NISD family,
In my reading recently I found a series of articles that have made me think and reflect on our process of education. I feel a need to share these with you. They are not long and will only take a few minutes to read. I hope that you will take the time.
This is an article entitled
"One Kid at a Time" and is published in
Educational Leadership by ASCD. Please take the time to read the article and reflect. If you have opinions share them with a campus administrator or you department head. You can also comment on this blog.
Educational Leadership Online Publication
This may be the busiest week of the year so far as we get ready to welcome a number of visitors to town Friday night and welcome home our Rattler football team after a four-game road schedule to start the season. The Bryan Rudder Rangers and their fans will be coming for the first district 24-AAA game of the year. Fox Sports Southwest will be in town to do a feature on the game between the Rattlers and the Rangers as part of their DQ Big Game of the Week series. The Fox Sports crew will be doing some filming around town and will be at Dairy Queen between 4:00 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. Friday. They will feature Friday night’s game and the surrounding activities on their Fox Sports Southwest weekend shows, “High School Scoreboard Live”, which airs at midnight Friday and again at 9:00 a.m. Saturday, and “High School Spotlight” which airs at 11:30 a.m. Sunday morning.
Homecoming activities will start early as Navasota ISD encourages all the Rattler Backers to arrive early and have some tailgating action at Rattler Stadium. Please pick up trash from your tailgating, and remember this is a public school so no alcoholic beverages. We will have activities for Homecoming before the game and at halftime as we try to recognize all of our students and the hard work they put into their performances. Please come out and support all of our students Friday night, and Go Rattlers!
Hispanic Heritage Month began this week. September 15 marks the anniversary of independence for five Latin American countries - Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Mexico recognizes its independence September 16 and Chile on September 18. The term Hispanic, as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau, refers to Spanish-speaking people in the United States of any race. On the 2000 national census form, people of Spanish/Hispanic/Latino origin could identify themselves as Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, or "other Spanish/Hispanic/Latino." More than 35 million people identified themselves as Hispanic or Latino on the 2000 Census.
From now through October 15, we need to reflect on the diversity of our community, develop an understanding of those things that make us different, and embrace the various perspectives as they make us a richer community.
I had the opportunity to attend the Navasota High School National Honor Society induction ceremony recently. There were 41 students inducted this time around. That was awesome. Those 41 are outstanding examples of the quality of students in Navasota schools. As I go over the list, I recognize most every name as someone who is involved in more than one school related activity outside of their academics. As a group, they were representative of the diversity of the student body of our high school. Each of them is a leader, and I’m proud to be associated with a school district that has the opportunity to work with young people of that caliber.
Navasota ISD’s overall tax rate will go down three cents for the upcoming school year. Last year the tax rate for the district’s maintenance and operations was $1.04 on $100 of value. For this year, that rate will stay the same. The other part of the tax is to cover the debt payments for the district. That portion is referred to as interest and sinking or I&S. Those are the monies that cover our loans. Last year that rate was 22 cents this year it will be 19 cents. When the respective numbers are added together the overall tax rate drops from $1.26 to $1.23. The comptroller’s office in Austin will make us state it in their language, however, and it will not sound quite the same. The comptroller’s office and state laws require that we make a statement about a tax increase even though the school tax rate will be three cents less. The following statement is the wording of the motion required to pass the tax rate.
"I move that the property tax rate be increased by the adoption of a tax rate $1.2362, which is effectively a 4.43 percentage increase in the tax rate."
The effective tax rate is the result of a statutory calculation that makes adjustments in the previous year's tax levy, makes adjustments in the current year’s valuations and then divides the adjusted tax levy by the adjusted valuation to arrive at the effective tax rate. The effective tax rate, taking into account all of the adjustments, is that rate which would produce approximately the same amount of taxes if applied to the same properties taxed in both the previous and current year. Keep in mind that the term "the same amount of taxes" refers to a comparison of formula driven numbers rather than a comparison of actual tax levies.
This year's effective tax rate is $1.1837/$100. The actual tax rate that is being proposed is $1.2362 which represents a 4.43 percent increase over the effective tax rate and is the percentage increase that should be reflected in the motion to adopt the tax rate. Even though the school district's proposed tax rate of $1.2362 represents a reduction of about 2.49 percent from last year's actual tax rate of $1.2677/$100, use of the above bold-faced wording is still required by law.
How will this raise more revenue? How can the tax rate be effectively raised by 7.10 percent and not raise the taxes on a $100,000 home? What has happened is that NISD gets a slight benefit of the economic slowdown. There was an overall increase of 11 percent in total appraised value for property in NISD. Almost all of this increase was found at the industrial park. The increased value was not in buildings but inventory. When the economy on the global scale was moving rapidly, our local manufacturers had orders that were being shipped as fast as they could make the product to the point there was a back log of orders that were needed in places around the world. At present, with the downturn in the economy, specifically drilling for oil, the need for the equipment on site is not there and as these orders are manufactured they are moved to holding yards and sit until the company that ordered them has a place to ship the order. So in a nutshell, if the inventory is sitting in Navasota, it is appraised for value and taxed, even if the bill is sent to New York City. That is where the 11 percent increase in appraised value comes from. That tax on the orders of companies outside NISD is why our tax rate gets to go down.
These increases in values are not something the district can count on for the long term. In most ways as a district, we must look at the down-the-road effects. Down the road, the short road, there could be a drop just as big as this year’s jump. For those of you over 65 it would be much like the “doughnut hole” in Medicaid insurance policies. That makes us even more conservative in our budgeting, so that we will be able to survive the uncertain future of funding in school finance. The state use of the federal stimulus dollars for the next two years in schools has placed districts across the state in a precarious position of sitting on a “funding cliff” in two years - dependent on the federal government.
See Navasota ISD Financial Services for the 2010 Adopted Budget and a letter of clarification of the tax rate from the Grimes County Appraisal District.
I would like to say thank you for being a part of the NISD community. I begin my fourth year in Navasota with a new role, and I am honored and humbled that the Board of Trustees has given me the opportunity to serve the students of Navasota ISD as interim superintendent. The Board is in the process of determining what course of action to take in selecting a new Superintendent of Schools for Navasota ISD. I appreciate the kind words of support from community members and would like to encourage our faculty and staff during this transition to focus not on who is sitting in any given position but on the students sitting in the desks in our classrooms.
Part of our mission as a district is to partner with the students, parents and community to create an environment in which every student strives for excellence in education. We have made great strides in technology during the last year, and we will continue to work to bring innovative instruction into our classrooms. We want to provide a nurturing environment in which our students can grow, develop and represent our schools and community in the best way possible now and in the future.
I am honored to serve this district and this community. Thank you for letting us work for you in providing educational opportunities for your students. We invite you to participate in district activities and become an active participant in the education of our youth. Please join with us in our commitment to develop an atmosphere that focuses on Learning…Leading…Succeeding.
I have been known to talk about the fact that we have good students here in NISD. I can be quoted as having said that “…we have good kids. There are a few knuckleheads but we really have good kids.” I guess I need to define what I mean by that statement. I grew up in West Texas and remember a sign on I-20 West just outside of Stanton that read “Home of 3000 Friendly People and a Few Old Soreheads.” This wording spoke to me as a community that understands it was not perfect but it would work through its flaws together. I know I could choose another term than “knuckleheads” and be more politically correct. I believe we have students that have the potential and capability to achieve great things. What they need is support and opportunity. While their teachers will do their best to help them to be successful, our students must feel the support of the entire community in their various activities.
I am not only an employee of the district, I am a parent of two students. I will tell you that lessons learned in the schools of Navasota cannot be duplicated in many places. I want my children to be able to be part of the world when they grow up, and the modern world is a diverse place. The diversity of our schools is a blessing because our students are exposed to people who are different and find out through the process of school that we are all human and have good qualities and bad qualities.
Our schools are of the best size possible in my opinion. I have worked in districts of 600 students K-12 and districts of 20,000 students K-12. Here, we are small enough that kids can be known as individuals but there are enough to provide competition to push each other to perform. Where else in the Brazos Valley can a high school student be a four-year letterman in football, have a role in the one-act play, take part in regional academics, and play an instrument for the school band? Where else can a student compete in the science fair, take dual-credit classes, be a dance team officer and participate in academic competitions?
It happens here all the time!
WE HAVE GREAT KIDS! WE HAVE GREAT PROGRAMS! WE HAVE GREAT TEACHERS!