SAISD Cuts Ties With Non-Profit ‘Tri-Point’
Hello SAISD Parents and San Antonio Community Members,
This week, I am sure you have seen many stories in the news dealing with some of our SAISD schools having to terminate their contracts with non-profits due to some employees not following the guidelines set by SB 1882. SAISD used SB1882 to help some of their schools partner with nonprofits to obtain more funding for a school. The bill was passed during the 2017 legislation, and it has helped many districts across Texas allowing them to create a partnership with non-profits so they could access extra funds for better resources and pay for their teachers. But this bill, like others, has guidelines that must be followed. When the district was told of a couple of employees that were working for their school while working for a new “micro-school” called “Tripoint” it began an investigation. After looking more into the intricacies it was found that Dr. Megan Correia, who was teaching 6th-grade math and science at Lamar Elementary, is the founder of “Tripoint,” which opened this past summer. So, due to her actions at Lamar Elementary, SAISD had to cut ties with their nonprofit, the School Innovation Collaborative.
The non-profit Trustees have denied wrongdoing and have set up a meeting for this coming Friday to approve the final termination. This non-profit is also partnered with Bowden Academy, Gates Elementary and Cameron Elementary for now they have all terminated their contracts with these schools. Parents, know that if you have any children that attend these schools SAISD will take over and they will stay opened for now. The bad news is that due to the loss of this partnership these schools will lose many of their resources and possibly teachers all due to the lack of funding. Then as all of you are aware that SAISD is in the process of “rightsizing” their schools which is due to a loss of students but know in November the board will be voting on which schools will stay open or close.
Now, let’s go over school funding or lack of funding in public schools in Texas. We know a special session to review HB100, which covers public school funding and vouchers, will be coming soon. The idea that our Governor can make quick decisions when it comes to border control and finds the money to fund the buses to take migrant to other states and build fences with razor wire along with using our troops is all done to protect us, but who’s going to protect our children when we lose schools and teachers. Due to the lack of funding some school districts are refusing to pay their recapture funds because they need them to help fund their schools. Let me explain what the recapture process is when certain districts send some of their local property-tax revenue to the state. It’s often referred to as the Robin Hood process because the intent of recapture is to help all school districts have roughly similar amounts of money to spend per child. If some of these school districts have already refused to pay that means that more schools will see a loss of funding. It seems that our politicians are changing the way they fund our local community colleges due to HB8. The state will be going over how many students obtain a certification along with how many transfers to a four-year university. So, now we must make sure our that our children will have a local community college. It seems that Texas politicians want all public schools to close their doors.
Moving forward last year they passed HB4545 which made certain requirements on providing accelerated instruction for any child that didn’t pass their STAAR’S tests in 3rd-8th grade. Mike Morath, the head of TEA, said that HB 4545 really didn’t help at all so now we have HB 1416. The first change is the student to tutor ratio has changed from three to four students. Then per TEA a tutor can be a paraprofessional or teacher candidate. Tutoring will be limited to two subjects, and districts must prioritize math and reading. Schools are required to create an accelerated education plan for each student who fails to achieve “approaches or higher” on two consecutive assessments in the same subject area. The schools will no longer need an Accelerated Learning Committees for each student. The new hours to be provided is 15 to 30 hours of accelerated instruction for each student over the course of the school year. If a student who fails into the “Low Does Not Meet” category of STAAR performance and for any students who failed a third-grade test in the previous school year will require 30 hours of accelerated instruction. So, students whose current subject-area teacher is designated as part of the Teacher Incentive Allotment program do not have to take part in accelerated instruction. Furthermore, students who take STAAR-Alt 2, are held back a grade, or take substitute high school assessments aren’t subject to requirements. Parents, HB1416 allows you to remove your child from this tutoring by sending a letter to your child’s campus administrator. The new law states that parents must be notified if your child didn’t perform at grade level. Parents, these are your new rights but please talk to your child’s teacher before making any decisions. Teachers I hope this new information will help all of you.
Lastly, know that Mike Morath hasn’t released the schools grades in Texas but plans to do it next month after the special session on funding.
If anyone has questions or concerns please email me at lena.lopez@saobserver.com
Have a Blessed Week,
Lena Lopez
