81st Legislative Concerns

81st Legislature

Pending Legislation Concerns

There are several proposed bills that I would like to commit on as a member of your district.

HB3646/SB2392

It is encouraging to know that the 81st Legislature is going to tackle the issue of School Finance in this session. Many schools, including White Oak ISD, are on the verge of severe financial hardships and other are already there. That being said, I am very concerned with the legislation proposed in Rep. Hochberg’s bill and Sen. Shapiro’s bill. Both seem to advocate business as usual to some degree with SB2392 being the biggest offender. Continuing any form of funding that relates back to 2005 levels is a continuation of the “Hold Harmless” practices that put us in the poor position we are in today. Creating complicated formulas and using ADA as opposed to WADA for the purpose of determining values is not the answer. Introducing legislation with blank lines were monetary values should be is not acceptable for presenting a plan to better fund our public schools. WOISD is opposed to HB3646/SB2392.

HB1555/SB982 provide a much better solution to the problems faced by all schools and develop a plan that will successfully provide a quality education to all students. WOISD supports HB1555/SB982.

HB 151/SB158

This proposed legislation would require school district to inform parents that there is not a nurse assigned to the campus attended by their student. It is not required by law for schools to have one nurse per campus and in the case of White Oak ISD it would be financially irresponsible. All four of our campuses are walking distance from each other and the two nurses we employ are readily available for all of our students. It does not make since to require a district to notify parents of a situation that is not out of compliance with state law. WOISD is opposed to HB151/SB158

HB4191/SB503

I find no up side to this proposed legislation. Publishing the names of potential superintendent candidates will only result in a weaker pool of applicants which will result in less than the best possible leadership for the district. Recently there were published commits that stated the public’s right to know was more important than any worries about candidates not applying for an open position. This could not be further from the truth. The single most important goal of any school board looking for a new leader should be to find the very best person for the job. This legislation will prevent that from being possible. Quality leaders will not risk damage to the relationship they have with current board members just to apply for another position. It is not in the best interest of the students, staff, faculty or community as a whole to put this legislation into practice. WOISD is opposed to HB4191/SB503.