feels like. Me and my brother, we going to be at TJC. We playing um linebacker. I'mma studying um probably coniology. You probably knowiology or coniology as well. For the suing brothers, whether you're chasing a goal on the field or tackling a challenge in the classroom, teamwork makes all the difference. I feel like if you got a reliable partner in class, a reliable partner on the field, you can get everything done. As for now, the Suins will hang up their number 13 and number 14 jerseys for
011the Tyler High Lions. They have scholarships to play football for Tyler Junior College together. They've grown to be good leaders. Uh they're very smart in the classroom. They're very respectful and uh they were a joy to have on the football team this past year. Let's honor these remarkable students as we acknowledge the outstanding achievements happening throughout our district. This recognition is brought to you by Christa's Trinity Mother Francis Health System. And now, if y'all would like to come forward, we'll start bringing up our students of the month. And first, we would like to welcome Titan to the front to receive his elementary student of the month award. [Applause] Hang out for one second. Now we would like to have Canon come up to get his student of the month award. [Applause] And now we'll get
012a photo with both of y'all. Congratulations. Now it's time for our secondary students of the month to receive their award. Danan, if you want to come on up. [Applause] And now for the Christian to come on up for his student of the month award. [Applause] Next, we would like to recognize the following students for participating in battle in the Tyler ISD Special Olympics events for the 2425 school year. The events consisted of basketball, bowling, botchi ball, and swimming. And as I call your name to the front, you will come down the front aisle. Robbie Fer is in the 18 plus category from Bow Shears. Come on down. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Next, next we have Ben Fans who is in 11th grade at Tyler Legacy. [Applause] Woohoo! I got it right here. [Applause] Marcus Newman also
013p uh participated in the 18 plus TJC link program, but I do not believe he was able to join us tonight. Next, we have Lily McDougall, a seventh grader at Vulture Middle School. Amen. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Nala Smith, sixth grade at Boltshire Middle School. Come on down. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Now it's time for Levi Gower, sixth grade at Three Lakes Middle School to come forward. [Applause] Look at that. [Applause] Up next is 8th grader DJ Jones from Three Lakes Middle School. [Applause] Congratulations. [Applause] From Dixie Elementary School in the fifth grade, we have Kinley Gower. [Applause] Look at all those medals. Also from Dixie Elementary School, we have fourth grader Patricia Vega. Come on down. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] All [Applause] right. All right. [Applause] And wrapping up our Special Olympics athletes is Llaya Wade, sixth
014grade, More Middle School. [Applause] Awesome. [Applause] And now we would like to recognize the following campuses for earning sweep stakes at their respective UIL concert and site reading contests. These include Caldwell Arts Academy varsity Orchestra, Tyler Legacy High School, Non-Varsity and Varsity Orchestras, Varsity Mixed Choir, and Tyler High School, Vars City Orchestra. So, as I call your campus, please come to the front of the room to take a group photo with the school board and the superintendent. Up first is Calwell Arts Academy Varsity Orchestra. [Applause] Congratulations. Up next is the Tyler Legacy High School on Varsity Orchestra. [Applause] And now we would like to take a photo with the Tyler Legacy High School Varsity Orchestra. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Up next, the Tyler Legacy High School Varsity Mixed Choir. here. [Applause] Woohoo! Squeeze in a little
015bit. [Applause] Congratulations. And rounding out this section is the Tyler High School Varsity Orchestra. [Applause] Thank you. [Music] We would now like to recognize our elementary district teacher of the month, Misty Atmire at Jack Elementary. And here are a few comments from her principal. As a fifth grade reading teacher, she exemplifies what it means to be dedicated, passionate, and committed to her student. Not once this year has she missed a day of work, understanding that her presence in the classroom is crucial for her students growth and success. Her unwavering dedication goes beyond the classroom walls as she continuously uses data to drive instruction, ensuring that each student is reaching their fullest potential. The results speak for themselves as her students consistently show remarkable progress in both their reading skills and overall confidence. Miss Atmire is
016not just a teacher. She is the guiding force in her students academic journeys and her impact is immeasurable. Come on down as our elementary teacher of the month. [Applause] Our secondary district teacher of the month is Yayoi Jones of the Career and Technology Center. And here are a few comments from her peers and administrators. Miss Jones is a standout educator, earning high praise from her peers for her professionalism, dedication, and teamwork. Now, in only her second year teaching at the high school level, Miss Jones has already become a model teacher with a classroom that reflects her passion and commitment to student success. Colleagues describe her as the ultimate professional who goes above and beyond to support both students and fellow staff members. Whether it's her innovative teaching methods or her willingness to lend a helping
017hand, Miss Jones is truly a rock star. Come on down, Miss Jones. You're welcome. And let's give her one more round of applause. And that concludes our recognitions for this evening. [Applause] That was a long one. Uhhuh. [Music] He has some spray. Those brothers are pretty big dudes. They're big. I'm good. It's a lot of tackles. 130 something. There were 100 and now there are three. Yeah, it was great to see them running down there. Yeah, we do need to dig into that. The last Mr. daughter at the band. Okay, you ready? Okay, that was a memorable memorable uh special recognitions. Yes, special. I wish we could do that uh every meeting. I'm glad we we recognize everybody, but that one uh I don't think I'll ever forget it. That's a lot of joy. Okay,
018moving on. Uh we do not have any public participation. So, I'll entertain a motion on the approval of minutes from uh the board workshop March 6 and the regular meeting from March uh 31st. So, move. Second. All in favor say I. I. I. All oppose. As haven't. The motion carries. uh in our business legal finance consent agenda. Um we usually pull our uh gifts and donations which we'll do and unless anybody else wants to pull any any item to talk about, I'll entertain a motion for A through E with the exception of B. I move we approve items A through E with the exception of B. Very good. Do I have a second? Second. All in favor say I. I. I. All oppose. The eyes have it. The motion carries. Uh now gifts and donations.
019The benevolent portion of our monthly uh business meeting of the board here in Tyler ISD. It's always uh special to present these gifts and donations. Per policy we pull these anything above $5,000. We get a whole lot of other uh donations that are under that threshold that that I'm able to see come through our our business office. But today we we do 500 specifically 5,000 and above. Rice PTA at Rice Elementary School for $5,98. This is going to go to update their speaker system inside of their um uh cafeter captorium, excuse me, the cafeteria/ auditorium that we have there. Um fairly new, you know, about 10 years old in there, but they're wanting to update that so they can have an enhanced experience over there at Rice. Appreciate the Rice PTA doing that. Tyler ISD
020Foundation uh towards more middle school $15,000 for some STEM uh experiences out out that are going to be outdoor from my understanding as well. There will be a little bit of a uh a facility enhancement that will go on there. That is yet to be approved yet. Want to make sure we're we're uh we're clear about that, but the donation is coming in and Mr. Loper and his team will be looking at that uh in triplicate old school triplicate uh as requested by the superintendent of schools so that a lot of different folks can put their eyes on it. Dr. Grop being one of them. Uh $25,000 outdoor adventures, Mr. Johnny Powers to Tyler ISD schools uh for a lot of outdoor experiences for our kiddos uh to get outside more and excited about that
021and certainly appreciate all these folks and their uh their philanthropic mindset towards our schools. I agree. Uh do I have a motion on this item? I move that we approve these amazing gifts and donations. Second. Okay. All in favor say I. I. I. All oppose. The eyes have it and the the motion carries. We are very very grateful to all those who donated. Um, okay. Curriculum instruction consent agenda. There's only three items on there, A through C. Uh, I'll entertain a motion on those items. I move we approve items A through C. Thank you. Do I have a second? Second. All in favor say I. I. I. All opposed. The eyes have it and the motion carries. Okay. We have a schoolboard training update and then we have a legislative update. You know, this is
022one of my favorite meetings to be able to report this out to our community about our outstanding effort that our trustees pro give us uh in doing their their jobs which are unpaid and there are requirements that are outlined in Texas law and education code uh that ask them to get so many hours of continuing education every year. And it is my pleasure as the superintendent of schools for the board that I work for to present that all of our trustees are complete and that they have all received the appropriate amount of hours uh as required including that some of their state required trainings in school safety and child abuse prevention. Uh Mr. Martinez is complete, Mr. Bergfeld is complete. Mr. Nuome exceeds expectations. Cody Leverage is complete. Lindseay Harrison exceeds, Mr. Washman exceeds, and
023Ivon Atkins exceeds as well, even though those excessive numbers may only been by a quarter of an hour over the others. Uh we are very proud of our trustees for doing this. Uh you know what, they're not professional board members and um some states they are, right? Or maybe maybe some taxing entities they are. uh but they do this on their own time and it's true servant uh servant heart towards the community, towards our students and I do appreciate y'all getting your hours in and making sure that that y'all are keeping up to speed on this because regardless of uh of what may be out there in the community when they look at this, they can't hold this against you, right? So proud of y'all getting your hours and look forward to starting this adventure
024all over again here in about the next month uh as well. So here we go. There is no action on that. There was only presentation. Y'all anything to add on that? Anybody want to add anything there? Okay, good work board. Keep it up. Legislative update. Legislative update. I do have a slide for you to uh to take to to ponder a little bit here. Uh the two different funding plans that are out there right now for y'all to take a look at and the differences that are there as well. Obviously on the on the left you have the house's plan and then on the Senate side you've got the the plan there. So there there's obviously some billions of dollars in a delta here between the two plans. Uh just a couple things that that
025we topped up here. Um on W last Wednesday, the House debated and subsequently voted 144 to 4 to advance House Bill 2, their school funding plan that infuses a little under $8 billion into Texas public schools. House also advanced their version of Senate Bill 260, the school safety legislation which spends 400 million more. And the Senate passed a series of school finance bills earlier this session very quickly which total about 5.6 billion for public schools. So obviously there's almost a $3 billion maybe $2 and half billion dollar gap there between the the two chambers as they go forward. You can see up there on the without me having to read this what the differences are in there as well. Uh I've got that for you, but I'm not going to go there. The main difference
026is on the Texas House side there's a the basic aotment increase uh of about uh 3.2 billion seems to be the the the difference uh in this. You know, obviously teacher compensation as we've been saying from this das is the most important thing that we can do for our teachers as we go forward. But the basic a lotment covers a lot more. The basic aotment certainly covers a lot of the fixed uh costs that we do have inside of our school finance formulas. We really hope that once they get to conferey conferences that the conferees will uh recognize the needs not just for teacher compensation increases but also an increase in the basic aotment which does cover all of our other employees uh and and raises consideration for them as well as when you like
027to need to buy computers or buy school buses or pay you utility bills to keep the lights on or keep the water going. Those are some things that have increased over time since we've had an increase in the basic a lotment since 2019. Um, now let's talk about House Bill 2. I don't have a slide for you there, but what came what came Yes, sir. on this. Now, for it to be approved, they have to compromise maybe the House and the Senate. Well, just like we saw with the voucher bill, one chamber could actually look at the other chambers's plan and say, "Hey, we agree with that." But that's not what's going to happen on the funding, on the finance. They did. So on the voucher bill, they said, "Oh, yeah, we're good. You, you
028know, Senate Senate's plan, we're good. House coming back at the Senate. Yeah, we're good." They're going to get that bill to the governor's desk pretty quick. But as far as school funding goes, they will need to go to conference, which going to conference means they negotiate between the two chambers. um they will actually choose conferees, team members to go do that negotiating on behalf of the of the two chambers and then obviously whatever they come up with will actually go to the Senate then go to the house be voted upon. Uh there'll be some haggling on that and what's approved will go in front of the governor's desk for him to consider as well. Yes, sir. House Bill Two now heads to the uh House Bill Two will now head to the Senate while Senate
029Bill 260 likely go to the conference committee to work out the differences as I just said. Um because of the Senate school funding approach has been quite different. Obviously we do expect that Mr. Dome. Yes, sir. But the voucher bill um again it looks like it's going to wind up being pretty easy to the governor's desk and he'll he's already said he'll sign it once once it gets there. I'm pretty sure he will. He's been saying it for about four years now, hasn't he? So, uh, that's what we've got for a legislative update right now. It's, as far as schools, schools go. The funding obviously is something that's of of intense concern for us and inspection as well. There are some other education bills that are bills that are gerine to education that have some
030quirky nuances in it. uh debt retiring debt early is uh something that's that we've done a pretty good job of here in Tyler ISD, but there's actually some bills that are out there that won't let you do that and it's all related to how how how compressed your tax rates are becoming. So, uh, there there's a lot of, uh, a lot of work to be done in Austin until siny die, um, until the end until the end of the session and hopefully we don't have to go to any special sessions as far as education goes, but a lot of other work to be done outside of just school funding and vouchers. No doubt about it. Thank you. Any comments or questions? Dr. Crawford, if you any inside baseball or if you had a crystal ball
031and you're looking at um what we can control, which is Tyler ISD the next couple years till these guys get together again and decide to, you know, do what they do. I call it the two-year shuffle. Uh when you've been on the board as long as Andy has been, you've seen these things. And I've even in my terms have seen quite a difference over the years. You know, every two years there seems to be a little bit of a a shakeup. Um do you anticipate um Tyler ISD being well funded into the next two years? Uh do you foresee us being able to take care of what we need to take care of even even with these uh with the conferences and everything coming together on these funding bills? What are your thoughts generally? I'm
032not going to hold you to anything. Well, we are at a at a uh tipping point right now and you talk about a two-year shuffle. There's been years it's a six-year shuffle. Um, if you fortunately I've been a superintendent for 17 years now and I can remember inheriting the debacle of 20 2009 2011 when the back end of when the uh the economy went sour. And so it it's you're going to be dealing with this as long as we're talking about school finance. There is no po perfect formula, no perfect funding mechanism, but it seems to me like they're at a point now to where they've accomplished one of their specific goals with school choice and the vouchers. And they've also had enough rhetoric there that they do realize that our teachers are hurting. I
033do believe that they that the legislature will provide school systems, including Tyler ISD, um with a boost in compensation. I do believe that with our finance department, the way that we've had it here for the last 20 plus years, um, as we transition to new leadership there, but with the same DNA in that in that leadership along with the stab the stability of the superintendent, the stability of the school board that we're always going to be able to provide compensation increases to our staff. Um, I do not think that uh the word wellunded needs to be used in any sort of of uh of rhetoric when you start talking about public education funding because as I was asked when I was testifying in front of the public ed committee, where do you start at? What's
034that number? Well, the number right now is what, $1,200 increase per kid just to catch up with inflation. Is that right, Dr. Gropel? I think it's 14. Okay, it's $1,400. Let's go there. I short changed ourselves, but you know, when asked me and kind of grilled and kind of chastised, how dare you come in here and say that you support what we're doing, I'm just glad they're getting the plane off the ground. And but my statement was, okay, well then don't do 220 per kid. Hey, double that and see where it goes. And that's kind of where they're going right now. I'm not saying I had any influence on that or not, but will that help? Absolutely. It'll help. It'll be better than what we had the last two years, right, Mr. Jones? That's that's
035been a struggle. We've tried to do what we can where we can by culling down staff uh where we can and along with providing uh a compensation boost to our staff. I do think with this next round that they're going to do a good job in providing us some options and some opportunities to to pay our teachers better, to pay our staff better as well. Thank you. That's good to hear. you know, whenever you sat down for an interview 12 years, 11 years ago, yeah, I remember um we were worried just about competing. Tyler ISD had taken its foot off the gas pedal. Uh we had allowed our facilities to kind of go downhill and and uh other schools were getting some students that that we knew we needed to get back. And I feel
036like since you've been here, there's been this attitude of we're going to compete. And uh I know that competition in my mind, competition drives success. And no matter what the budgets been, uh we've been blessed over the last 12 years since I've been on the board. But um we have an attitude that that we are going to compete with anybody else around here. And as long as we even get a little bit, I think we'll be able to continue to do so because our programming, what we've created with our facilities, uh, and with our teacher compensation even, we're competing. And I just want everybody to hear that that's our attitude. No matter what, we need to compete. And I feel like you've done a good job leading that way. Yeah. And so part of competing
037is not getting to the to the game and not have worked to try to win that game. And so we've been working on this now for a year, I guess, uh with planning for like the budget's not going to be any different and that the that the legislature was not going to provide any money. So, I think that's a pretty conservative fiscally uh methodology, so to speak, in making sure that we we're not going to roll into a year to where we can't do something for our teachers and our staff. Now, if they do something in Austin, if they do the right thing in Austin, if if God's in their heart and and and take care of the of our teachers who are doing God's work, then that's just going to be a bonus for
038us and we're going to be able to continue to compete. been a lot of rhetoric out there about the Department of Education, about these vouchers that are coming as well. And we'll always make sure that we have a a a mindset to where we can we can kind of control that um ourselves and not let outside and external influences control that. And the way you do that is through your staffing. You cannot let your staffing get away from you. And a lot of the school districts that are talking about this COVID cliff, they went out and bought a lot of PCNs, a lot of FTEEs, full-time equivalent positions, position control numbers. There you go. There's PCNs and FTEEs for you. And they're suffering because they're trying to figure out where those people can land in
039this current model now that Uncle Esser money has run out. We didn't do a lot of that. This board was very proactive administration as well making sure that we did a lot of things to take care of our facilities because that was allowed in Uncle Esser Uncle Esser funding. Certainly we did provide some mental health counseling because the world was going crazy at that time. But we've been able to kind of fold those back in and absorb those. Am I speaking correctly, Mr. Jones? Yes, sir. Over over time to where we're not sitting here going we have too many employees and we have a declining enrollment. It's it's about people and enrollment. And if you don't take have your eye on both of those, then absolutely you're going to be circling the drain. You're going
040to be talking about deficits. This board has not had to talk about that because our finance department has always had a good eye on position control numbering, our FTEEs, and then you start talking about what our enrollment's done. It's it's been flat with a slight tilt. And then this last year, what happened, which will pay dividends in the next year, you have your high watermark of enrollment ever in Tyler ISD at 18,700 kids. That snapshot. Yeah. Just north of 187. Just north of 187, and then you start talking about your average daily attendance, which is ticking up a little bit, which you saw a valley during CO. So, there's a lot of factors that go into that. Right now, Tyler ISD is competing um because we're a little bit contrarian to other school systems of
041our size and how we do things and what our beliefs are, what our standards are as well. So, you can get me talking all day about our school system. Um well, it's good for people to hear that we are prepared for this moment. There you go. You can hope for the best, but you got to prepare for the worst. And uh we always have that mindset. So, anybody else have any comments or questions? Okay, very well. Uh, future business board. Wow, we got a lot of future business. We got some graduations coming up. Um, got a board workshop May 8th. So, uh, and a regular meeting May 19th. So, so there is a lot of uh lot of action coming, a lot of board work to be done. So, uh, okay, that's it. I'll entertain
042a motion for adjournment. I'll move we adjourn. Thank you. Do I have a second? Second. All in favor say I. I. I. All oppose. You guys have it. Motion carries and this meeting is adjourned.