- Plano Independent School District
- Legislative Priorities
-
Legislative Priorities
Every two years, the Plano ISD Board of Trustees compiles a list of Legislative Priorities that functions as guidelines for what types of policies the district will advocate for or against during the Legislative Session.
-
Priority #1
Safety & Security Expand Funding for Safety & Security, Including Student Mental Health & Wellness -
Priority #2
Recapture Address the Inequities of Recapture -
Priority #3
Funding Adequately Fund Schools -
Priority #4
Accountability Create Meaningful and Fair Assessments and Accountability Standards -
Priority #5
Local Control Preserve Local Control to Face Unique Needs of the Community
-
Priority #1 – Expand Funding for Safety & Security, Including Student Mental Health & Wellness
- Substantially increase school safety allotment with greater local control
- Provide a new allotment for mental health and wellness for students for prevention and early intervention
- Provide grant or state funding for infrastructure and capital projects based on local needs and local control to further harden school facilities
Priority #2 – Address the Inequities of Recapture
- All Revenue in Excess of Entitlement Funds should flow directly into the basic allotment
- Provide a discount for school districts that make their recapture payment early in the spring
- Property tax bills should transparently reflect the amount of local property taxes being paid to the State in the form of recapture
- All funds collected through recapture must be used to fund traditional public education
Priority #3 – Adequately Fund Schools
- Modify formulas to ensure greater equity in funding across districts, including:
- Increase the basic allotment, adjusted annually for inflation
- Base funding on student enrollment instead of percentage of attendance
- Reincorporate the Cost of Education Index to account for the cost-of-living differences between regions in the state
- Fully fund the Instructional Materials and Technology Allotment (IMA) that was recently reduced by approximately 60%
- Provide sufficient resources to attract and retain teachers including affordable healthcare and benefits
- Provide funding to promote growth in Texas’ teaching workforce, including alternative teacher certification programs to address the growing teacher shortage in Texas.
- Provide full funding and expanded opportunities for virtual education in traditional public schools that choose to offer it
- Adjust the weights from the State to better align with actual expenses
- Oppose any and all efforts to divert public funds into private uses
- Limit the expansion process of for-profit entities in public education and require transparency and standardization in charter school operations
- Fully fund all unfunded mandates
- Convert two copper (Tier II Level II) pennies to two golden (Tier II Level I) pennies
- Allow local discretion rather than state-mandated program percentages
- Fully fund the Teacher Retirement System with adjustments for inflation
- Ensure alignment between Advanced Placement (AP) and two-year college courses and four-year universities to ensure students can transfer credits
Priority #4 – Create Meaningful and Fair Assessments and Accountability Standards
- Advocate for an accountability system that does not lower a district’s overall rating for a single underperforming campus
- Support an accountability system that offers a fair assessment of school district performance and an accurate accounting of holistic school quality where periodic system changes do not have an immediate impact on a district’s accountability rating without a phase-in or hold harmless period and do not use accountability metrics for students no longer in the district.
- Expand indicators of achievement in the school accountability system to include recognition for advanced coursework, credit by examination, single and full-grade acceleration, and project-based learning opportunities
- Make modifications to HB 4545 to preserve intent but better apply necessary flexibility by:
- Districts should have the ability to monitor student progress and adjust instructional plans accordingly
- Students opting out of STAAR testing should have the opportunity to be reassessed at the beginning of the year to determine HB 4545 needs
- Advocate that the state student assessment program be limited to only those assessments required to meet ESSA (federal) requirements
- Oppose A – F campus and district ratings that oversimplify the complex work of schools and incentivize teaching to the test
Priority #5 – Preserve Local Control to Face Unique Needs of the Community
- Continue to encourage parental involvement in their children’s education
- Preserve the accountability and governance structure of locally elected school boards and administrations
- Continue to allow local control over local elections
- Preserve and expand District of Innovation flexibilities
-
Previous Legislative Priorities
87th Legislative Session
86th Legislative Session
85th Legislative Session