Summer in CCISD, Special Meeting Recap & Notes from the House Public Ed Committee - June 11, 2026

001Hey there, welcome back into the Take Two with Hawk podcast. He is the Hawk, the superintendent of schools in Coppers Cove ISD, and a man who knows how to hold on to a 29point lead, Dr. Brent Hawkins. Dr. Hawkins, how are you? >> Well, that stings, you [laughter] know, uh, but, uh, we're doing great. Glad to be here today. >> I'm director of communications, Curtis Willin. It is Thursday. I almost said Friday. It is Thursday, June 11th, 2026. And we will start as we always do here on Take 2 with good things. And the first one that comes to mind for me, you and I were there yesterday. It was the adopt a school adopt a unit awards on Fort Hood. And Coppers Cove High School student activities coordinator Rebecca Garbachi was named the campus

002point of contact of the year in that program. That is a program that serves every district in the greater Fort Hood area as far away as Gerald. So that's an enormous honor for Miss Carbachi. >> Yeah, it was a it was an honor for her. The whole thing was an honor. I was uh just so glad to be there. You know, yesterday was uh we I had one thing scheduled. And you know, one of my uh points of weaknesses is my inability to put time between different things that I schedule. And so things run together and run over with each other. And so I had to rush extremely hard to to get back from Temple uh to get over there to Colleen to do that. But hey, what an honor. It was an honor. you

003know, those those folks uh are serving our nation, you know, on fixed to be on the 250th birthday of our great nation and and then to to to watch all that they've done this year and and to be acknowledged both Miss Garbachi as well as as our adopted unit uh has has done a phenomenal job and and put a lot of time and went way above and beyond. And so I I was uh very pleased to be able to be there to support them and and show them our appreciation. >> You know, that wasn't the only award that partnership got. Uh Copper Scope High School's adopted unit is the 15th Finance Battalion. Um in fact, every battalion that CCISTD campuses work with through this program is with the first cavalry division. And so they're with

004the 15 finance battalion. They awarded the top three in hours of in partnership hours for the year. And the high school and the 15th finance battalion were almost double the second place team in that category. They also had um kind similar to where Mr. McGarbachi got the point of contact of the year. That unit had the the unit point of contact of the year. Um you know the most hours, the best partnership of the year. They won a lot of awards for the work they've done over there. Um, and that's that that's enormous. We know that we're, you know, pushing 50% military connected. We have the highest percentage of mil military student connection of any district associated with Fort Hood. And I think this just proves the work that we've talked about we want to

005put in because like you said, these are the families. These are the soldiers who are serving our country. >> Yeah. And that that whole human aspect of it, I think sometimes gets lost. You know, you think of the great teams that the that the the New York Yankees had and and the thing about that I'm I always think about when I think about the Yankees is is that, you know, there there's not a Yankee jersey with Ruth on the back of it. You know, it says Yankees on the front, but there's no Ruth. And think about all the great players that the Yankees had. and and along the way, you know, they that whole concept of not putting the name on the back of the jersey really resonates with me because you kind of get

006lost in team. And I think so many times when we think of our military, uh that same thing happens. We we think of that, hey, they're just military. They're service people. They're in the they're in the army or they're they're in whatever branch of service they come from. But uh back to military impacted student day, you know, that we had back earlier in the spring. It was it was real interesting to talk to those folks uh and and uh they came through and I didn't realize they were with the finance division. I think that you probably told me that or maybe Dr. Shook did, but uh ju just talking to them, very impressive individuals was what really stood out to me. And you know, I know in the army we got our name on our

007on our front and everything like that, but when you really delve in and get a conversation going with them, you know, very very impressive is what I walked away with. Just, you know, very very intelligent, very very articulate, uh, and just, you know, it just give you good sense of, hey, these guys are serving and they're they're bright. They're part of the nation's best. Next segment that we're going to do is a little bit of a new one. And so, um, I'm going to just kind of explain it very briefly here, uh, before I hand it off to you. We're calling this one summer around the pound. Um, and as we've talked to you guys about before, summer's not a time where we sit around. uh the we we changed the schedule so the staff

008can recuperate a little bit um after what after the grind that the school year is. But we're doing a lot of work getting ready for next year. And so, you know, we're kind of working at a break neck pace to get all of these things done, especially while the schools are as empty as they are. So, there's a lot of projects going on. And so, with that, Dr. Hawkins, when we talk about summer around the pound, there's a lot of things happening. one of those playgrounds we talked about on the last episode where we were with that. There's a little bit of an update there, but then I want to let you take it take it from there. >> Yeah. So, around the pound, I think it's important that that everyone understands that districts don't

009run on applause. >> You can clap all you want to, >> uh, but in order for a district to be effective and and the district to run at a state of quality, uh, there has to be some intentional things happen to it. And so all of those things are happening uh over the summer, you know, and and you know, your bus fleets get serviced. Uh obviously your grounds crews are are wide open with the with the summer growing season and we've had some rain. Sunshine brings grass and and and and creates a lot of of jobs for us uh that we have to do from the maintenance department. Um and and just the maintenance department itself right now, you know, we we've got custodial that is deep cleaning all of our our facilities. Uh we've

010got maintenance uh staff and and some contract folks that are uh uh painting, you know, uh COVID kind of got us out of our cycles on on painting and you know and and maintenance items become deferred and so uh those things are going on. uh in order to get ready, but you got child nutrition uh that's planning menus. Uh you've got uh the the big heavy lift that that folks don't see. A lot of people say, "Well, man, those teachers, they get they get off three months in the summer." Well, those staff members want to be the best that they can. And so they're they're going through training and and and uh collaborative efforts to look at what worked kind of like a afteraction review. What worked well, what didn't work well. Uh and so

011you've got all those things. You got budget planning going on for the 26 27 school year. You got bud budget closing down for the 25 26 school year. And so it it really is a bottleneck of a whole lot of things going on uh in our district so that we can kick off uh convocation. I believe it's the August 3rd date there and have the the best uh convocation that we've ever had. And so uniquely in this, we also are real close to getting a certificate of occupancy at Williams Ledger. Uh there there's uh the thing that's kind of holding everything up is some air conditioning work uh uh with and and all the air conditioners have been replaced. It's just a you know [snorts] some code inspection and things like that to go on

012so that we can uh we can kind of really start getting uh our nest made back there again. Uh and so we're we're we're excited about that. Um, we are meeting with architects um and and getting things planned out. I think that we are about two weeks away from going out for bids at the junior high. Uh, Fairview Jewel is 30 days to 45 days behind that and the high school is probably additional 45 days behind that. And so we phase those things in so that we can maximize um the bid process. uh we we can greater utilize uh our ability to go out for bids and not overload or overwhelm subcontractors that really are where the rubber meets the road on construction projects. Um and so that we can uh we we can get

013a a good product for our students in in that respect. So yeah, th those are the things going on. Um, you know, and I'd be remiss. We've we've had several camps. Uh, we've had uh band uh k kicking up. I know uh uh Mario and in in our band program has been doing some lessons along the way. I think that I saw where he had done about 12 15 lessons yesterday, 30 minute lessons back to back to back with students. Um, and then you know our our athletic programs, we've got strength and conditioning all summer as well as uh different summer camps within uh individualized sports. And so those things are all uh uh kicking quite fervently. Uh the uh the projects that we've had going on with the lighting. uh we look forward to.

014I think there's one more facility uh that will need to uh be complete, but we're going to put some kind of show or display together that we can put push out to social media so that people can see uh the change of what those lights are and the brightness. And we already know that there's a financial change that comes with that as well. And so we've got those things uh kicking up. The um track is about a week away from being painted. Uh once that uh asphalt goes down, it had to cure and then we put the polyurethane coating on top of it. And now probably within the next week, uh we will see the surface go blue just like those Dzones are over there. And so yeah, we're we're we're running with our hair

015on fire this summer. when you think about obviously not your first superintendency. I mean, you've been you've been in that seat for going on 20 years at this point. Um, how important is that summer stretch where you don't have every classroom occupied to be able to keep up with the projects that make the school make a successful school year possible? Um and and why is that I'll start I'll start with why is that part so important? >> Well, it goes back to what I said, but we don't we don't run off applause. >> Uh we run off intentional actions and that's intentional planning and organization and structure. And so the 2627 school year will never be any more successful than the detail that goes in in the summer. uh all all things have to be

016detailed out and you know I I get people uh come up to me you know in in the grocery store or whatever and they'll say hey Dr. have we thought about doing this and I'm like hey great idea or or you know it may be three years away or we've thought about that or whatever but a lot of times folks come up to me with an idea and they're like hey let's let's think about getting this done Dr. cuz I'm like, hey, schools work in cycles and right now we're in a planning and preparation cycle so that we can have a successful year. And we, you know, this is the time that we implement stuff that we're planning stuff that we're taking and we're we're melting it into the climate of our district. you know,

017an idea in October probably is going to put be put on the shelf because that's the time that things are going and running. And so, it's crucial. You'll never be more successful uh in in the fall than what we than what we're able to and capable of planning and and laying out in the summer. Um, as you look at, you talked about the lights. Do we have a estimated completion date on the the the lights for the outdoor venue? >> Uh, for the outdoor venues for the sport venues. Yeah, th those things we think should be done within the next two weeks. >> Okay. And I want to, you know, point out we have the construction updates page ccisd.com/construction. Um, and you can see some of what these lights can do. And they're not set

018up the exact same at every venue. Um, these lights are customized to each venue, which is important because the lighting needs at a tennis court aren't going to be the same as the lighting needs at a stadium that hosts three sports and several other activities as well. And so, they've done a nice job with that. You can see some of the functionality in there, too, with the different color lights. Um, it doesn't paint the whole picture though. And so you won't see how that fits into the into the bulldog uh into the bulldog way um until you know we get everything back from them and we can start setting everything up and customizing it. But the the way that those lights work, I'm a I'm an old TV guy, so lighting is kind of something

019that I have always um struggled with in different stadiums. You know, I you know, being an old sports reporter, I'd walk into a high school football stadium. You spend the first minute or two once you get your camera powered on just resetting the settings because every stadium has different lighting settings. the lighting in that stadium now versus a month ago. Um, when the trustees first approved it or shortly after that, it's it's it's night and day of of a difference. And I I don't think people will understand uh I don't think people will understand until they see it themselves. >> Well, and I was in that same boat cuz I didn't I I didn't really realize the depth of it. Uh, you know, when we put the turf down at the baseball softball field, we

020had drone footage and pictures of of nighttime views of the baseball softball field. But now I've got drone footage and nighttime views of the baseball softball field with those lights. And my instant reaction was, "Wow." uh because I knew it was going to be different, >> but I didn't know that it was going to be that different. And and you're exactly right. Uh we will have the capacity to do dancing lights and bulldog stadium. We can we can blow it out. Um, but the other thing is is just this and spinning off of what you said is that it is different and and it's even different within Bulldog Stadium because there are settings of those lights that align with football and there are settings of those lights that align with soccer too because those those

021sports the dimensions of the fields are different. And so this will be the first time that we didn't just take soccer and put them in there in that in that stadium and say, "Hey, you got light." Now the lights really are customized to uh their playing logistics. So I think I think that's been real neat to watch. >> Yeah. People don't realize, you know, a football field is 55 and a half yards wide. A soccer field goes past the football sidelines and then you've got the uh the goal lines on the back end of the uh of the end zone. So, that's a really good point I'm glad you made. Anything else on summer around the pound? >> Yeah, around the pound. We're just uh you know, we're stretched real thin. Uh but we're trying

022to make sure that we continue to do the quality job that that we we're set out to do. As well, >> as we're recording this again, Thursday, June 11th, on Monday night, the CCISD board of trustees held a special called meeting. um sort of a short agenda, relatively speaking. Obviously, one of the big headlines that came out of that one um is going to be the resignation of Heather Copeland in place five on the board. Um Miss Copeland had some some personal issues and and needed to step away to be with uh be with her family. But when you look at um how this process played out, because we've gotten these questions a lot um and so I want to hand it off to you, but Mike Wilburn's been appointed to temporarily fill that seat

023until the next trustee election, which is November of this year. So, Place Five will be on the ballot for a 2-year unexpired term uh for the November election. Um, and former trustee Mike Wilburn will fill the fill the uh the spa the spot in the interim. I hand it to you to ask what that process looked like and what you know what people need to know about this spot and answer any questions that you've heard um regarding Miss Copeland's resignation from the board of trustees. Yeah, I think that the the first thing that can't be lost with any of this is, you know, anytime anytime there's changes in society, you have all kind of dynamics along the way and and people come up with different stories and things, but the one thing that I think

024is gerine to this that that does not need to be lost is Heather Copelan as a person. And uh it those of you who know Heather know exactly what I'm talking about. You know, she is one of the sweetest people that you'll ever meet. I don't care how far that you ride from east to west. Uh Heather Copeland is is truly a blessing just because she's a sweet, compassionate person. Uh you know, when you think of people who who you know, we we talk about uh that we should love one another. Uh she's a true example of that. And so I just say that from that standpoint of the things that she's brought to the board in the 15 months that I've been here has been just a very compassionate lens on the district and

025she will be greatly missed uh just from that standpoint. You know, she brought that she added that value to what uh is is supposed to be a team of eight. Uh and so Heather uh uh you know we we definitely did not want to see her go uh you know but at the same time life happens and I understand all kind of different dynamics pull people in different directions but she will be missed and we are glad uh in talking to her that she is uh going to continue to serve in some shape form or fashion because Heather's on different committees. uh she's part of our Golden Dogs and that's a very important organization uh to me uh because I see the power uh of the impact that Golden Dogs has on our community, on

026individuals that that serve in Golden Dogs, uh that take part in Golden Dogs, uh and the district itself. Um, and so anyway, Heather Heather did resign and she brought me that resignation and I told her she needed to think about it a little bit and and she came back and she said, "No, Dr. Hog, this is what I feel convicted to do." And so, uh, I spoke with Miss Manning. And, uh, I think the first thing that that that you have to understand about that is, uh, filling board seats is situational. And we do have board operating procedures that uh was adopted by the board uh twice since I've been here. Uh and it lays out different options that you can take. And you have to ask, well, why is there options? There's options because

027there's different scenarios. There's different, you know, e every filling of a board seat's not the same. And so it's important that you have different options so that you can align those options with, you know, what what's best for the kids, community, and the taxpayers of this district. And I think sometimes that gets lost because you have people out there, you know, on social media or whatever because that's where, you know, all of knowledge and the the world is today is on social media. So, you know, well, wh why why does this happen or why does this happen? Well, it happens because look at the board operating procedures. There are different options in there. When those operating procedures were were cast or are or are made, people understood that there will be different situations that you

028need to go down different different avenues with different different folks, you know, and so, you know, like one of the options was we have a special called election. Well, we're five months away from an election. So, is that option really fiscally responsible that you would have a board election? Um, and and so I I just think that, you know, you say no, it's you're five months away from that. And so, you know, I I don't speak on behalf of the board. Miss Manning does that. And, you know, but I do work with the board. there the governance of the oversight of our management of the school district. And so, uh, the first thing I done was got with Miss Manning and said, "Hey, you know, Miss Copeland is tenured her resignation." and said, you know,

029I said, "Miss Manning, think the the beauty about Miss Manning is not only does does she have the skill of 30 years of being a board member, and it is a skill, uh that she also has precedent and insight on how things were done in the past. She also is the leader of the board. So she, you know, navigates and talks with board members and and you know, and then not only that, as a person that's been here in this community as long as she has, Miss Manning understands the values of our community. And so um we talked through it. I know that uh different board members reached out to her and and she reached out to different board members and at the end of the day uh there is no there there's the Texas

030education code and there there is a a loose uh path that board operating procedures facilitates options on and how to move forward with that. And so, uh, if you hear that somebody in Marlin ISD was appointed to the board and here's how it happened, you know, it may be totally different than the way that Coppers Cove appointed somebody to the board. And so, you know, the the conversation that came back to me, the feedback that came back to me was, you know, the first thing was that and and you got to understand this, it if you appoint somebody to the board that's never served on the board, then they got to run in five months. If they run in five months and you have appointed them as a board and they've never never sat in

031a board seat before and they're wanting to run, then you've kind of endorsed the board candidate and the superintendent and the board of trustees, you know, ethically tries to stay out of elections. we're apolitical and so you know h how fair would it be to the rest of the community for the board to go out and select somebody out of the community that that they feel like needs to occupy that seat. And so I think the board wanted to make sure that they respected the vote of the community as a whole. And so not appointing somebody that was going to run in November was extremely important. And so then what do you do? Do you appoint somebody that has never sat in a board seat before and and and that you're going to have to

032spend money, time, and resources training and getting the things in place that need to be from a cost factor. You know, I think if you if you go on, you can Google it. You can look on there. There are certain things that board members have to do. So many days in office, so many days in office you got to do this. so many days in office, there's a process. And so the district has to pay for those trainings and things like that. And so Miss Manning comes to me, he said, "Dr. Hogginson," she said, "I'm going to see if Mike Wilburn would be willing to serve." And I said, "I I I I think Ray Charles could look out there and see what what better candidate for this situation." And I said, "So, um, I

033I think the board is making great decisions." And so, and I didn't know if Mr. Wilburn would be ready to serve or not, cuz remember 66 years, you know, and so there comes a time where, you know, you're like, "Hey, I know." Um, but, you know, Mike Wilburn had all of the um the trainings that was needed. uh no one else in this community had the trainings that Mike Wilburn had. Uh and then Mike Wilburn is not that far removed uh from and and when I'm talking about trainings, I'm talking about updated trainings in good standing uh with all of his his board. He left in that fashion and and so he still had it. Um and and so from that standpoint, you know, Mike Mike had the trainings. uh he he he had the

034the want to to come back and do it. And that there's also projects like the bond and things like that that nobody has to take and educate a new board member on because Mike already had those things. Mike knows about the bond. He was part of that. And so it just come abundantly clear to me and as I've said on social media and I stand behind Mike Wilin was a great board member, but he was a better person and he's a he's a person that makes you want to be a better person because of his impact and influence when you're around him. And so I was glad to see that the board made the decision to appoint Mike. And currently uh there's called a holdover doctrine. And so currently uh Heather Copelan is still uh

035the board of trustee. Her her resignation has been accepted. She's been a uh person has been appointed to take her place, but until Mike is sworn in and seated, the holdover doctrine says that Heather's still a trustee up until that point, which uh will culminate on June 22nd. Mhm. Other things that happened in that meeting um addressing staff uh retention, it's uh you know retention incentives uh were part of a budget challenge resolution. And so I want to start with the retention factor. So $500 retention incentive for every employee for every returning employee in Coppers Cove ISD. What that retention incentive does is, if you remember back to the May 12th board meeting, the board of trustees approved a $500 retention incentive for classroom teachers in the district who weren't on that 3% midpoint uh

036pay raise that was approved that same night. This $500 that was approved on June 8th puts bumps those returning teachers up to a $1,000 retention incentive that will be paid in August. And now employees who receive that 3% midpoint will get a $500 retention incentive in their in August. So that piece of it, focusing on the staff retention part of that resolution, why was that something that was important to you? And then we'll get into where uh at the end of it, we'll get into where this money came from. Yeah, I I it it's important because uh I if anybody tells you that our school board uh the first thing that they don't think about is the kids of this district, they're wrong. If anybody tells you that our school board does not think about

037our employees uh and and want the very best for them, they're wrong. And it's unfortunate uh what the state of Texas has done is is to really pit uh school boards against communities and and and and pitting them against employees because I promise you I if our operational budget could handle a 10 20 30 40 50 uh uh% raise. Uh our board would be uh hands in the air. Uh they would absolutely approve that because our our board is very passionate about our district. They're very passionate about our kids. They're very uh proud of our district. And so they want what's absolutely best for it. And and so, you know, they they care deeply about our employees. Uh, you know, I know when it comes time to do board appreciation, uh, I I don't know

038the district if if we as employees understand how special that is for the trustees. They love talking to our people and they love seeing our kids. And so they also share, like I've said, we win and lose with people. And so they wanted to do something. They knew that the TRS rate uh has gone up 9% for our region. Uh that's our our TRS uh insurance active care insurance uh rate has gone up. Now don't it's gone up 9% of the insurance not 9% of their salary. So just want to be uh clear on that. Uh but they wanted to do something extra there. And so, uh, the the board as a whole has goals, uh, that they want to try to do with employee compensation. And one of the goals, uh, that we've had

039that that we're trying to really dig up out of is to ensure that all of our employees are at or near a market standard, market pay, market standard. And so that's why we've tried to do the things that we've tried to do. Um, and and Curtis can can uh flip up there. Uh, at one of our workshops, we looked at our teachers and where they were within the market that we normally are we highly compete in, and you can see where they're at. We're trying to bring the rest of our employees up. So, that's why that they got the 3% raise. Um, the state of Texas did some flowth through money, which, you know, I know our employees was was glad to get, but you know, when when you look out there and you draw

040an arbitrary line of how many kids are in a district and then you push state monies from the state coffers into your district for employee pay raises, well, the employees of Copper Cove deserve to be paid the highest of anywhere else in the state. But that wasn't what the state did. And then they paid it paid it all in the bianium. And so our teachers got like an 8% raise up in the front right there. And uh and but there was no there's no money left for the second year of the bienium which you know I I look I'm I know that 6 8% is folks was tickled to death. Uh but it it needs to be steady because inflation increases steady and and I think that was missed uh by by the legislature and

041how to how to implement that. Um and then you know trying to get the rest of our employees up. That's why they got the 3% to to to get to that rate. And look I I get it. You you see a lot of people that's out there. You say, "Well, Dr. Hawkins, you say we're on a fixed income." That's true. And you say other thing, Dr. Hawkins, you say is is that, you know, that that fixed income, we we can't pay staff any more than than what we're paying. And and you know, look, I I I believe every employee from from A to Z ought to be paid at that market. And then once we do that, then we can start doing some things. And I I've talked about it before. Uh the district that

042I left had the best pay scale in rural East Texas. Uh it didn't happen in year one. It didn't happen in year two. Uh we turned the corner in year five and then by years nine and 10, we had a singledigit turnover in that district well below the state average. people wanted to stay there because the climate that was created and they wanted to stay there because they were compensated the best that anybody around them was compensating. And so those those are similar to where we're trying to go and where we're trying to get, but you know along the way um you know we we don't fix things overnight. It it takes time to to get to that. But I also see these districts that are paying right at 70,000 for a starting teacher. Well,

043if if we're all doing that, look at their deficit budget. >> Mhm. >> They're they're they've set themselves up to go broke. And I and I'm I'm being critical of some fellow superintendent out there, but if you're paying a starting teacher $70,000, your financial model will not there. That's impossible. I don't care who you are or or what you've got. If you're talking about state funding and you're talking about paying a first year teacher $70,000, you know, state state funding won't support it. And so, hey, it's all good as long as you can live out of fund balance. But there's a wall coming that you're going to hit. And when you hit that wall, you see, what did you see? You seen El Paso ISD financial exigency. They rifted people because of it and folks

044are losing their jobs and that's not what you want. You know, you don't want people to have to lose their jobs because you didn't, you know, manage money in a way that it it was it was okay. And so, um, but once again, the the, uh, the, uh, bonus there, uh, that will be paid out in August, uh, is for people who were here in January and will be here in August. And so that that will be paid out. Full-time employees get that. If if you're a part-time employee, you would get half of that. And so, um, but it's a start of what we're trying to do. And, and we're trying to we will try to continue that. And and as I said, our military impact aid uh allows us some flexibility to uh you

045know, I think it's important that our entire staff is becomes advocate for that money uh because it helps retain students. And why is that important in Copper Cove? You know, and and I talked about it on Fox 44, you know, I mean, and and I don't know how much of it she aired, but when when you are impacted by a military base, u I'm not saying that's a bad thing, but it is a costly thing. And people have to understand that. The federal government understands that. That's why in the 60s you had military impact aid start. And so it impacts you because you lose tax base because Uncle Sam owns that property and we can't tax Uncle Sam. Uh but it also impacts you from a student standpoint because you have a a high uh

046churning rate of students in your school district and they bring unique problems. And we know that learning is best when it's social and emotional and that there's connections and relationships made. Well, if the students are turning over at a high rate and you've got staff that's turning over at a high rate, the the most crucial thing in our district would be for us to have and and last year we we didn't turn over a lot of people and that was a victory for students. And if we can do that this year, that's a victory for the students of Copper Cove. The least turnover rate in these kids' lives from the school standpoint is a tremendous victory for them and that's what we're trying to accomplish. Where the money came from, you said there military impact

047aid it was part of it. Um almost $5.5 million in unprojected revenue. I I want to ask you what that means, but I think it's important people understand where this money is coming from because you brought up El Paso ISD, the financial in Say that word again. >> Extency. >> Extigency. I'm not a money guy. I am a communications guy. Um that's that's awful. But there's another district, they may not have declared it formally between San Antonio and Laredo at Crystal City where there were there was news coverage a month ago. They don't they didn't know how they were going to make payroll through the summer and they had $500 left in their bank account. And so I think it's important to discuss given the current funding climate, which we're going to talk about a

048lot more as we go through the rest of this episode. What is that unprotected revenue? Some of it was that military impact aid you talked about, but then there's other parts of it as well that came from being proactive in some of the processes we have. >> Well, and and you're right. You know, Sakaro ISD, I read where they borrowed $30 million to make it through summer. >> And then you're talking about that school district. You you had Spring Branch that thought House Bill Two was going to give them X number of dollars and when the actuality of the template come out, they were several million dollars under that. So, they got less money than than what they thought. You've seen the riff or reduction in force that's out there, but you've also seen districts

049from Austin to Fort Worth that are closing down campuses. And so all of those things are happening because the financial coffers are on fire. Uh and we can't sustain the things that that uh that that we need to sustain because at the end of the day, inflation has burned all of the oxygen out of the financial room for Texas public schools. And the state of Texas says, "We sent you the largest amount of money that we we've ever sent in the history of the state." You did, but it went it was flowth through money. You you didn't you didn't get money to do a lot of the things that you needed to do. We we got $55 a basic colotment per student. We needed 1,400. And so from 2019 to 2026, there was no new

050money. So insurance is going up, electricity is going up, the cost of labor went up. Um, and yet the the thing I think that we got to back up and come out of this is say this. Quit blaming school boards for that. And here's where look at the at the state pay scale. There's a minimum state pay scale that's paid uh that that's online. You can go to TEA and you can look at that scale and then look at where the vast majority of districts are around the state. They're above that. Why are they above that? It's because school boards understand that there's an arms race for people and they're trying to get the best people that they can to stand in front of those kids. And so I I I think all of those

051points are are very pertinent. And I think that there has to be a a renaissance of thought uh a a reawakening, a rebirth that everybody that is pro-education in the state looks real hard and says, "Hey, we need to have some conversations about school funding." And you know, look, there's people out there that don't want to give a dime to anything. They they want so society to be ignorant, okay? and and I get that. But the the vast maj it's in the Texas state constitution. The our forefathers understood how important it was to have an educated society. And think about this. If that didn't happen, we're the we're the eighth or ninth largest economy in the world, the state of Texas is, >> right? >> And so what do you think made that economy? Texas

052workforce. >> And where' that workforce come from? The workforce come the for 90% of it from public schools. When you are seeing huge multi-billion dollar companies leave California, where's most of them going to? Texas. >> Yep. >> Some of them's going to Tennessee, some of them's going to uh Florida. I get it. Uh you know, everybody wants to be like somebody else. But from that perspective, you have more of those, I think there's like 145 multi-billion dollar companies that have relocated to Texas. Um, they didn't call Governor Abbott and say, "Hey, we we really don't know whether we're going to come because we don't know if you have a good workforce." They're coming and they're coming as fast as they can to to work here in Texas. And so that whole thing has been fueled

053by a public education workforce that's been put out that we we you say what you want to and all public education is not the same. Uh but at the end of the day I I think that's pretty impressive and it and it goes missed. Um and so the other part of those funds came from um they came from uh a property value study and so that some somebody's calling us. I guess they they waited until we got on the podcast, started calling, >> phone start vibrating. >> Um the uh the rest of those funds come from a property value study and that property value study uh is is done each year. The state of Texas says this is how much your property values are. And then you get revenue based on those property values. And

054so each year we we kind of do an audit of that to make sure that you know that what the state is paying us on is actually what the property values is. And so uh attorneys uh work on our behalf in that in that realm. And there was a about $2.7 million of difference and we got that paycheck from the state of Texas. And so those things are unprojected revenue just like impact aid is unprojected revenue because you know when when you look at school finance and you start looking at even federal revenue you kind of know about a planning amount. You get a planning amount from the federal government. That's about how much hey you you're going to be somewhere close to this and then they'll send you the the no notice of grant

055award and then you know exactly how much money you get. Well impact aid is not that away. you could get zero. And it it has to be renewed every year. And so that's why advocacy on the federal level is so important because if you don't advocate for it, probably not going to get it. And so everybody has to go together and and and advocate so that that money will come. That's not money that's guaranteed every year. So you can't really use it as an operational amount of money. Same way with property value studies. May not get any of that next year. State of Texas may be spot on. And if that's true, then, you know, we don't we don't get to maximize our revenue. >> The last part of the special called meeting that I

056think was noteworthy and and I don't think this one will take us quite as long. The rest of that, I called it a budget challenges resolution um in conversation with someone. What it does is it allows us to follow the capital improvement plan that was that you and the board have discussed um and that Dr. Shuck and you and the board have discussed. And so that capital improvement plan has projects that need to happen. Those projects are currently in the working budget proposal for the 2026 2027 fiscal year which begins in September. But with this unprotected revenue, the board has granted permission to for lack of a better way to describe it because I know that you can't move you can't really move expenses, but functionally that's what we're doing here is we have approval

057now to move some of these bigger expenses from next year to this year, which not only helps budget or balance next year's budget, but it also allows those projects to get going. Now, maybe some of them not uh can be in place by the beginning of the school year, but that's really up to the folks who are swinging the hammers. And so, what does that do for the district? And and why was that something that was so important? >> Well, it's, you know, you got to think of it as a drought. You know, when you're in a drought, just a little bit of water goes a long way. Yeah. And so, uh, the same thing with school finance is that that it provided us with flexibility. It provi pro provided us with ability to address

058our our uh employees uh in some shape form or fashion. And then it also provided us with like you said we we have a standard problem in this district not from student outcomes but from facilities and uh otherwise we wouldn't had a bond election. uh and and and then we wouldn't have done some of the things out of our fund balance that we've uh started doing like with the playgrounds, like with the baseball softball conversions. Um and so we we we are going to work very hard to ensure that the things that are in that capital plan are executed over the next few years. Um and and and out out to 10 years is actually how how far that thing goes. Uh because you know our our TASBY uh facility study uh showed that you

059know that we had some needs there. The the bond committee you know when we had the facility planning committee we went over those things. We we rankordered and prioritized those things and so they haven't went away. And so having this money allowed us to address some of those things. Uh and it and it's allowed us to structure so that we can that we can take some of those things and relieve next year's budget. And uh you know it's it's if if we had two cars that's sitting in the budget for um you know for for travel um you know we could go ahead and buy those two cars. Now that's a kind of a one-time expense. uh you know and then that would allow us to you know not have to try to cut and

060find and and muscle away in the budget. And so I I think that's the blessing of it. It it relieved the budget. It it keeps us from running a huge deficit and go ahead and get those things and get them done. Now our next um talking uh I don't want to say talking point, our next topic. There we go. um is the House public ed committee meeting that took place was it late last week, early this week? Monday. >> Last Monday. >> And so I'm I'm I'm going to take a a moment and there is some incredibly powerful testimony from folks who do not cash paychecks from public school districts in this state that took place that day. And I think it's important to hear some of that. And so if you have the ability

061and the time, this is me just I would encourage you to go and revisit it because a a lot of it was true. There's a lot of stuff that came out last week as well with a different committee that was very eyeopening to me as well. Um, but I think that, you know, seeing the committee before we even get to election day for the session, we need to address this. How do we get there? Because you file you filed a run and you start filing bills as soon as election day is over. You're not even sworn in yet. You're filing bills for the next legislative session. And so things happen fast. And so to see them working in June gives me a little bit of hope. Um because I I I think you've hit the

062nail on the head with everything when it comes to the school finance world and the state that it's in. So I ask what your biggest takeaway from it and what it and what you think the folks here in Coppers Cove ISD need to take away from Monday's hearing because I I I think there's a lot of different directions we could go in and we could probably do a two-hour podcast just on that hearing. >> Yeah. I think the the danger uh the dangerous waters that we've sailed into is that there's too much money running Austin. And what I mean by that is the donors. The donors that are running Austin has the largest megaphone. They have the largest voice in the process. And you know, from a democracy, democratic republic that we have, we've got

063to take that back. and uh you know we we can't continue to allow money to speak on behalf of what needs to be done. And you know I I think of of teachers you know the and when I when I'm talking about teachers let me let me make sure that I make this abundantly clear. If you work for Coppers Cove ISD and your job impacts kids, you're a teacher. And I know that. Well, no, Dr. Hawkins that that you know they're not a teacher. Well, you know, at the last day of school, I I witnessed one of our employees that I have thought about several several hours since since that and it was one of our crossing guards. And uh you know, I'm I'm not going to call her out here on podcast or anything,

064but what I will say is this. The relationship that she has with those kids is one of mentorship, encouragement, and hope, maybe more so than anybody in in the school building that she's going to walk in there to. That lady's a teacher. She's teaching those kids things about life. She's teaching kids about hope and future and thought and plan and how to be a good human. Uh and and there's lots of lessons that's learned right there in that crosswalk. And and so um you know it it it's incumbent upon me to say that when you listen through that testimony, uh there's not enough listening to the people who are doing those things like she's doing in that crosswalk. Uh there's a whole lot more of listening to people who's never done it before. And so

065I know we we all got experience. Mo most of us went to school, right? So we know how school is supposed to run, right? School has changed exponentially uh in the last 10, 20, 30 years. And you know, you got somebody that's mad because they got, you know, three chicken nuggets and not four and 25 years later they're still mad at the lunch lady, you know, and and and so there there's moments in time I get that burns into people's minds that they wish they had been treated better or something happened that was unfortunate or whatever. Well, the same thing goes on out here with with people who've never done it. you know, it experience and education matters. You know, it it that VA clinic downtown, you know, I' I've built some buildings as superintendent,

066but I'm not an architect. And you know, if you come to me and say, "Hey, Dr. Hopkins, we're going to pay you this amount of money. We want you to draw up that building." I'm not an architect. you know, there there's things about drawing up buildings that I don't know and I would never stream into something that I don't know about. Uh but yet in education there's this deal that everybody everybody's an expert. Uh and that's not true. And so I think what's happening is is that these donors and vendors and people like that have the loudest megaphone and they're giving direction on what should happen in public education. And you know, the governor talks about parent parent choice, parent choice. Well, I I've I've watched parents have choice and parent voice until it didn't

067agree with some of the other groups and then they're marginalized and sidelined. And so I I think in order to to fix and address the problems that we heard at the public ed committee, folks better start listening to people with a resume of proven performance so that Spring Branch gets the money that they thought that they were going to get and not less money than they thought that they were going to get because there are some school finance experts in the state uh that aren't beholden to anybody and those are the people that we need to be listening to. Same way with things going on in the classroom. We don't need to listen to the vendors. We need to listen to people who and and I I know everybody well we got this committee the

068teachers are on or something. Okay. But that voice is not the same voice that's driving decisions there. And those are the things that we got to correct. We sent we're sitting here with 76,000 students down of enrollment in the state of Texas. That's the largest step back or one of the two largest stepbacks in the last 50 years. Okay. They're projected to lose a half a million students in the state of Texas to drop us below five million. Uh that that that will be catastrophic. Um, and so why is that? You know, the the panel, one of the panels asked that, people like, I don't I don't know why that is. Well, there's a reason for that. Number one is we're not listening to the voices of those who have proven to be experts in

069doing the things that they need to do. You know, if if I'm a uh going to go get a heart surgery, I kind of want somebody with a good resume. you know, I if this is your first heart surgery, I probably will find me a doctor with more experience. And so experience matters and and we've got to understand the who to listen to in those voices in order to to fix these things. Uh low birth rate, the demographers are consistent. Low birth rate is of issue. But it's not only that. There was a time where there was a five like a 500% increase in charter schools in the state of Texas. Now, I'm not against charter schools. Charter schools is fine, but charter schools needs to bring something different than what the public schools are

070bringing. If you've got if you've got, let's say, Houston ISD, if you approve a charter school in Houston ISD, they need to do something differently. It needs to be a fine arts charter that Houston may not be doing. And of course, I know they've got different campuses for that specialize in those things, but I'm just using that as an example. If the charter school isn't doing anything different than the public school, then why'd you do it? >> Right? >> And so, and and I'm not against private schools. Let me tell you something. These parents that are being told, "Put your kid in private school." I'm not against that. We've got private school partners. And I'm gonna tell you what, I've walked through their buildings. I've watched education going on in those buildings. There's fantastic things

071going on there. I'm if if you're a member of the private school coalition, I I'll go down and testify to you because we need to do better to support private schools in the state of Texas. But when when parents are being told, hey, uh they're smaller class sizes. Well, if you look at the class size at Copper Cove ISD and you look at the class size of according to everything I can pull offline, National Center for Educational uh Research, it it it says that our class sizes are basically the same. Now, I know all public schools aren't the same, >> right? >> Some public schools has 30 35 in a class, and I get that, you know, but that's not us. But you hear, "Oh, my kids going to get private school education. they're going

072to get a a smaller class size. And that's not true. And again, I'm I there are great great teachers in in private school, charter school, public school, and all of them are different. And that's the real voice that I think parents ought to look at because I think what we offer here in Cove is is is very valued. Um, but yeah, I I think that's the thing is you look at all of that, there's there's definitely issues uh with our state test, you know, when when when you you you heard Lynn Davenport and some of those people talk that she's not popular because she is an activist. Um, and and and I get it, but what some of the things that Lynn says is is true. And um why is it that that we continue

073to have a criterion reference test, but then we want to compare ourselves to Mississippi or we want to compare ourselves to Massachusetts or we're going to compare ourselves to Florida because a criterion reference test doesn't do that. A norm reference test does. But our state senate when that was brought up in the Senate, that's where it died at. And so, you know, teachers in the state of Texas don't have any problem with accountability because they've had it beat over their heads immersively. And so, I think the teachers of the state of Texas would welcome a wellthoughtout assessment plan that included a norm reference test so that we could truly compare ourselves to what's going on in Florida instead of, you know, hey, we've got this critical thinking. You you hear people say, "Hey, uh, this

074critical this uh eighth grade class is only 30% of them reading >> based on what? >> That's not true. It's it's based on the on the STAR test, which is not a literacy test. It is a critical thinking test that has literacy components. If if you know, and I know we don't want to be like anybody else, but this is one time we ought to be like Mississippi that people talk about the Mississippi miracle. Mississippi was down in the bottom of performance. Now they're in the top 10 of performance in the United States. Why? Because their test is a literacybased test. Now, it's not a critical thinking multi-step process test. If you want to know if a kid can read, give them a literacy test. Don't give them a test that doesn't measure literacy. And

075uh you know, and I hear stuff like this. They said, "Well, if we do real well on this criterion reference test, then our norm reference test when if we give it to them that that there will be a correlation, a causation there." Well, look, just because a kid trains all through the week and becomes an outstanding volleyball player and has to play football on Friday night, those two things probably aren't going to go the same. Well, the same way with the criterion and norm reference test, there needs to be some changes in testing and wise or not. There's a multi-million dollar vendor contracts that are sitting out there that's driving the train and they're more influential right now than the voices. We're abdicating our responsibility as a society. And we've got to get vocal and

076make sure that the voices in the room that people are listening to are people with experience that's actually had success with students. Another thing that I think stood out to me and I I I' I'd love to hear your thoughts on it. The funding model for the state. We've talked about it a little bit, but we haven't talked about this component of it from this week's hearing. Texas is one of the few states in the country where you're funded on attendance, not on enrollment. The problem is if you have student A, you have 25 students in a classroom, >> whether there's 25 there that day or 15 because you've got, I don't know, the common cold going around because that happens every now and again. Um, that teacher is there and getting paid. The lights

077are on, the water's running, the HVAC is going, and the food is getting cooked for those kids. So, the expenses don't stop because one kid gets sick, but it the school gets punished for for Johnny getting the cold, for Susie having a doctor's appointment. Um, and so I I I think and I think you've said this in in different components, it's time to revisit it because the way that Texas public schools are funded is entirely outdated because the the expenses don't stop because one kid is absent, but you you penalize the school and now you want to point and say you don't know how to manage your money. Well, yeah, you took away my the the funding to pay for some of these things that day because one or two kids or whatever. And obviously

078that number scales were absent because you're paying you're funding me on attendance, not on actual enrollment. Well, you can buy about anything online that you want to buy. And I think that we both sitting here today understand that if I b if I bought me a police uniform and I put me a 40 caliber Glock on my hip and I had me a fake badge made cuz you know they can make them look exactly like anybody else's and and I and I had a Copper Cove police department and all of a sudden I become Sergeant Hawkins with the coppers Cove Police Department and I get out here and wear my uniform around I'm probably fixing to get arrested. Ed, because I'm impersonating a cop. >> Yep. >> Well, we got a lot of people that

079needs to be arrested for impersonating educators. And I think that that's again part of our problem is we're not listening. So, let's step back away from that and put it from a business perspective because we do have people that are in Austin that are sitting there in those in those seats uh that are representing us that have had business experience. No one that has any business experience thinks it's wise if you don't align revenue and expenses. If you don't align revenue and expenses, they'll tell you there's a problem, right? Well, yet our model is to not align revenues and expenses. Uh the expense of running that classroom is there every day. If there's 20 kids that show up in a classroom or there's 15 kids that shows up in a classroom, it's not like our

080expense goes down. We don't go to our teacher and say, "Hey, Miss third grade teacher, you only have 15 kids in class today, so we're going to reduce your salary by 25%." That doesn't happen. We don't get to go to the electric company and say, "Hey, electric company, hey, we only had three4ers of the kids in this classroom today, so we're only going to pay 3/4 of the electric bill." That school bus still drives by that kid's house every day, whether that kid gets on that bus or not. We don't get to say, "Hey, little Curtis over here, we he wasn't available to pick up this morning, and so we're not we're not going we're not going to take that money away." Curtis was still afforded that service. Curtis, we we still prepare food for

081Curtis in the cafeteria to make sure that everybody every kid eats. We don't get to go to the library and shut a quarter of the library down and say, "Hey, we're not going to have this expense." Those expenses are still there. And for us, I think there's like 10 10 states that fund on average daily attendance and the rest 40 other states I think funds on uh an average enrollment. And so I mean from a business model, I don't know how anybody it it's a mistrust model is what it is. >> It's people that that think that these educators don't care about kids. We don't care about kids. So if they don't show up, we don't make an attempt to reach out to them. We don't make an attempt to get them caught up. Well,

082anybody that's actually been in the classroom knows that's not true. We we should fund based on our expenses and every child comes with an expense. And so when you hear, hey, we get this much money from the state of Texas. Well, you really don't. Just take the basic a lotment, you know, little tick over $6,000 you get there. Do you get all that money? No. you get a percentage of that money based on how much that kid goes to school. At the end of the day is this. There's some days that a kid doesn't need to come to school. Not saying, "Hey, go take a a Carnival cruise." I'm not saying that. But there's there's times where a kid has a legitimate health issue and they don't need to come to school. And so we

083should align our finances to understand those things and quit this antirust of teachers because that's what's stifling the profession is that there's this belief that there's no teachers. And then there's those that really don't believe that there's not a need to trust teachers, but they're lining up to make money. And so they're going to say whatever that fits their narrative, too. Because I I think there's a lot of people that don't really believe that. Our teachers are resilient. Our students are resilient. I'm I'm proud of the test scores in Coppers Cove. I'm proud of everything they do on every other day that's not a test day as well. >> Moving on to our next topic, Central Texas Innovation Academy. Again, this is the online free virtual public school ISD is offering starting in August, open

084to all students across Texas, grades 3 through 12. It is a customizable uh schooling experience for your student. If you uh have any questions, visit uh centexinnovationacademy.com. But um where are we with getting ready to launch this school for August? Yeah, we're we're um marketing, advertising, getting the word out that it's actually that we are we're we're different. Uh we we are actually not uh necessarily a program. Uh this isn't some scam to increase money. Uh we have taken a program that has been highly successful in our district, Crossroads High School. We've retoled, we've revamped that program and uh or that campus and and so that's what we're offering. I think that's what separates us. Say, "Well, Dr. Hans, why did you get into this business?" Because I see a need out there. There is

085a a a group of folks that perpetuates homeschooling. And I've had friends of mine that homeschool their kids. I've seen great success. But I'm telling you, there's great teachers in homeschooling. But as an entire entity, my experience is that it is about an 8% successful model. 92% of the kids that are homeschooling are not successful. 8% of them are and probably 3% of that eight are highly successful. Uh five 5% of them are spot-on, but there's 90. What What business stays in town? I mean, you know, other than predicting the weather, what job can you stay in that you can be wrong and still keep your job? Well, homeschooling is that away. Home homeschooling. Uh when I when I went back home during Easter holiday, across from one of my relatives house, there is a

086a little boy uh that's homeschooling. He's a first grader and and he's he's not potty trained yet, but this kid's being homeschooled. And so parents real proud. I'm homeschooling. Well, I I sat there and I watched that kid roam around out in the yard, you know, roam around out in the yard. I didn't see a lot of schooling going on. And my deal is, if we can't potty train the kid, you know, and this isn't a special needs child. This is this is a gen ed kid. Can't you can't potty train him, then how are you going to phmic phmic awareness? How are you going to teach him anything about phenemic awareness? And so you you continue to to to see people that say, "Well, I I want to homeschool my kid." Well, that's great.

087Go homeschool your kid. Um but at the same time, it's my fear that in about 10 years, 15 years, we're going to say, "Oh my god, what happened?" And all of these kids that are going home, like I say, 8 10% of them are going to be successful. these other 90%, we're going to have a very un undereducated workforce because these kids aren't going to be as proficient. And you know, look, all these people that talk about homeschool out there, if you're going to get on your on your keyboard and bash public schools, then why don't you get on your keyboard and say, "Hey, why don't we compete against public schools? give all homeschool kids the same test public school kids take. And then we'll really see if you're an A, B, C, or DF

088homeschool. We'll see what the accountability is on that. You know, part of the TIFA is that that, you know, they'll there's some money out there for homeschooling, but those kids don't have to take that criterion reference test that we do. I'd love it. Put us all on a level playing field. If there's going to be competition, then we all need to be there. But really and truly, a educator code of ethics is that we shall do no harm to kids. And so I'm extremely concerned about this homeschooling deal and uh and the quality of what's going on out there because I'm going to be old and somebody's going to have to take care of me. And if we've messed this education deal up because micro schools and home schools are on the rise at about

0891.7% over the past few years. What if we mess up? It ain't going to be nobody to take care of me. I'm gonna have to be old and going back to work to take care of them because they're not going to be able to to fund uh society for us old people. And so I think we're doing harm for kids. And I said, "What can we do to help?" what we can do to help is this CTIA, Central Texas Innovation Academy, to where you have fabulous teachers, instructors that are out here that that can teach these kids a good quality education and core curriculum. And then the other thing, Curtis, is when we look at the students that live in Coppers Cove ISD, we have 300 kids that live in this school district that are

090already at another online entity. So why don't we offer the online service to those 300 kids? Because it's always better to be a bulldog than anything else. Okay, first that's our value. But the other values that we can have is that Rosco ISD, which I believe is is D-rated. Their their their online deal is D-rated. >> Uh that's problematic. If if they're D-rated, you know, we're offering a B-rated >> district, which is above average. C's average. We're above average. And so, but here's the deal. Even if they're a an A district, you know, Rosco's in the panhandle. There's cotton farms and windmills in Rosco, America. >> Go to Sweet Water and keep going. >> Exactly. So, when you think of that, if my kid wants to be a welder, it's a long way to stretch

091a welding lead from Rosco, Texas to Corel County. And so I just think that, you know, we can offer a hybrid mix to where these kids are learning online, but they're also uh have the capacity to take welding at Copper Cove High School and to get the skills, crafts, and trades that these kids want. online virtual is very difficult to take care of the CCMR that we know is fueling the things that these kids need to be successful after high school. So, it it it's really just a um um you know, a love for mine that we can help these kids. We can get these 300 kids back to Coppers Cove ISD and add value to what they're getting online. and they've already chose online, but now we can add value to it and give

092them a bigger bang for their buck and we can have a better productive society when these kids walk out of here. My old boss, my very first boss, whenever I graduated from college, um, and he and I are very, very close. Uh, we were texting last night, he was actually texting me this morning. um his son just graduated from the virtual school in Hallsville and it's he did his entire I mean the my old boss his entire family is from Bowmont his son and and and his ex-wife live in the Bowmont area um Hallsville to Bowmont not as far as Rosco to Copper Cove but not down the street either. It was all virtual. And I think, you know, as a communications professional, I'm trained to look for the unique thing on anything. We're not

093just offering like we're not ju if you want to take advantage of a particular program the district offers that is in person, all you need is transportation. This is a I don't want to say fully customizable, but a kind of customizable way to do your educa, do your students education. You want to be part of the Pride Cove band, but maybe navigating the halls isn't for your student. Beautiful Central Texas Innovation Academy. You want same thing. maybe navigating the halls or maybe maybe you can get through the the work faster than what you could in a traditional classroom or maybe you need more time than what you would get in a traditional classroom. But also the real estate program or the business and marketing program or the digital media or whatever. Yeah. Any of those

094CTE programs that's something you want your student wants to be part of. Beautiful. Enroll at Central Texas Innovation Academy. That is something that's unique. You know, you talked about that Fox 44 interview that you did yesterday as we're recording this. I was uh walking the reporter through the high school to get B-roll and uh we were talking about the virtual school thing and she brought up another district in the area and said, "I know they're really proud of it." And I looked at her and I said, "You know, we're one of only four districts in the state that got the grant to get this off the ground. That means the state has said that there's only four people they trust to do this well and we're one of them. Buyer beware." And so we've talked

095about that on this podcast. Go back, you can find those episodes. But the state says COE's academics and the plan we have in place um is better than what most of these virtual schools are doing. And I think that that's um something that gets lost and something that we're working as a communications office to make sure people understand is the state says that our plan is better than most of these virtual options. Most of these virtual options are are like you said, they're to make money for those districts. Some of them are districts that are on the verge of Commissioner Morath coming in and saying, "Thank you for your services. Have a nice day." Okay. And some of them are are districts that are doing okay, too. And so there's a mixed bag there. Um,

096but being able to customize your students educational experience, have a district that is trusted by the by the folks who are in charge of this stuff, some of them experts, some of them appointed by politicians to say, "Hey, they can do this. They can do it well. they're going to be successful. That is different with Central Texas Innovation Academy versus other virtual options both in the area and across the state. >> Yeah, absolutely. And that's, you know, [clears throat] I I will tell everybody the best thing that you can do for your kid is to enroll them in Coppers Cove ISD. Okay. and that live and in color interaction in the hallways and interaction in your classroom and building relationships and and teaching kids how to interact um you know and and you know Cove

097is a very diverse district. So is the world. So if you, you know, it goes back to this. Are we trying to prepare our child for the road or the road for the child? You know, if you if if if that's what you're trying to do, you know, preparing your child for the world, get your kid enrolled in Copper Cove ISD. There is no substitute for that. But 300 parents said that we don't want that. Okay? We want we want something different. And so the deal with Cove is is that the the thing that we've done is we want to be the best at the virtual aspect of anybody. And I think we can do that based on the fact that number one, CO has proven that we're good at what we do. and and

098so as far as being online with it, um you know, we've put our best folks at building relationships to be in this. You know, if if you aren't any good face to face, then you're probably not going to be any good online. And uh it's not like you're going to, hey, my district is a D district, but hey, all of a sudden now I'm going to be good online. No, that it doesn't it doesn't work that way. is kind of like, you know, writing and reading, you know, I mean I I if you can read, there's a certain amount of where you can write, okay, but if you can't read, you probably can't ride either, you know. And so I I I think that from that standpoint that that we uh need to make sure

099that uh we're offering, like I said, the highest quality of service, the best virtual aspect that we can possibly give uh that's out there. And so, uh, some of these people aren't doing that. So, just do your homework. Do your homework. Research it. As we, uh, to to bring up one more point, then we'll move on. Uh, you brought up Rosco IISTD's rating. The district, I don't know about the campus, but the district received an F in 2025. So, again, buyer beware. Look into it. txschools.gov. Um, and if you have any questions, email ctia ccisd.com. >> And I can tell you about those those kids at Rosco. They're they're phenomenal kids out there. That F rating isn't from the kids that live in Rosco. It's from the kids that are virtual. Their virtual aspect isn't

100working. And so it's not worth it. You know, I mean, at this point, something is wrong with their model. >> And to your point, the the in-person high school is a B. >> Yeah. I mean, that they're they those are phenomenal kids in Rosco. I've seen them compete in different things and watch them perform in different things and and there there's no way that the kids of Rosco will ever make an F. And so there's that that's a complete virtual deal right there with them. As we wrap things up today, we'll do it with the segment we always do looking forward. Um our next podcast will come after the next board meeting which is going to be held at 6 p.m. June 22nd inside the boardroom here at the CCISD service and training center. Um,

101one of the things that's on that agenda is the the bond timeline report with the construction manager and the uh the architect. And so what what do we expect to see uh in that report or do we know is it too soon to tell? >> Yeah, it's going to be an update uh on the timeline. Uh I think it's important that you know that people understand. I went to the summit we have quarterly summit, you know, with our chamber and EDC and and city and the district. We all sat down and kind of updated each other on where we were so the right hand would know what the left hand's doing in our community. And um and we we talked through uh you know, I told him this. I said the the the last night

102I was on social media and I saw a school district, which I'm not going I'm not going to put their names out there, but uh they had a cafeteria, a high school cafeteria that was about half finished and then they had u a CTE area that was half finished. That was a 2022 bond. So if they're half finished at best, they're 12 months away. Okay? And so, you know, you're you're looking at 2027. That's a five-year construction project. Uh, and this was not renovation, not reconstruction. This was new construction on those two deals in a 2020 bond. And here they are in 2026. So, they're already four years going to go five. And so, um, you know, it it it takes time and I get it. But they but they run up on some things

103in that deal. And so we we just want to make sure that the board gets the adequate information that hey this is this is where we are on these things and that that there's transparency and the community knows what's going on. Uh we we feel like that as I've said before the the junior high is about two weeks out from bidden and then you know uh the construction manager will give us a timeline on how long that construction will take on those projects. And so it's just good transparency and I'm looking forward to uh hearing uh the community and the school board know uh exactly where we are in that process. Another thing uh we're looking forward to is 9 through 12 EOCC scores were released by the state yesterday. Parents, if you haven't already,

104log into Skyward Family Access and uh follow the instructions there. You'll be able to see your students scores. That is um again those end of course exams for grades 9 through 12 plus algebra 1 because in Coppers Cove all eighth grade students take algebra 1. So if you've got an eighth grade student you'll have at least one EOC score you can go see Skyward Family Access. Um but accountability ratings are coming out soon. You mentioned when you got hired that most of the time when you've taken a superintendent job you've had to do some work to turn around student outcomes. But that here it wasn't turning around. It was figuring out a way to get over the hump. And uh for for us that hump is we want to be an A-rated district. We want

105you know everybody to have an A-rated campus in the district. How do you how do you feel looking forward to those accountability ratings coming down from the state? >> Well, I'm very encouraged. Um you know, and and you're right, Curtis. the the the former districts that I've been in, you know, uh uh we we went from bottom 20% to above 50% the state average. And so I I was proud to be part of teams that made the impact in that. I've I've been part of uh teams and and in and my campus as campus principal be one of the highest performing campuses in the state. You know, we went from a zero to a hero real quick. and uh you know and then there there was one district that we went from recognized I mean

106I'm sorry acceptable to exemplary I mean I'm old so some of those some of those terminology a through it it I I go back a ways but it's a consistent pattern of doing that uh here it was a different district and I don't think you always you don't need a cookie cutter approach uh to make things work um you know it's kind of like the state of Texas is doing these takeovers and you know if if I could give them one piece of advice. I'd tell them that they need to spend some time and find out what the problem is because all districts are different. Don't come in with a playbook. A playbook ain't going to work. You're going to have to come in and really study and then have somebody figure out the things

107that need to be done. And and here coming here obviously we have been BB BBB over four years and that's great. Uh but one thing that we wanted to improve uh over uh this this year was, you know, we had a high school that was a 88 89 right there and we want we want to try to dip them over the top. Uh but our but our junior highs, uh we wanted to see some movement in them. And uh and while we don't have the ratings yet, I'm I'm pretty uh I'm I'm well, you saw at the last board meeting uh Marshall Chauvan uh he he was here >> our resident cinjun and I call he's after after his doubledigit improvements that his campus and team over there made he's now called the marshall and

108so the marshall uh got a superintendent excellence corn, challenge coin, uh because they they did a a phenomenal job and so we feel like that we've made some some push with our junior high schools. Um, but we got a lot of work to do because in our elementary schools, you know, we we we kind of changed some things around and maybe we we we a couple years ago we need to go back and revisit and have some conversations about some of the changes we made because, you know, I'm I'm not willing to go three years with uh, you know, uh, less than stellar improvements. you know, uh, Marshall, uh, the Marshall and his campus at SC Lee showed doubledigit improvements. And so, if if we can do it at SC Lee, then we need to

109go back and revisit that and and get back on track in some of those areas. So, that'll hold us back a little bit, but nonetheless, I think you got to celebrate the success that we're at. And I'm I'm excited to see those accountability ratings come out. [sighs] >> Dr. Hawkins, thank you for your time today. Glad we could get another one of these on the schedule. And again, we'll see y'all before we close for the week of the 4th of July, but appreciate your time today. >> God bless and go dogs. >> For Superintendent Dr. Brent Hawkins and all of us at Coppers Coved, I'm director of communications Curtis Quillin saying thank you for joining us on this episode of Take Two with Hawk. We'll see you next time. For now, good night and go

110dogs. [music]