Mike Falick's Blog

Spring Branch ISD Superintendent, Dr. Duncan Klussmann, Talks about State Funding and the Impact on Education in SBISD

In this informative talk, Spring Branch ISD's Superintendent, Dr. Duncan Klussmann, discusses the impact of the current State financing system and proposed State budget cuts on SBISD.

Volunteering in 2010

The Bureau of Labor Statistics has published interesting information about volunteering in the United States in 2010. Here are the stats in both text and graphic formats.

From September 2009 to September 2010, the volunteer rate declined by 0.5 percentage point to 26.3 percent. The volunteer rate of women decreased from 30.1 percent to 29.3 percent, while the volunteer rate for men was essentially unchanged at 23.2 percent.

In the year ending in September 2010, 35- to 44-year-olds were the most likely to volunteer (32.2 percent of the population). Persons aged 16 to 24 were the least likely to volunteer (18.4 percent). Married persons volunteered at a higher rate (32.0 percent) than did those who had never married (20.3 percent).

From September 2009 to September 2010, men and women tended to engage in different main activities for their main organization—the organization for which the volunteer worked the most hours during the year. Men who volunteered were most likely to engage in general labor (11.5 percent); coach, referee, or supervise sports teams (10.2 percent); or fundraise (9.3 percent). Female volunteers were most likely to fundraise (12.1 percent); tutor or teach (11.5 percent); or collect, prepare, distribute, or serve food (11.4 percent).

These data were collected through a supplement to the September 2010 Current Population Survey (CPS). For a variety of information on volunteering, see "Volunteering in the United States, 2010," (HTML) (PDF) news release, USDL 11-0084.

Click each chart below to access the chart's data.

What Happens in Austin Impacts All of Us: Spring Branch to Host Legislative Town Hall on February 24, 2011, at 6:00p

Spring Branch is hosting a Legislative Town Hall meeting on February 24, 2011, beginning at 6:00p in the Board Room at the Administration Building - 955 Campbell 77024.  Given the current anticipated budgetary issues, this meeting will be a great opportunity to share information, ask questions, and learn how best to work with our legislators to protect the education of students in Spring Branch.

Click here to RSVP.

Here is additional information from the SBISD website:

Don't miss our Legislative Town Hall on Feb. 24.

SBISD will host a special Legislative Town Hall meeting beginning at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 24. Please make sure to join us.

• Click here to RSVP for this event now >>

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Legislative 101 Training Session Video Recap

On Jan. 27, many SBISD parents and community members attended a Legislative 101 Training and Information Session held at the HISD Administration Building. SBISD was joined by HISD and both Spring and Cypress-Fairbanks ISDs for this important meeting. At the meeting, school districts and local residents focused on they can work together on student-related issues.

David Thompson, a partner in the law firm of Bracewell & Giuliani LLP and an expert in public school financing, told the group that Texas faces its worst budget crisis since World War II. He said that the impact on schools would be lessened if Legislators used a so-called Rainy Day Fund, a $9 billion emergency savings account, among other strategies and tactics.

• Visit HISD's site for more information: Legislative 101 Training and Information Session

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SBISD Legislative Priorities and Resources

SBISD has posted to its website a special document, titled Legislative Priorities for the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature. At the site link, you will find contacts for local Legislators and a district map detailing State House and Senate districts. Read more >>

Why should you care about the State Legislature and how its leadership impacts SBISD students? In 2005, state property taxpayers were told by the Texas Legislature that their property taxes would be lowered and that the funding loss to our schools would be made up through other taxes or revenue sources, including a new business or "margins" tax. That promise to make up for the funding loss has not been kept. The Texas Legislature must honor its commitment and restore this funding. Reductions proposed in Austin would equate to 15% of SBISD's current funding. This represents a reduction of about $800 per student from the current $5,700 per student allotment, or $20,000 per classroom. Pictured in another way, this is the equivalent of one full class period being eliminated from every student's school day. In 2006, the state froze school district revenue at the 2006 level. Since that time, in order to fund basic inflationary cost increases, including cost-of-living increases for our teachers, SBISD has made difficult non-campus reductions and used its savings to limit the direct effect on our classrooms. In fact, the current 2010-11 SBISD budget reflects reductions of more than $8 million to make ends meet. Unless the Legislature restores school funding, SBISD will no longer be able to keep the impact of yearly budget reductions away from its classrooms.

Our Priorities: Spring Branch ISD students will graduate from high school on time and go on to successfully complete a 2-year technical degree, or a 2-year associate's degree, or a 4-year bachelor's degree. To support this goal, the Legislature must: provide SBISD with a revenue stream that is predictable, takes into account inflationary costs, and is not less than the amount SBISD currently receives; exempt school districts from state mandates for which the Legislature has not appropriated funding sufficient to meet expenditures (for example, costs related to the 4X4 math/science requirement); restore the authority of elected school boards to raise funds locally without a tax-rate election, and eliminate the requirement that any of these additional funds be sent to the state (Robin Hood); return local control and responsibility over important issues, such as the school calendar, to elected school district trustees who are most accountable to the community on matters of public schools; and provide high-performing school districts like SBISD with autonomy and flexibility over their educational program.

Downloads:

• Legislative Priorities for the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature (pdf)
• Who Represents Me?
• Helpful Links
• SBISD Legislative Website

As the Texas Legislature continues to meet during the months ahead, reduced budgets and associated reductions will be more clearly defined. SBISD, in the meantime, will continue to communicate with Legislators and our community about what these cuts will mean to our students, our employees and the local community.

www.springbranchisd.com

Spring Branch to Make Up February 4 "Snow" Day on June 2, 2011

At the Board's February 14, 2011, meeting, we decided that the February 4 "snow" day will be made up on June 2, 2011. While I realize that this deviates from the Board's previously approved calendar for make-up days, it was the Administration's belief (which the Board supported) that using the February 21 date with such short notice would present a hardship for families, including those that have made college visit plans for the long weekend.

The new calendar can be found here.

TED Video of the Week: Diana Laufenberg: How to Learn from Mistakes

This week's TED Video of the Week is from Diane Laufenberg, whose talk is described on the TED website as follows:

Diana Laufenberg shares 3 surprising things she has learned about teaching -- including a key insight about learning from mistakes.

The Rise and Fall of Southern Democrats 1964 - Today

The Economist has created this interesting video that shows how the "old South" has gone from being overwhelmingly Democrat to overwhelmingly Republican since 1964. 

How Has Inflation Affected Prices Since You Were Born: This Handy Website Will Let You Know

I recently came across this website that will show you how much inflation has increased the prices of common items since the year you were born.  Simply enter your birth year in the box (as long as it was after 1950), and see how much prices have changed since.

Click on the image below, which shows inflation since my birth year, to go to the website.

Spring Branch Celebration of Sharing February 24: Celebrating the District's Partners, Donors, and Volunteers

On Thursday, February 24, 2011, Spring Branch will celebrate the tremendous contributions of its partners, donors, and volunteers with the 8th Annual Celebration of Sharing.  The event will take place at Memorial City Mall from 7:15a - 9:00a. 

If you are a District partner, donor, or volunteer, please try to join us to celebrate your contributions to the success of our students.

Click on the image below to RSVP.

Spring Branch ISD Announces Cancellation of Classes for Friday, February 4, 2011

From the Spring Branch ISD website:

2/3/2011 3:37:09 PM

Based on the National Weather Service Winter Storm Warning in effect until noon Friday, Spring Branch ISD schools will be closed on Friday, Feb. 4th.

All after-school activities and athletic events today and Friday are cancelled. Information about rescheduled athletic activities will be posted on the SBISD website as it becomes available.

Friday evening high school theatre productions are cancelled. Please check with the school theatre department box offices for updates about other weekend performance schedules and cancellations.

Looking ahead, the district student/staff holiday originally scheduled for Monday, Feb. 21, will remain a holiday. District administration will propose making June 2^nd the make-up day. Approval of this change to the school calendar will require action by the SBISD Board of Trustees.

The safety and security of all SBISD students and staff is of the greatest importance to us.

If needed, additional updates will be posted at www.springbranchisd.com.

Texas Tribune Creates App to Track Legislation

The Texas Tribune, a fantastic online news source, has created a first-of-its-kind online data-driven application that allows you to search and track legislation in the current legislative session.  As explained in detail (and video) below, the application allows you to search by category, bill number, author, caption, and description.  While the Texas Legislature's website allows for some of this functionality, the Texas Tribune's app is far more robust, and seems to be much easier to use.

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Search, Track Texas Legislation in 82nd Session

by Matt Stiles and Travis Swicegood
January 19, 2011

With the 82nd Legislative Session in only its second week, Texas lawmakers have already filed more than 900 bills — potential laws addressing hundreds of subjects ranging from abortion and immigration to health care and wrongful imprisonment.

Our latest data-driven application, released today, aims to help Texans make sense of the legislative process, tracking proposed pieces of legislation as they move through the Texas House and Senate during the next five months.

Users can search the bills by their assigned numbers, subject categories and captions, the short descriptions of each bill's intended purpose. Users can also search the bill by each author’s name. The application is also designed to put the data in context, giving users the ability to understand potential legislation in ways that traditionally would be used by reporters to write text stories.

The application, which will be updated early each morning, shows which lawmakers have filed the most bills and which subjects are the most popular. It also splits those figures out by political party and chamber.