Message from the Superintendent of Katyisd about teacher lay-offs

Yes, I'm a terrible public speaker. haha.
CONTACT THE GOVERNOR:
http://governor.state.tx.us/contact/assistance.aspx

Dear Students,
Today, some of your peers decided to take a stand to have their voices heard in protest of teacher lay-offs. I understand that many of you are upset over losing great teachers, and I too feel the same frustration. This entire process has been one of the toughest challenges we've faced as a school district in recent years. Therefore, I want you -- our students -- to understand how we got here:

The State of Texas is facing an education budget shortfall of as much as $10 billion over the next two years. This means that school districts all over the state will not receive a significant amount of money. For Katy ISD, we're estimating a loss of approximately $50 million. However, by Texas law, we cannot reduce teacher pay to save jobs. And, by Texas law, we cannot use funds for new school buildings to pay teachers. This is why we have had to face the difficult task of cutting back on programs and laying-off staff members -- both teachers and administrators.

Texas law requires us to notify teachers of their job status at least 45 days before the last day of school. So, even though the state has not announced a final dollar amount that will be cut from our schools, we are forced to make difficult staffing decisions before April 19. This deadline is what drove the announcements this week. These layoffs are necessitated by the projected shortfall in state financial support-not due to job performance. My hope is that the state does not cut as much as is currently projected, allowing us to hire some of these great teachers back.

Our goal is to spread the cuts as much as possible so as to not severely impact the classroom, classroom support, student learning experiences and other services that have made Katy ISD one of the top school districts in our nation.
You are Katy ISD, and I admire you for wanting to have your voice heard -- and for caring about our great teachers. We are continuing to work hard to balance this situation, and I ask that you be respectful of your teachers and your principals as this time is very difficult for all of us.

Please stay focused on your academics and finish strong in this last stretch of the 2011 school year.

Sincerely,

Alton Frailey
Superintendent of Schools

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• cinco
• katy
• morton
• studentprotest

[LUNAPOLICE]

lol education in texas. i feel sorry for the normal people

[MikFosterIsMe]

It's awesome that people are walking out of school to actually take a stand against it!

[Jeloz8]

S.t.e.p

[dOUbleTrix]

@MikFosterIsMe You are an idiot. Why blame everything on Obama? He had nothing to do with this. If you actually gave an attempt to read what's happening, the state has a rainy day fund that can be used to save our teachers, but they are not touching the fund. This type of matter is in the decision of the governor of Texas.

[dOUbleTrix]

He never mentioned the 20% salary increase and bonuses he earned did he? I believe you can take this matter to the state, to get permission to use the building budget to pay teachers. KATY ISD has an extra budget and they do not want to use it because they want to use the RAINY-DAY FUND budget from the state.

[whatsupinthenews]

What is pathetic is that Kashmere HS was placed on lock down when they tried to walk out over THEIR CAREER PROGRAMS BEING CUT.

[1971texas]

There is one non-teacher for every teacher and the decisions on where to spend the money the districts do receive, and whether to hire or fire teachers, are made by administrators.

[1971texas]

Katy ISD plays politics with teachers and students

Teachers earn on average between $12,500 - $58,000 LESS than non-teaching staff.

Katy Superintendent Alton Frailey earns more than five times the average teachers’ salary -- $280,000 base salary (not including benefits and perks). Frailey earns almost twice what the Governor of Texas makes