(via chron.com)
Parents, we know it’s just starting to feel like winter outside, but it’s time to start planning for summer. The Houston ISD administration announced this morning that it plans to cut summer school hours, and some students who were allowed to attend the programs in years past might now have to pay.
HISD Superintendent Terry Grier and his chief academic officer, Chuck Morris, told the school board that they will have to prioritize which students can attend summer school this year if, as expected, there’s not enough money to fund everyone. Campuses could, however, decide to charge tuition for some students.
The board didn’t make any final decisions, but the reduced hours and a later start date seem set in stone, said district spokeswoman Sarah Greer Osbourne. Summer school will run from June 13 through July 8. Classes at elementary and middle schools will be held from 8 a.m. through noon — instead of until 2 p.m. The hours for high school students will be flexible, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., with most of the courses offered via computer.
Grier acknowledged that the reduced hours will upset some parents. “There will be parents who were accustomed to this being a daycare for six weeks,” he said.
Morris said the administration believes the district should give priority admission to fifth- and eighth-grade students who failed the state-mandated TAKS, to those who didn’t meet other grade-level promotion standards and to seniors who need to complete courses to graduate and pass the TAKS. Next in line, in this order, are juniors who need to recover credits to be on track to graduate, ninth-graders who have failed three or more courses, students with limited-English proficiency and students who are one or more years behind in reading and math.
Last year, the district served 54,140 students in summer school — more than a quarter of its total enrollment. How many students HISD will be able to afford this summer will depend in large part on how much it decides to pay the teachers. School board member Harvin Moore suggested that the district pay higher salaries to encourage top-performing teachers to stay over the summer and work with the neediest students. Typically, teachers get less money per hour over the summer than during the regular school year.
The district’s summer school budget is tight this year because of a shortfall in federal funding, said chief financial officer Melinda Garrett. HISD usually gets about $10 million in extra federal funds from the Texas Education Agency in April, but Garrett said she doesn’t expect that to come this spring. In addition, the district has been able to use unspent funds that had been set aside for mandatory tutoring, but that money isn’t expected to be available this year because so many students took advantage of the private services guaranteed to them under the federal No Child Left Behind law.
HISD’s funding plan for this summer is to use $14 million in federal stimulus funds — money that isn’t expected to be around in future years. Some school principals also might have extra money in their budgets, said Garrett.
