In a long and often contentious meeting Monday night, Katy ISD’s board of trustees met in the district board room at 6301 S. Stadium Lane to honor a local educator, approve property purchase for a new junior high school and receive updates on the district’s budget and on the district-wide program to improve student attendance.

Following public comments from a dozen speakers on various topics, the board prepared to go into closed session but at the suggestion of trustee Rebecca Fox, the board pulled an agenda item from the consent agenda and voted to unanimously to approve the naming of the field house at Cinco Ranch High School, 23440 Cinco Ranch Blvd. in Katy, for former athletic director Don Clayton. In public comments former Cinco player James Radcliffe praised Clayton as the “winningest coach,” while local mom Anne Russey questioned the necessity of spending $13,000.00 on the naming project at a time when the district is experiencing a budget deficit; she also expressed concern that many other naming proposals were pending, which, if approved, would continue to add to the district’s deficit.

Immediately after that action the board went into closed for about an hour and a half, conducting the superintendent’s quarterly evaluation and approving the purchase of property for a new junior high. The board did not comment or take action on the evaluation of current superintendent Ken Gregorski following the return to the open meeting.

In open session, board members unanimously approved the purchase of property for a new junior high school site. No details on the property were disclosed but a district spokesperson confirmed that the property was in the northwest area of the district which is experiencing rapid enrollment growth.

Board members also heard a scheduled update on the district’s 2024-2025 budget from KISD’s chief financial officer, Chris Smith. Smith said the objectives for the budget year were to maintain a balanced budget, maintain a competitive compensation plan, maintain the health plan, put a high priority on staff and student safety, to open Freeman High School and Nelson Junior High School and to prepare for the opening of two new elementary schools. Smith listed favorable changes affecting the budget as higher-than-expected interest income, higher-than-expected property value audits, career and technology state funding, and growth in average daily attendance (ADA), which is used to calculate state funding received by the district. The improvement in attendance brought in an additional $4.7 million in state funding, Smith said. Smith listed as unfavorable changes the cost of health insurance, the continued growth in housing starts and resulting growth in enrollment, inflation, stagnant state revenue and rising disaster expenses.

Smith also asked the board to approve language for a public notice to be published on August 8 which will determine the tax rate that will be adopted for the coming year. He said that the district has the option of adding a one-time “disaster penny” to the tax rate to help recoup costs from the three weather events that have affected the district this year. He listed the winter freeze, which caused broken pipes at some facilities; the May “derecho” storm and Hurricane Beryl in early July. If approved, this “disaster

penny” would give the district over $5 million in additional funds which would offset the cost of repairs, lost attendance days and lost staff time. Smith said that if the “disaster penny” were added to the published rate, the board could always reduce the actual tax rate to be approved at the August board meeting, and not pass the “disaster penny” on to taxpayers. However, Smith said, the board could not increase the tax rate once the notice has been published. Board president Victor Perez polled the board members for their feedback, and the eventual consensus was not to add the “disaster penny” to the tax rate published in the upcoming public notice.

Jamey Hynds, assistant superintendent of finance and Ronnie Edwards, assistant superintendent for school leadership and support, presented a report on the district’s student attendance initiative called “Attend Today, Achieve Tomorrow” which was implemented in the 2023-2024 school year. Campuses used a variety of incentives to improve attendance, including improved communication with parents and rewards for students with improved attendance such as recess and popsicles, pep rallies, drawings for prizes donated by local businesses and other ideas. The goal of the district-wide program was to increase average daily attendance by 0.5 per cent; the pair said that the program exceeded that goal, coming in at a 0.6 per cent increase, resulting in 570 more students in class each day. The program distributed $2,200,000 in incentives to campuses and brought in an additional $4,700,000 in funding from the state’s per-student allotment. The duo said that the purpose of the program was not to increase district funding but instead to focus on positive student outcomes. The biggest gains in attendance came at the secondary campuses, with all junior highs and high schools achieving their goals. The successful program was highlighted in Lone Star Magazine published by the Texas Association of School Boards (TASB), said trustee Fox, and board Vice President Amy Thieme said that other districts are contacting KISD for information about the program.

Dr. Christine Caskey, chief academic officer for the district, presented the quarterly academic report to the board, highlighting a need for the district to achieve improvement in math.

The board also bickered at length over membership in TASB (Texas Association of School Boards), board member training classes and committee assignments before adjourning.

The next meetings of the school board will be held in August:

· Board work study meeting, August 19

· Regular board meeting, August 26