CISD board takes note of summer program at OJ Thomas
The Cameron ISD Board of Trustees heard from a community group doing great things and discussed teacher raises during a regular meeting on Aug. 12.
The board heard from Denise Pittman with the O.J. Thomas Resource Center about the group’s summer program during the meeting.
Superintendent Kevin Sprinkles said he and Board Member Greg Hoelscher attended an awards ceremony for the program a few weeks ago and he wanted to commend them for their efforts.
“I was impressed and it struck a chord with me about how much this community supports the school district and its kids and how much they give of themselves,” Sprinkles said.
Pittman said there were 16 volunteers for the program, which was for Pre-K through sixth grade. They spent the summer working on reading and other subjects with the students.
“They did a terrific job,” Pittman said. “It was really lovely. It was a pilot project for myself but we are going to continue to do it every summer.”
Pittman said the program will be continued throughout the school year with an after school program. She said she is working on a fourth classroom to use.
The program was funded through donations and took place at O.J. Thomas School. Anyone wishing to make a donation to the program can look up the O.J. Thomas Resource Center on Facebook for contact information or contact Pittman.
“That is a fantastic program for our kids,” Hoelscher said. “It is really helping out.”
“It really excites me that there is someone there for our students when they go back to their neighborhoods to help them to learn and get their homework done,” Sprinkles said. “We want to bring awareness to what you are doing for those kids. Thank you for what you have done.”
The board also honored Connor Barton for his winning he National Junior High Rodeo World Championship in breakaway roping.
The board will hold a hearing to discuss the tax rate and budget on Aug. 26. They spent the remainder of the meeting discussing options for implementing House Bill 3 and teacher raises within the budget.
“Just wanted to hit some highlights and tell you where we are,” Sprinkles said. “This really revolves around the teacher salary schedule.”
Sprinkles said the district is working off a lower adjusted tax rate at this time due to there being so much disputed property value with the Appraisal District.
He said at this time he is working off the more conservative estimate of taxable value, which makes a big difference from last year to this year.
“From a budgeting standpoint you have to go ahead and budget at the most conservative place,” he said. “I still believe we will collect on the certified rolls. The current debt service rate of .333 would not meet our obligation. The voter-approved rate that we were allowed was .3497. When I looked at what we would need to meet our obligation I will recommend .3495.”
He said because of the state’s tax compression from $1.04 to $.97 there will be some savings for taxpayers.
Sprinkles said teacher pay raises would be somewhere between 7.52 percent and 8.5 percent, but they are still discussing what exactly to do with that. No decision was made.
In other business the board also: heard a presentation from Perdue, Brandon, Fielder, Collins and Mott about tax collections; discussed updating the staff dress policy; discussed the early release day needing to be extended due to the number of minutes of instruction required; discussed setting performance goals and board operating procedure changes due to legislation passed last session; and endorsed Jason Dohnalik for the TASB Board of Directors.