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2011 Legislative Priorities
Leading up to and during the 2011 Texas Legislative Session, Plano ISD was poised in a position of hope that our legislators would continue to give us opportunities to participate in the conversation concerning budget reductions and deficits rather than suffer the consequences of uninformed decisions and mandates in the face of financial strife. We voiced concerns in Austin and wished to continue to be at the table to help determine where funding reductions will be made.
Plano ISD's priorities for the 2011 legislative session are published on this page below and in this presentation: 2011 Legislative Priorities  , and a legislative message from our Superintendent of Schools was published widely to the community.
Recommended 4X4 Graduation Plan
- Waive the state-mandated end-of-course exam upon successful completion of a local district-approved dual-credit course.
- Provide additional math and science courses that cater to student interests and satisfy graduation requirements.
Accountability
- Use multiple measures to determine academic growth.
- Campus and district ratings should be determined by multiple measurements, not just a single-event, high-stakes test.
- Consider reduced testing through the use of scientific random sampling or test all students every other year.
- Adopt the Public Education Visioning Institute’s “Supporting Premises” as a foundation to the Texas Accountability System.
School Finance
- Reduce the cost of state-wide testing by mandating only the assessment of programs that align with the federal No Child Left Behind requirements.
- Add an inflation index to current funding formulas.
- Give local school boards access of up to four cents taxing authority per biennium without calling for a rollback election.
- Oppose legislation that redirects tax dollars from public schools to non-public school programs.
- Return to districts, in an equitable manner, the tax dollars that are generated annually by state property value growth.
Local Control
- Interpret the class size (22:1 in grades K-4) mandate by using a campus or district average.
- Support principal training programs that focus on the acquisition of core competencies/skills as opposed to content-based seat time.
- Give local school districts the discretion to determine the school calendar start date.
- Students should be allowed to enroll in locally-developed courses in the Texas Virtual School Network.
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