In a lengthy work study meeting held August 18, the Katy ISD board of trustees met to discuss a resolution on SB12, which is aimed at protecting parental rights; a proposed update to the district’s policy for naming new campuses and facilities; and a contract for design services needed for a new Opportunity Awareness Facility. A final presentation on the 2025-2026 budget and proposed tax rate was given by CFO Chris Smith and a review of the 2025 State Accountability ratings was delivered by Natalie Martinez, KISD Executive Director of School Improvement. (See related story on accountability ratings in this issue).

Texas Senate Bill 12, also known as SB12, is legislation aimed at protecting parental rights in public education. Among key provisions discussed during the work study meeting: · Parental rights: Parents have the right to direct the moral and religious training of their child, and consent to medical treatment without interference from the state or school district. · Parental participation: Districts are required to develop a plan for parental participation to improve cooperation between parents and teachers. · Diversity, equity, and inclusion: The bill prohibits diversity, equity, and inclusion practices in public schools, including policies that reference race, color, ethnicity, gender identity, or sexual orientation.


Board President Lance Redmon initiated discussion of the bill with an overview of the district’s responsibilities stating that the district will not be in conflict with state laws. “Whether we have a policy or not, we will follow state law,” he said. “And this year, Senate Bill 12 has been voted on and approved. We don't quite have all the wording right for the policies yet. But what we do want to declare is that we fully intend for everybody in this room and on our campuses to, in our vendors to comply with Senate Bill 12. And so, we have the statement that we were bringing forward just to make sure that everybody knows that before we actually hit the policies. And so it goes through and lays out each of those points of the law for our employees, for our contractors, what parents can expect,”

Redmond said that every district employee and contractor would receive a copy of the policy.

Under the law and district policy, students are now also required to get parental consent before they may participate in student-run clubs, Redmond said. “So we're requiring any student that wants to sponsor a club to go ahead and get their parental consent. And then if they can get a sponsor's consent, then it goes to the administrator. Now, we've had some substantial training with our administrators about gender identity and sexual orientation clubs not being allowed. What happens in those instances is that the administrator denies it.”

The board will likely officially adopt the policy in October, said Board Vice President Rebecca Fox.

Katy ISD Superintendent Ken Gregorski presented a new draft of the district’s policy for the naming of new schools or portions of existing schools, stating that he had carefully reviewed previous board discussions and drafted this revision in hopes of finding common ground. A sometimes-heated discussion followed, with Trustee Mary Ellen Cuzela questioning the development of the policy by the superintendent and the district’s general counsel rather than the board’s policy committee and outside counsel. Gregorski replied that some policies are driven by the district administration and others are driven by trustees. The new draft of the naming policy drops some previous controversial provisions including requirements for namesakes to be retired for five years or more and restrictions on their family members’ employment by the district. It also increases the number of community members on a naming committee and increases the amount of time given to committee members to review naming proposals.

District CFO Chris Smith presented the updated draft of the budget for the current school year and the proposed tax rate. “This budget is built around only a 0.5% --or less than 1% --budget-to-budget enrollment increase, opening two new campuses, two new elementary schools, tax base growth of minus 2.1%,” he said. And there's an asterisk there because that minus would not be, it would be a 5% increase year over year, but that it reflects the homestead exemption increase of $40,000 from $100,000 to $140,000. It presumes or it assumes that that's going to pass in November since it will be on a statewide ballot. So that instead of a 5% increase, it's a actual decrease in our tax base. It reflects a salary increase of the $2,500,000, depending on the experience of the teacher and a 3% across the board raise for all other staff.”

Smith said that the tax rate would not be reduced this year. “The same tax rate that we've had the last couple of years at 0.7271 maintenance and operation, that's 0.619 plus the 11.02 enrichment pennies that our district has and a 39-cent maintenance tax. What we'd like to do is maintain a balanced budget. We're still strained from being on such a fixed income since 2019 and having that tremendous inflationary pressure that we've been under. We've dug ourselves into a budgetary deficit.”

Cuzela asked if Katy ISD had ever used a zero-based budgeting approach periodically to fine-tune the budget, and Smith replied not in his experience with the district. Smith reiterated that 89 percent of the budget is committed to salaries and benefits and that a significant amount to utilities and that a zero-based budgeting approach would likely not save the district much money.

The board also discussed approval for a contract for design services necessary for a new Opportunity Awareness Center facility, which is intended to relieve overcrowding and wait list issues, as well as program expansion at Miller Career Center. The multi-step process will transition the discipline program currently housed there to the new Merchant’s Way facility, freeing up the existing building for the OAC. A separate building would eventually be built, likely funded from a 2027 bond issue, said Superintendent Gregorski.

The board held its regular meeting on August 25, after press time for this issue of the Katy Times.