Key Agenda Items

Board Of Education Meeting Agenda

December 12, 2019

*More details on each item can be found below the list.

(A.2) Approval of the Board Monitoring Update (Constraint 3 Progress Measures 1 and 2)
(A.3) Approval of the Board Monitoring Update (Goal 4 Progress Measure 1 and Goal 4 Support Data)
(A.4) Approval of the Board Monitoring Update (Goal 4 Progress Measures 2 and 3)
(B.2) Report and Recommendations from the Board Audit Committee
(B.3) Resolution for a December 14, 2019 Runoff Election for HISD School Board for Districts II and IV
(B.4) Audit Department Goals for the 2019-2020 Performance Period
(B.5) Lone Star Governance Strategic Plan Discussion
(I.1) Vendor Awards for Purchases over $100,000
(I.2) Donations for Districtwide and School-Specific Programs
(I.3) Grant Funds in Support of Districtwide and School-Specific Programs

Impact (I), Leadership (L), Equity (E), Stewardship (S), Collaboration (C)

A.2 Approval of the Board Monitoring Update (Constraint 3 Progress Measures 1 and 2) (I)

The Board must approve the board monitoring update for Constraint 3 Progress Measures 1 and 2. Constraint 3 states “The Superintendent shall not allow struggling schools to operate without highly qualified leaders and teachers in core subjects. *

*Struggling schools include Improvement Required (IR) schools, formerly IR schools, and schools receiving an overall accountability scale score of 65 or less. Teacher qualification should consider certification and experience.”

A.3 Approval of the Board Monitoring Update (Goal 4 Progress Measure 1 and Goal 4 Support Data) (I)

The Board must approve the board monitoring update for Goal 4 Progress Measure 1 and Goal 4 support data. Goal 4 states “The reading and math performance gap between historically underserved and non-historically underserved student groups, as measured by the average of the percentage-point gaps between economically and non-economically disadvantaged student groups at the Meets Grade Level Standard on STAAR between 1) economically and non-economically disadvantaged student groups, 2) African-American and White student groups, 3) Hispanic and White student groups, 4) English Learners (ELs) and non-English Learners (non-ELs), and 5) students receiving special education services and students not receiving special education services, shall annually show a one percentage point decrease from an average of 30.3 percentage points in spring 2018 to an average of 27.3 percentage points in spring 2021. Monitoring of student performance for all groups listed above along with the specified gaps will be provided to the board. All student groups should make progress; therefore, if this average gap decreases but the percentage of students at the Meets Grade Level Standard on STAAR for any of the student groups listed in this goal declines, then this goal shall be considered not met.”

A.4 Approval of the Board Monitoring Update (Goal 4 Progress Measures 2 and 3) (I)

The Board must approve the board monitoring update for Goal 4 Progress Measures 2 and 3. See what Goal 4 states above (A.3).

B.2 Report and Recommendations from the Board Audit Committee (S, I)

The Board must accept and act on the final report of the HISD Board Audit Committee and approve the committee’s proposed Audit Committee Calendar for the year 2020. The current audit committee does not recommend any substantive changes be made to the charter at this time.

B.3 Resolution for a December 14, 2019 Runoff Election for HISD School Board for Districts II and IV (L)

The Board must approve the amended resolution ordering a runoff election on December 14, 2019 for the HISD Board of Education with a partially complete list of polling locations. The single-member districts that are up for this runoff election are District II and IV. On August 22, Houston GPS hosted an HISD candidate forum. Click here to view our forum and click here to see who we endorsed.

B.4 Audit Department Goals for the 2019-2020 Performance Period (S, I)

The Board Audit Committee recommends the following 3 goals to be incorporated into the Chief Audit Executive’s 2019-2020 performance evaluation.

Pass the department audit and receive a “Generally conforms” rating
Implement and manage the new Audit Dashboard
Reduce the backlog of Alert Line cases by 30%

The Board must accept these department goals for the Audit Department.

B.5 Lone Star Governance Strategic Plan Discussion (I, L)

Throughout October and November of 2019, HISD hosted several community meetings for the Lone Star Governance coaches to present analysis summary of the data collected from these community meetings. They also will present the Governance Strategic Plan that will guide governance training and implementation through August 2020. The Board must participate in open discussions regarding these community meetings and the proposed draft of the Governance Strategic Plan.

Core Value Evaluation: Impact and Leadership

These community meetings that HISD held were not well attended, so there was not meaningful community involvement or input. The district should do a better job doing their due diligence in garnering true community input to include in their Governance Strategic Plan.

I.1 Vendor Awards for Purchases over $100,000 (S, L)

The Board needs to approve vendor awards greater than $100,000 and ratify vendor awards under $100,000.

Vendors: AKK Services, LLC dba Art & Kustom Kreations; Alliance Financial Ministries, Inc.; Animation and Robotics for Kids LLC dba Smart Core Labs; Catapult Learning West, LLC; Comp-U-Dopt, Inc. dba Comp-U-Dopt; Doris Keener dba DK High Steppers; Houston Center for Photography; Iconoclast Artists; The Knight School America, LLC; Irene Greaves dba Lovescaping, LLC; JFINTV Studios, LLC; The Timothy Project: Youth Mentoring Youth, Inc.; Victoria Gray dba Victory Group; A Yancy Life Transition Center; Felecia German dba German Consulting and Resources, LLC; MindRise Learning, LLC; Perfect Teamplay, Inc.; Victoria Gray dba Victory Group; Argus Talent, LLC; COGENT Infotech Corporation; Crystal Data, LLC; Infojini, Inc.; Insight Global, LLC; Labyrinth Solutions, Inc. dba LSI Consulting; Metova, Inc.; Robert Half International, Inc.; Sierra Digital, Inc.; Jill Hopson dba Star International; Halbrook & Miller, Inc. dba TM Television; Century Asphalt, Ltd.; Adventure Play Systems, Inc.; All Play, Inc.; AnythingWeather Communications, Inc.; Apollos Sunguard Systems, Inc.; BSN Sports, LLC; Everlast Climbing Industries, Inc. dba Colorado Time Systems; Facility Solutions Group, Inc.; Fun Abounds, Inc.; GameTime c/o Total Recreation Products, Inc.; Hendee Enterprises, Inc.; Hunter Knepshield of Texas, Inc.; K. Hanes, Inc. dba BJ’s Parks & Recreation Products; Kompan, Inc.; McKenna Contracting, Inc.; Palos Sports, Inc.; Playgrounds Today, Inc. dba PTI Sports & Recreation Construction; Romtec, Inc.; Soil Express, Ltd.; T. F. Harper & Associates, LP; The Play Well Group, Inc.; Bailey Bark Materials, Inc.; Morgan Livestock Equipment Sales, Inc.; Nasco Education, LLC; Priefert Mfg. Co., Inc.; W-W Manufacturing Co., Inc; ACL Services Ltd. dba Galvanize; Thomson Reuters dba West Publishing Corporation; Region 11 Education Service Center; Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC); Amaanah Refugee Services; DaVinci Maker Labs; EBSCO Sign Group, LLC dba Stewart Signs; Express Scripts, Inc.; Brinks Inc.

I.2 Donations for Districtwide and School-Specific Programs (S, L)

All donations greater than $5,000 must be approved by the HISD Board of Education.

Donors: Avenue Community Development Corporation; Discover Brighter Futures Fund via Goldman Sachs; HISD Foundation on behalf of Schlumberger; Hobby Center Foundation; Horn ES PTO; Hosuton Police Officers’ Union; HSPVA Friends; Khan Academy; North Tarrant Express Mobility Partners LLC; Oran Roberts ES PTO; Schlumberger.

I.3 Grant Funds in Support of Districtwide and School-Specific Programs (S, L)

All grant funds greater than $5,000 must be approved by the HISD Board of Education.

Grantors: Region 4 Education Service Center (Region 4); TEA; US Department of Education / New Teacher Center.

Other agenda items to be voted on during the meeting:

(A.1) Approval of personal services performed by the Superintendent.
(B.1) The Board must approve the 2018-2019 final Lone Star Governance Annual Board Evaluation.
(B.6) The Board must adopt the resolution to appoint Elizabeth Santos to the board of directors of the Harris County Appraisal District.
(F.1) The Board must authorize the interim superintendent to negotiate and execute an interlocal agreement with Houston Community College to offer dual credit to students.
(F.2) The Board must authorize the interim superintendent to negotiate and execute an interlocal agreement with San Jacinto Community College for dual-credit courses.
(I.4) The Board must approve the 2019 Certified Appraisal Roll and 2019 Calculated Tax Roll.
(I.5) The Board must approve the resolution and ordinance adopting early additional penalty on delinquent tangible personal property taxes on tax year 2019 and all subsequent tax years for HISD.
(I.6) The Board must approve the negotiation and execution of an interlocal agreement with the National Cooperative Purchasing Alliance Lead Agency Region 14 – Education Service Center.
(I.7) The Board must approve the negotiation and execution of an interlocal agreement with Sourcewell Lead Agency Region 14 – Education Service Center.
(I.8) The Board must approve the negotiation and execution of an interlocal agreement with Omnia Partners Lead Agency Region 4 – Education Service Center.
(L.2) The Board must participate in a discussion of the district’s Vaping Prevention Week (December 16-20, 2019).

What should be happening at the December board meeting?

1. Last June, the HISD Board had to convene for a last-minute special meeting to pass a budget for the 2019 – 2020 school year. In order to prevent another last-minute budget vote next summer, the HISD Board needs to collaboratively and collectively set its budget priorities so the administration can create a budget proposal based on those priorities. The HSID school board needs to map out their priorities and the process for creating the budget based on the LBB analysis of the various programs that were implemented last year.

2. The Houston ISD Board of Education should be editing the language and changes of their in-district charter agreements. If the policies are set at the beginning of the year, the Board should be able to accept charter agreements by the end of the calendar year and approve them in January, avoiding the potential of closing a school in April or May.

3. The HISD Board should terminate their legal actions against the TEA. The Board is using taxpayers’ dollars from unassigned funds, running HISD into a deeper deficit, to pay for their lawyers. So far, the Board has accrued a $147,409.12 bill for their lawyers, which ONLY covers April 2019 through August 2019.

4. The HISD Board should use the recommendations from the Legislative Budget Board (LBB) report to guide their budget priorities and governance for the upcoming school year.

5. The HISD Board should start looking into partnerships for HISD schools that may be Improvement Required (IR) in the following year.