Spring Branch ISD Featured News

As I have shared recently, several weeks ago the House passed House Bill 2 (HB 2), their version of a public school funding bill, and sent it to the Senate.   

HB 2, valued at $8.1 billion, provides among other priorities, a significant increase of $395 per student to the basic allotment, which would help address inflationary costs incurred since 2019. 

Today, the Senate Education K-12 Committee will hold a hearing on their version of HB 2. 

While we appreciate the House and Senate working toward funding for Texas public school districts, the Senate version of HB 2 (CSHB 2) is of concern due to the lack of flexibility for districts to leverage the funding in the ways most needed. The CSHB 2 proposed increase in the basic allotment is just $55 per student, which limits the impact on our bottom line. 

At this point, we have not seen the CSHB 2 language, so we do not know what the potential impact would be for SBISD.

What we do know is that the inflationary impacts districts like SBISD have faced over the past six years are not yet fully addressed. The allocated funds in CSHB 2 are very targeted with little flexibility for school districts. 

As a reminder, despite $35 million in budget reductions made last year, due to lack of new funding since 2019, SBISD continues to operate under a deficit budget. I encourage you to watch the Board workshop budget presentation (Agenda Item 7.B) given by Associate Superintendent for Finance Christine Porter on Monday evening. 

While any new funding is welcomed and appreciated, SBISD will continue to face pressure on our bottom line and will need to focus on continuing to move toward a balanced budget for the future. 

Assessment and Accountability Reform

Yesterday, by a historic vote of 143 to 1, the Texas House passed House Bill 4 (HB 4). This bill would replace the STAAR test for grades 3- 8 with a nationally norm-referenced model the state and districts would use for monitoring student learning through beginning-, middle-and end-of-year testing for math, reading and science. It would also reduce the number of high school STAAR End-of-Course assessments. 

The proposed model will now move to the Senate, which has its own version of legislation to replace the STAAR test. In both models, accountability remains a priority. We will continue to monitor this legislation as well.

Lastly, while we continue to monitor these important bills, we also are monitoring several additional bills that may affect bond and board election dates. 

We appreciate your continued outreach to our elected officials. We will always keep our priority on your children as our bottom line. 

Jennifer Blaine, Ed.D.

Superintendent of Schools