Keller ISD Families,

The Keller ISD Board of Trustees held its monthly Regular Meeting on Monday and took action to advocate for an accountability system that reflects the genuine hard work of our students and teachers.

Keller ISD now joins more than 95 school districts across the state in litigation challenging the Texas Education Agencies (TEA) failure to provide Texas school districts with advanced notice of the measures, methods, and procedures to be used in assigning A-F school grades for the 2022-23 and 2023-24 school year.

Our district supports high academic standards, but students and staff need to know what those standards are prior to taking the state standardized tests. Retroactively applying the new standards to last year’s data and changing the assessment system without giving our educators notice before the school year starts on what the new standards are creates a situation that undermines classroom success.

The Board and District also celebrated a number of district-wide achievements, including students, staff and PTA from Lone Star Elementary who helped organize a recent Patriot Day Program and Timber Creek sophomore Dre Parker, who recently won a national championship in archery.

We also recognized our September Heart at Work Employee of the Month Shannon Phipps from Friendship Elementary, and September Innovative Teacher Inspiring Students (or IT’S) Award winners, Lindsey Potocki and Haley Noyes from KISD Early Learning Center South.

The Board and District also received several important updates, including the Big Event, which is a district-wide service day coming up on April 6, 2024, and a report from the Keller Youth Association on the amazing work they do for our students and their upcoming 50th year anniversary celebration on Saturday.

Keller ISD Safety and Security Director Michael Hoffman shared how his team is maintaining a secure environment through principles of access control, physical, security, training and programs, and working with city partners to increase police presence.

The final report presented to the Board involved the District’s STAAR and EOC results from last spring. The results show that Keller ISD continues to exceed state averages anywhere from about 7% to 25%, depending on content area. The District saw most improvement in Math, Reading Language Arts, and Social Studies, with student performance approaching pre-pandemic levels. Science remains an area we need to improve in, and the Board and District are looking at opportunities to expand STEAM programing district wide.

Lastly, the Board, at a special board meeting earlier this month, passed a resolution highlighting the need for increased transparency and accountability in recapture (i.e., Robin Hood), which has taken needed revenue of about $2.5 million out of our District. This resolution is part of the Board and District’s larger discussion about increasing school funding and making sure school tax revenue is spent on schools.

Related to recapture, Governor Abbott has called for a special session to address school funding in October. The Board and District encourage Keller ISD families and employees to start reaching out to state lawmakers representing Keller ISD to support increasing the basic allotment.

State legislators representing Keller ISD include:

Senator Kelly Hancock (Dist. 9) 
kelly.hancock@senate.texas.gov
512-463-0109

Representative Stephanie Klick (Dist. 91) 
stephanie.klick@house.texas.gov
512-463-0599

Representative Nate Schatzline (Dist. 93) 
nate.schatzline@house.texas.gov
512-463-0562

Representative Giovanni Capriglione (Dist. 98) 
giovanni.capriglione@house.texas.gov
512-463-0690

More information regarding the need for school funding, the Board and District legislative priorities, and Board resolutions on increasing school funding and recapture accountability can be found on the KellerISD.net Legislative Updates page.

Finally, as a friendly reminder, Keller ISD campuses will be closed October 9-13 for Fall Break, and we wish all of our students and families a safe and relaxing week off. 

Sincerely,

Dr. Charles Randklev
President
Keller ISD Board of Trustees 

John Allison 
Interim Superintendent
Keller ISD