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McKinney Independent School District Redistribution of Students

McKinney Independent School District Redistribution of Students. A Report to the Board of Trustees February 19, 2008. History of Secondary Zoning in MISD. In 1995, when Dowell Middle School opened – second middle school in MISD

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McKinney Independent School District Redistribution of Students

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  1. McKinney Independent School District Redistribution of Students A Report to the Board of Trustees February 19, 2008

  2. History of Secondary Zoning in MISD • In 1995, when Dowell Middle School opened – second middle school in MISD • Decision to prevent the district from becoming an “east vs. west” district • Socio-Economic diversity was one of the goals of the zoning for Dowell Middle School • Determined to be legal since race and ethnicity were not used

  3. History of Zoning Continued • Practice of providing socio-economic balance has continued in the secondary schools since that time • As MISD has become larger, it is more difficult to provide complete balance • Current recommendation uses socio-economic diversity as one of the criteria, but not necessarily the most important

  4. Redistribution For Socio-Economic Balance • Almost complete balance for socio- economics: • Cockrill 25% • Dowell 22% • Evans 25% • Faubion 27% • Scott Johnson 21%

  5. Redistribution For Socio-Economic Balance Problems: Enrollment vs. Capacity at Scott Johnson and Dowell within 3 years Evans underutilized Map is extremely disjointed

  6. Redistribution for Geographic Balance • Socio-Economic Diversity Unevenly Distributed • Cockrill – 11% • Dowell – 4% • Evans – 10% • Faubion – 57% • Scott Johnson – 42%

  7. Redistribution for Geographic Balance • Problems: • 2 Campuses (Faubion and Scott Johnson) over 40% Economically Disadvantaged • Enrollment vs. capacity at Dowell in year two • With fewer buses, increased traffic at drop off and pick up times

  8. Geographic Zoning • What are the hidden costs of a strictly geographic map? • Additional staffing • The current pupil to teacher staffing ratios at the 4 Middle School Campuses are as follows: • Dowell 18.49 to 1 • Evans 18.43 to 1 • Faubion 17.41 to 1 • Johnson 18.00 to 1

  9. Geographic Zoning • What are the hidden costs of a strictly geographic map? (Continued) • If Johnson and Faubion become Title I campuses, then the staffing ratios would change due to adding additional staff. • The ratios would look something like this: • Cockrill 18.00 to 1 • Dowell 18.00 to 1 • Evans 18.00 to 1 • Faubion 16.00 to 1 • Johnson 16.00 to 1

  10. Geographic Zoning • What are the hidden costs of a strictly geographic map? (Continued) • The additional teaching staff would cost the district an estimated $900,000 the first year and would grow as the campuses grew if they remain as Title I campuses • There would also be a need to add administrative, counseling, and paraprofessional staff bringing the total to approximately $1,200,000

  11. Geographic Zoning • What are the hidden costs of a strictly geographic map? (Continued) • If Faubion and Johnson both become Title I campuses and the pupil/teacher ratios are reduced as they are in the elementary schools, then the capacities of the campuses would also be reduced thereby necessitating moving more students out of those campuses

  12. Questions/Comments from the Public • Would MISD receive more Federal money if SJMS and FMS were Title I? • No, the amount of money we receive would not change, we would have to take some of the money away from the elementary schools and distribute it to the middle schools

  13. What this recommendation accomplishes: • An increase in geographical proximity to the middle schools compared to our current zoning • All five (5) middle school have socio-economic diversity • Allows for continued growth at Scott Johnson Middle School

  14. What this recommendation accomplishes: • If the growth projections remain as accurate as in the past, there will not need to be any additional redistribution of middle schools for the next 5 years • Faubion, Evans, Dowell and Scott Johnson all receive some capacity relief

  15. Questions/Comments from the Public • This method of zoning schools is not legal. • Supreme Court decision in Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School Dist. No. 1, 127 S.Ct. 2738 (2007) • Seemed to create issues and raise questions with regard to school district attempts to achieve racial equity • However ….

  16. Questions/Comments from the Public • This method of zoning schools is not legal. (Continued) • Justice Anthony M. Kennedy’s separate concurrence, along with four other members of the Court constituting a majority, recognized that: • “diversity (other than racial equity/diversity) as an educational goal remains a compelling government interest” • Justice Kennedy found that “diversity, therefore, remains a recognizable goal that can be achieved through a variety of measures including school site selection, magnet programs, and attendance zones.”

  17. Questions/Comments from the Public • This method of zoning schools is not legal. (Continued) • Race has not been, and will not be, a factor in the McKinney ISD’s attendance zoning. Socio- economic diversity, which necessarily involves all groups, is one of the criteria for McKinney ISD’s zoning decisions

  18. Questions/Comments from the Public • What criteria were used to determine these attendance zones? • Provide relief for campuses that have outgrown their capacity • Maximize the utilization of the middle school campuses • Extend the time as far as possible before future redistribution of middle school students will need to occur

  19. Questions/Comments from the Public • What criteria were used to determine these attendance zones? • Minimize whenever possible the split feeder pattern from elementary school to middle school • Provide socio-economic diversity at all of the middle school campuses • Increase the geographical proximity to a closely located middle school where possible • Who came up with these criteria? • The administration and the Board

  20. Questions/Comments from the Public • Why are students being bused all over the district? • Students will be bused no matter how we zone the schools because there are 109 square miles within the McKinney ISD boundaries • According to statistics, only 45% of that square mileage has been developed at this time, therefore there are not schools close to all of our population

  21. Questions/Comments from the Public • This method of zoning hurts students being involved in extra-curricular activities. • From 2004-05 to 2006-07 the number of middle school students in athletics grew 18.9% while the overall enrollment increased 14.5% • During the same years, the number of high school students involved in athletics grew 46.3% while the enrollment increased 14.5% • The number of students enrolled in Middle School Fine Arts has grown 30% over the past 3 years. • The number of students in orchestra has grown 329% during the same time period.

  22. Questions/Comments from the Public • This method of zoning prevents students from receiving tutoring after school. • MISD provides 23 tutorial buses for after school tutoring. • SJMS has 2 tutorial buses • DMS has 4 tutorial buses • EMS has 2 tutorial buses • FMS has 1 tutorial bus • MHS has 1 tutorial bus • MNHS has 1 tutorial bus • MBHS has 1 tutorial bus • There are 11 elementary tutorial buses at 5 elementary schools

  23. Questions/Comments from the Public • Why can’t Walker students go to Cockrill? • The Walker students currently attend Faubion and in this recommendation, they are not being moved • If we move Walker into Cockrill, someone will need to move out with enough students to allow for the growth at Cockrill • If we move Walker out of Faubion, we will have to move someone into Faubion with enough students to replace the number of Walker students

  24. Questions/Comments from the Public • You can’t force students to accept the diversity. • This is true, however, we also can’t force the students to learn in the classrooms. What we can do is expose them to education and inspire them to study and learn. The same can be said for the benefits of learning from students from different socio-economic backgrounds.

  25. MISD Compared to Districts with at least 15,000 students and 18% to 32% Economically Disadvantaged

  26. MISD Compared to Districts with at least 15,000 students and 18 to 32% Economically Disadvantaged

  27. MISD Compared to Districts with at least 15,000 students and 18% to 32% Economically Disadvantaged

  28. MISD vs. State

  29. MISD vs. State

  30. Questions/Comments from the Public • There is absolutely no evidence showing that this works. • In the book All Together Now: Creating Middle Class Schools thru Public School Choice by Richard Kahlenberg it states, “The data clearly shows that the economically disadvantaged students benefit from attending middle-class schools and that in middle-class schools peers are more motivated, parents more powerful and teachers more qualified.”

  31. Questions/Comments from the Public • There is absolutely no evidence showing that this works. (Continued) • It has also been shown in a study by the Department of Education that economically disadvantaged students attending middle-class schools perform better, on average, than middle-class students attending high poverty schools.

  32. Questions/Comments from the Public • There is absolutely no evidence showing that this works. (Continued) • The Century Foundation Task Force on the Common School in their report Divided We Fail indicates, “We recommend that federal, state and local governments adopt a policy goal of giving every child in America the opportunity to attend an economically integrated school. Every education policy decision, from the funding of multibillion dollar federal programs, to deciding where to draw a school boundary line, should seriously weigh whether the action will promote or hinder the central goal of economically integrated schools.”

  33. Retention of Experienced Teachers • Are there salary gaps between teachers in schools with a high percentage of economically disadvantaged students vs. those with a low percentage of economically disadvantaged students in districts that zone geographically? • Arlington -- $3,070 • Austin -- $3,010 • Dallas -- $424 • Fort Worth -- $1,666 • Houston -- $1,047

  34. Retention of Experienced Teachers • Why the difference? • Education Trust has found that students in schools with a high percentage of economically disadvantaged students are likely to get the least experienced and less successful teachers. • When new schools are opened the more experienced and more successful teachers apply for transfers to the less challenging schools.

  35. Retention of Experienced Teachers • What is the difference in the average salaries in the McKinney ISD middle schools? • Faubion MS -- $44,483 • Dowell MS -- $44,177 • Johnson MS -- $44,625 • Evans MS -- $43,929 • Difference Highest to lowest -- $696

  36. Questions/Comments from the Public • The Walker students are the only students from Faubion Middle School who then go to McKinney Boyd High School. • This is not accurate. There are students from both Burks and Caldwell Elementary Schools who attend Faubion Middle School and then advance to McKinney Boyd High School • It is a lot farther for the Walker students to go to Faubion than it is for them to go to Cockrill. • It is 1.4 miles farther to Faubion than to Cockrill. This takes approximately 5 minutes extra time.

  37. Questions/Comments from the PublicThis increases the travel time on the bus.

  38. Questions/Comments from the Public • You are increasing the environmental impact and traffic congestion by busing students across the district. • Logically there is less traffic congestion and less environmental impact of operating a bus than when 30 to 60 parents drive their children to school • If you go to one of our elementary schools at pick up time, you will see that even with neighborhood schools MANY of our parents do not even allow their children to walk to elementary school

  39. Questions/Comments from the Public • There will be more buses added with this zoning proposal. • Number of Middle School buses in 2007-08 • 54 • Estimated number of Middle School buses for 2008-09 • 55 • Adding a Middle School and estimated to only add one bus route

  40. Questions/Comments from the Public • Why can’t you guys get this right? Why do we have to keep rezoning? • If we were to quit growing, we would not have to build new schools and we would not have to assign students to attend the new schools • As long as we keep growing, we will have to build new schools and continue to rezone

  41. Questions/Comments from the Public • What is the added cost of transportation for the recommended map vs. a geographically oriented map? • It is estimated to add an additional $480,000 for the recommended plan versus the geographic plan that has been shown

  42. Questions/Comments from the Public • This type of zoning for the students will increase the drop-out rates for the students as they do not form the long lasting relationships by going from elementary to middle to high school with the same students. • McKinney ISD’s dropout rate is 1.1%, the average for Region 10 is 4.1% and the state average is 3.7%. We have been contacted by Esther Smith of the TEA because they are forming a “Best Practices” dropout recovery resource manual and they are considering including MISD due to our low dropout rate.

  43. Questions/Comments from the Public • How does the MISD transportation budget as a percent of the total budget compare to other similar districts? • Birdville – 2.1% of total budget (39.9 square miles) • Mansfield – 2.9% of total budget (93.63 square miles) • Keller – 2.9% of total budget (51.0 square miles) • Denton – 3.0% of total budget (170.73 square miles) • Leander – 3.3% of total budget (198.51 square miles) • Humble – 3.3% of total budget (92.6 square miles) • MISD – 3.8% of total budget (109.00 square miles) • Pearland – 4.8% of total budget (48.36 square miles)

  44. Questions/Comments from the Public • The MISD Board and administration zones for socio-economic diversity for political reasons. • This is not a logical comment. If you think about it, if the Board did redistribution of students for political reasons, it would be easier for them to not use socio-economics as one of the criteria in making their decision for the redistribution of students. The Board is actually showing courage in the face of adversity.

  45. Questions/Comments from the Public • Can the 7th graders stay at their current school for their 8th grade year? • While I have always felt that those moving to a new school should go ahead and move, we have, sometimes in the past allowed students to remain at their current campus for their final year if the parents are willing to provide transportation • No final decision has been made on this issue

  46. Questions/Comments from the Public • How can we express our feelings to the Board? • Email at www.misdteamof8.net • Speak at Board meetings during the Public Comments portion of the agenda • Contact your Board representative

  47. In the Final Analysis • The concerns do not have to do with: • Quality of Facilities • Quality of Instruction • Quality of Fine Arts Programs • Quality of Athletic Programs • Quality of Clubs/Organizations • Quality of Curriculum • Quality of Teachers and Administrators

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