Schools are a community asset under assault

Excitement in our neighborhood:  a house sold recently after a bidding war-- shows the truth of my father-in-law's #1 rule of real estate: "choose a home based on three things: location, location and location".  


Of course, the winning bidder has school aged children.  That, after all, is the reason the vast majority of people move here.  As I get older I do see more older people moving to the Katy area, but when I dig deeper into why they moved here, the conversation usually rolls around to their grandchildren in KISD!  


The value of our homes is greater than in other areas because people move here for the schools.  Katy ISD has been a "destination district" for many years because we as a community have made schools a high priority.  But our community has also demanded fiscal responsibility, and this district has been a good steward of our tax dollars, giving us "bang for our bucks".  


This is proven by the many awards Katy ISD has racked up for fiscal responsibility.  At last week's school board meeting, the district recognized the financial department for once again earning a Texas Comptroller's Gold Leadership Circle award for "setting the bar for transparency efforts".  In recent months, they have also received the Financial Allocation Study for Texas for "Honors Circle" rating, which recognizes school districts that have achieved significant student academic growth while keeping spending relatively low.  (And to those who poo-poo these awards as being something every district can get, think again.   Only 35 ISDs (out of 1029) earned the accolade.)  For the last 9 years, Katy ISD has also earned "Superior Achievement" from the TEA for the Financial Integrity Rating System of Texas.  The purpose of the FIRST system is to ensure that school districts are held accountable for the quality of their financial management practices and achieve improved performance in the management of their financial resources, and to encourage districts to manage their financial resources in order to provide the maximum allocation possible for direct instructional purposes.

Nota bene:  These accolades take a year or two to get to the "presses", so these awards are based on, at best, 2010 data.  The changes the district has seen over the last year with the election of 3 new board members, two of whom seem to have the sole agenda of tearing down the district, is yet to be seen.  The District is at a crossroads, and the election in May 2012 will be all about deciding what kind of district we want to live in:  one that people flock to because of a student-centered outlook that focuses on increased academic achievement, or one that focuses on the theatrical exercise that is foment for foment's sake.